LA LAKERS 2013 CHAMPS

October 21, 2013 by carnegiekid No Comment

With the Lakers in 9th place and two games out of the Western Conference playoffs. The Black Mamba guaranteed his team would still qualify for the post-season. The world wasn’t too optimistic about the Lakers chances this season but I’m one of the few who was.

This summer when LA added Dwight Howard and Steve Nash it was assumed that they would instantly be the favorites to win the NBA title. But a tumultuous start to the season including a sub .500 record at the All-Star break, and one of the quickest head coach firings in history led many to believe the Lakers were done.

Alas you can never count a team out that has Kobe “Vino” Bryant on the roster. Since the all-star break, L.A. is 11-3, with Kobe averaging over 30 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists a game while shooting close to 55 percent from the field. Howard has become much more effective offensively and seems to be transitioning into the defensive anchor Laker-Nation was hoping for when they acquired him in a trade for All-Star center Andrew Bynum.

The cohesiveness of the team has improved dramatically as of late. With the offseason additions of Howard, Nash, and Antwan Jamison, L.A. added 2 MVPs, 3 Defensive POY awards, 8 All-NBA 1st teams (11 total), 16 All-Star appearances, and 1 Sixth Man award to its already illustrious trophy case. The overabundance of experience currently has the Lakers in the 8th seed just a half game back of the Houston Rockets for 7th.

These are the signs of a team poised to make a run deep into the playoffs. Pau Gasol’s injury may have been a blessing in disguise, as it led to the emergence of Earl Clark who immediately became a significant contributor in Pau’s absence. Gasol’s return to the starting lineup will allow Clark to add depth to an already formidable Laker bench which includes Antwan Jamison and Steve Blake. Had Jordan Hill not been lost for the season with a hip injury, we could be talking one of the best second units in the league.

Kobe merely guaranteed a postseason appearance, but I’m willing to take it a step further. The Los Angeles Lakers are going to win the championship this season. Yea I said it… take a moment to let it all sink in. 2013 is the year the most envied player and franchise in sports once again reaches the mountaintop. So remember when it happens that you heard it here first!

The unparalleled leadership of Kobe “Bean” Bryant paired with the championship pedigree of Gasol and savvy of Steve Nash will guide LA through the Western Conference Playoffs. The Spurs play incredible ball during the regular season but like in years past will run out of gas before the finals. Oklahoma City trading James Harden killed any hopes of them winning this year. And teams like the Clippers, Grizzlies, and Nuggets simply lack the “it factor” needed to win an NBA title.

So where does that leave us? With the match up everyone’s been dying to see. Los Angeles Lakers vs. Miami Heat for all the marbles! The way to beat the Heat is to eliminate their transition opportunities by making it a half court game. Who better equipped to do so than L.A. with two of the most talented seven-footers in the world on the same roster? If Metta World Peace can be the all-world defender he’s capable of being, and somewhat contain Lebron James the door would be wide open for some of Kobe’s last minute heroics. Lakers win in six games on Miami’s home court capping the biggest single season turnaround in history. See you at the parade!

PUBLISHED 3/22/13
CHECK IT OUT ON HUFFINGTONPOST.COM – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharief-easterling/la-lakers-2013-champs_b_2929686.html

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DREAMS VS REALITY USA BASKETBALL 2012

