Why Andray Blatche is the Worst Player in the NBA

(If you haven't already seen it, please watch the video above before you read. Note: Blatche has 20 points, 13 assists, 9 rebounds. That's a good line, right? Reply: Watch the video.)

Let’s imagine the NBA was starting over, and each GM was set to draft a team, out of all the players in the league, that they thought could win a championship.  First pick might be Lebron, second Kevin Durant, etc, stars to build around.  In the 2^nd round each team might look for a solid complimentary player, like Andre Igoudala, or a young guy who might be a real star if they could get it all together, like Andrew Bynum.  As the rounds went on, teams would look for solid role players who could be part of a championship rotation: spot-up shooters, defensive specialists, and so on.  Gerald Wallace might go in the 3^rd or 5^th round, Eric Maynor maybe in the 7^th.  Even someone like Ronny Turiaf, essentially useless, would probably be picked up in the late rounds for a specific skill or intangible they bring to the team.

VIDEO: Kevin Love Takes One In The Bean Bags

Luis Scola providing Kevin Love a nice dose of basketball to the nuts...

Dani Alves Brings the Filth

Back from a hiatus of sorts with a pretty nasty goal by Dani Alves against Real Madrid.

Falls firmly within top 5 goals I have ever seen.

Lebron James Doesn't Know John Lucas III Exists

Wow.

A Masterpiece Down Under

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal somehow managed to enshrine themselves higher up in the pantheon of tennis after their instant classic Australian Open final today. The two men outdid themselves, and that is something which seems to be nearly impossible, after all they have combined to win the last eight Grand Slam's and have 15 combined slams (10 for Rafa 5 for Djokovic). Yet somehow they did it, somehow they provided everybody with a quality of tennis that has only been seen a mere handfull of times throughout history.

Disparity at the top: what's wrong with women's tennis?

If you were in any way surprised by the names of the semifinalists in the men's bracket of this year's Australian Open, you shouldn't have been. In the four major tennis tournaments played last year, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray, currently the four top-ranked players in the world, each reached the penultimate match in at least three of them. Murray and Djokovic did it every time. That left room for a mere two spots to fill for the rest of the 1,941 players currently ranked on the ATP World Tour website, and neither advanced to the final. If you're curious, coming in at 1,941st is the legendary Alexei Filenkov, winner of one match in sixteen tournaments last year!

Where we Stand Now

I’ve been about the biggest possible Nationals fan since their first game in 2005. And not since that first game, have I literally felt a tingling feeling excitement pulse throughout my body. That being said, this tingling feeling is more one of cautious optimism than blind faith in the team. I now bring you my breakdown of the Nationals’ off-season, and where we stand going forward.

Deal or No Deal: '08 Draft Class Edition

Kevin Love, Danilo Gallinari and Kosta Koufos were the three players from the 2008 NBA draft class that signed extensions prior to the Wednesday deadline. Throw in Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose who had already signed extensions and that brings your grand total of '08ers to sign extensions to five. Meaning guys like Michael Beasley (2nd pick), O.J. Mayo (3rd pick), Eric Gordon (7th pick), Brook Lopez (10th pick), and Roy Hibbert (17th pick) will all be hitting the restricted free agent market this summer. The 2008 class is absolutely loaded with talent and all-star caliber players so the fact that only five guys from the class resigned before the deadline is quite surprising.

Prince Fielder and the Worst Infield in Baseball

3rd Baseman? Sure

With the signing of Prince Fielder, everyone expects the Detroit Tigers to score a lot more runs next year. And they better. Apparently, for some reason that I cannot comprehend, the Tigers plan on Fielder playing at 1st Base and moving Miguel Cabrera to 3rd. For Cabrera, this may have been an okay move about 60 pounds ago, but now it is laughable. Cabrera's last stint at 3B in Detroit ended after 14 games. He had 5 errors in those 14 games. If he were to keep up a pace like that for an entire season, Cabrera would come quite close to the most errors ever by a 3B in one season. Fielder on the other hand is already below average at 1B, and will likely get worse as he gets older (and fatter). This could all be avoided if one of the players does not mind a move to the DH position, but I for one am hoping that we get to see at least one season of Miguel Cabrera, Prince Fielder, and Jhonny Peralta in the same infield.

Players To Be Seen Later

Christian Peterson/Getty Images

Although it wasn’t pretty, a makeshift U.S. Men’s National Team went 2-0 in their most recent friendly matches against Venezuela and Panama.  These matches were pretty much polar opposites:  In the first match, against Venezuela and on home soil, the U.S. peppered the Venezuelan defense with threats before Ricardo Clark headed home the game winner in the 97^th minute.  However, on the road at Panama the yanks were on their heels for much of the match.  Graham Zusi scored in the 10^th minute, but after that Panama controlled the match and the U.S. was eventually reduced to 10 men when Geoff Cameron was sent off for a foul outside the box.

NBA Quarterly Rundown

AP Photo/Jim Mone

With the lockout shortened season a quarter of the way over (I know, it feels like it was Christmas yesterday) a couple of the Love Boat Sports authors thought it would be a good idea to take a look at some of the best and worst performances of the young season and dish out some awards.


Player Awards

MVP:

Matt (@matthouston91)- LeBron James
I'm a big fan of and believer in advanced statistics. LeBron James runs away with basically every advanced stat there is. His PER is at 35.22 (Kobe Bryant is second at 26.96), his Estimated Wins Added is 6.9 (Kobe is second with 5.6), his Value Added is 205.5 (Kobe second with 168.8...168.8!!!! It's not even close!) and he is third in Usage Rate. Even with all of those crazy advanced stats my favorite LeBron stat on the season is his field goal percentage. LeBron is shooting a whopping 56.4% from the field. He's only taking 1.3 threes a game, as opposed to 3.5 last season, and he is making 45% of them. Basically LeBron is having the best season ever right now.

Henno (@henryemoson)- LeBron James
According to John Hollinger's statistic, PER, which evaluates player efficiency, Lebron James is having the best season of all time.  That also means he is having a better season this year than anyone else in the league...  30-7-7, yeah that sounds just about right.  It's unlikely Lebron can sustain these statistics when Dwyane Wade returns, but for now Lebron is definitely the MVP.

Can I skip the Super Bowl?

I'll be the first to say it: I'm not at all excited for the Super Bowl this year. The Super Bowl is the most important of all traditions for any football fan, and it pains me deeply to make a statement like that, but it's the truth. Outside of Boston and New York, I doubt I'm the only football fan with a similar disgusting feeling in their gut when the thought arises about the upcoming matchup for this year's big game: The New York Giants vs. The New England Patriots.

Bleh. 

A clouded legacy: Joe Paterno 1926-2012

When I heard of Joe Paterno's passing two days ago, the first thing that came to my mind was the closing words to Ben Folds' song, "The Luckiest":

Next door, there's an old man who lived to his nineties
And one day passed away in his sleep.
And his wife; she stayed for a couple of days
And passed away.
I'm sorry, I know that's a strange way to tell you that I know we belong
That I know
That I am
I am
I am
The luckiest.

#15's Shoe-Ins

Championship Sunday. For most football fans, it's right up there with Super Sunday. But for a Vikings fan like myself, the idea of championship Sunday makes me wake up in cold sweats thinking about haunting memories. And even though my team has never won a Super Bowl and went 3-13 this year, I still took incredible joy in watching the Pukers choke away a 15-1 season. With that in mind, I am incredibly excited for all the match ups this weekend. So, in the words of Sean Connery, "the game is on."

The Kings of Folly

             

              The Sacramento Kings are one of the most absurd teams in sports.  In fact, I have watched more Kings games than Miami Heat games this year.  Alright, that was a lie, but I have watched more Kings games this year than anyone should ever have to.  I love The Jimmer and I have DeMarcus Cousins on my fantasy team, so I sort of have a legitimate reason.  Then again, there is no legitimate reason to watch the Sacramento Kings for four quarters.  Bill Simmons tweeted about the Kings: “Sacramento needs to change its name this year to the Sacramento Blackholes.  Every Kings assist is an accident”.  And it’s true; assists are hard to come by for the Kings.  As a team, they rank last in assists and have only one player averaging more than four assists a game.

Isolation: LeBron James Vs. Kobe Bryant

Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images

Isolation is going to be a new recurring feature on Love Boat Sports. I will break down a matchup between two players who are facing off head to head that day. Only that game will factor in the outcome of who the "winner" is between the two players. For example tonight LeBron outplayed Kobe so he will get the "win," even though Kobe is the better player. Sorry for the spoiler. Isolation will almost always feature two players who are squaring off against one other on both offense and defense, so don't expect any Dwight Howard vs. Chris Paul matchups. Don't count out a Russell Westbrook vs. Kevin Durant matchup though. Without further adieu here is the very first Isolation piece! Enjoy! 

Alex Ovechkin Spits Mad Fire Yo

The video says it all... in Russian though.  He starts around 2:55

Good to Gio

Gio's Twitter profile picture

It’s still hard to tell if the Washington Nationals will get Prince Fielder, or if they’re even seriously pursuing them, but their acquisition of Gio Gonzalez alone should get Nationals fans excited for the upcoming season (pitchers and catchers report in just over a month!!!!!)  Admittedly the Nationals gave up a lot of prospects to the Oakland Athletics in the trade to get Gio, but Gonzalez is a solid frontline starter and should benefit from switching to the National League and facing other team’s third starters.

Suck 5 1/13

The Friday Suck 5 takes a look at which 5 NBA teams had the worst past week.

5. Miami Heat- While the Heat really doesn’t deserve a spot on any bottom of the NBA rankings, they are put here simply because of 2 overtime losses this week.  The only real knock against the Heat, and LeBron James, is that they lack the clutch gene.  Against the Warriors, it was D-Wade going 2-8 down the stretch and a series of bonehead plays by Udonis Haslem that cost them the game, and against the Thunder it was missed free throws by LeBron that doomed the Heat.  The Heat will need to prove they can close out games if they want to win not six, not five, but one championship.

The Whore of Akron

In his book The Whore of Akron, released this past summer, Scott Raab goes to great lengths to tell the story of Lebron James knifing the city of Cleveland in favor of a more luxurious lifestyle and basketball team.  Although I, and probably most people, see "The Whore of Akron" as a harsh nickname for Lebron James, the cities of Cleveland and Akron, and certainly Scott Raab, do not.  Raab is convincing though, and as the book progresses, Lebron James seems less majestic and more whorish.  It is hard not to appreciate this guy’s pure hatred for someone he doesn’t really know.

The tale of two Tebows

To say that Tim Tebow has a flair for the dramatic would be an understatement. A big one. To say that Tim Tebow is a winner, well, you'll find many fewer naysayers right now than you would three days ago. To say that Tim Tebow is the most exciting player to watch in football right now might have been up for argument 3 months ago, but is at this point as much of a certainty as any other claim one can make about a league with so much up for grabs right now.

But what exactly is he? How can a figure so inconsistent in his play, a man who cannot seem to compete at any kind of steady, safe pace, but only at extremes, possibly be defined?

The tale of Tim Tebow is the epic journey of two quarterbacks, both inherently similar and entirely different.

Friday Suck 5

Start your weekend off early with a look at the 5 NBA teams that had the roughest week!  New to Love Boat Sports, the Friday Suck 5 will be a power ranking of the worst NBA teams of the week.  There will surely be some perennial inclusions, although there will also be teams that just had a rough week or a major injury.  Here’s this week’s suck 5!

Note: Since this is the first edition, the entire season will be included in the rankings.

A New Year

Andray Blatche's response to any criticism

            Every year, people make resolutions as a way to convince themselves that they are moving forward with their lives and growing as people.  And every year, February serves as the month when people realize their lives remain stagnant.  #Cynicism.  Well, I am no different and so I decided to make a list of sports New Year's resolutions.  Some are resolutions that I would like sports figures to take on, and some are resolutions I’m going to try to take on as a sports fan and maybe you will decide you would like to do as well.