October 21, 2013 by carnegiekid No Comment

Evolution is inevitable. It’s human nature to increase efficiency as time progresses. A computer or automobile from 1992 can’t compete with a 2012 model, and neither can an athlete. This is as it should be. Without steady improvement in all fields how else could society advance? People were outraged when Kobe Bryant said his 2012 roster could beat 1992′s Dream Team but quite frankly he’s right! With the theory of evolution and advances made in sports science and nutrition over the past twenty years why wouldn’t the current team be better?
People get too caught up in the mystique and historical significance of the players that were on the Dream Team. Magic, Jordan, Bird, Pippen, Barkley represent the start of the “pro sports renaissance” that created the hundred-million dollar contract, endorsement driven market of today. To most fans these athletes symbolize the “golden era” of the sport, and this feeling manifests itself into the unrealistic belief that they’re unbeatable. Of course they won every game by forty points, the opposition was sub par! Remember, we only used professional players in 1992 because we didn’t win gold in 1988 when America was represented by college athletes. Nine out of ten times prior to that American amateurs won the gold. Somewhere along the line the rest of the world gradually narrowed the gap to a point where they could actually compete with the American pros.
The current international influence on the NBA is undeniable. In the past decade we’ve seen foreign born players like Tony Parker and Dirk Nowitzki win the NBA finals MVP. Some of the best players in the league are now actually from over seas, which drastically raises the level of talent for their respective countries. Players like Marc, and Pau Gasol, Manu Ginobili, Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Parker, Luis Scola, Jose Calderon, Loul Deng and the recently retired Yao Ming all played Olympic Basketball for a country other than the United States. While Team USA is still superior its obvious why some of the games in 2012 are more competitive then those of 1992.
No disrespect to Magic Johnson and Larry Bird but they were certainly past their prime by the time the Dream Team was assembled. I find it hard to believe they’d be able to keep up with Kevin Durant, Lebron James or Carmelo Anthony at this point in their career. John Stockton would look like a sacrificial lamb in front a point guard like Deron Williams or Russell Westbrook. The evolution of the sport has resulted in a league of “hybrid players”. A league where the guards are much larger and more athletic, and the big men faster and more multidimensional. Think of it as “Athletic Darwinism”; future generations naturally improve upon the talent level established by their predecessors. The same theory can be applied to the NFL with players like Cam Newton, Michael Vick, and Robert Griffin III who are athletically superior to the quarterbacks of the past. In order for them to be successful in today’s league they have to be! Freakishly gifted defensive players like DeMarcus Ware, and Julius Peppers make the immobile statuesque quarterbacks of yesteryear obsolete. (See Drew Bledsoe)
Even if you’re skeptical about the “Athletic Darwinism” theory and you still believe the 92 team was better you have to admit the Twenty Twelve-ers are more than capable of wining a hypothetical one game elimination scenario. If it were somehow possible for the two teams to meet in a gold medal game who’s to say Kobe doesn’t go off for eighty points? Or Lebron doesn’t have one of his forty point, seventeen rebound, thirteen assist performances? Truth is, they don’t need a legendary performance to win but anytime players of that caliber take the floor such a performance is a possibility. Kobe, Lebron, Durant are the evolved forms of Jordan, Magic, Bird. The talent level of the NBA will continue to increase as the game and its players continue to evolve, its human nature. And if the best players from the U.S. are chosen in 2032 they’ll most certainly be better than the 2012 team. Its okay to revere the players of the past but its ridiculous to think they set an unreachable precedent, that the last twenty years have been spent in regression rather than progression.

PUBLISHED 7/30/2012
CHECK IT OUT ON HUFFINGTONPOST.COM – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharief-easterling/dream-team-92-vs-2012_b_1704391.html

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Lebron’s Not The MVP

October 21, 2013 by carnegiekid No Comment

Most Valuable Player to me means the player most significant to their team’s success. LeBron James won the award for the 2011-2012 season, marking the third time he’s taken the trophy in four years. Although this was his best season statistically there are other players whose individual contributions were more vital to their respective team’s success. The two previous times he’s won the award were during seasons of 60+ wins, and more importantly number one seeding for his Cleveland Cavaliers. Undoubtedly the team leader James was the only elite level player on the roster, single handedly leading them to the top of the conference. There’s no better reflection of LeBron’s impact on the team than its record the season he took his talents to South Beach. In 2010-2011 the Cavs went 19-63 ironically losing a record tying 23 consecutive games. It’s astonishing to think that one player could have so much impact on a franchise, but the Most Valuable Player can.

Although this current MVP season was statistically his best, the circumstances in which they were achieved lead me to question its credibility. It isn’t an award for best player, or best statistical season. Its for the player most important to maximizing his team’s potential. The Miami Heat finished second in the East to a Chicago Bulls team that played virtually half the year without 2010-2011 MVP Derrick Rose, not very impressive. Especially with one of the most talented rosters in league history. A roster that includes three of the top fifteen players in the league, an NCAA Championship MOP Mario Chalmers, a former three-point contest champion James Jones, and a perennial member of the NBA’s All-Defensive team in Shane Battier. With that roster a far lesser, non-MVP-caliber player could be interchanged with Lebron and achieve the same regular season success. I could easily see a team of Wade, Bosh and say Danny Granger being the number two seed in the Eastern Conference. Players like Joe Johnson, Luol Deng, or Rudy Gay could all be eligible candidates as well.

There’s no way someone on such a heavily talented team should be voted MVP. This season’s scoring champion Kevin Durant was irreplaceable for Oklahoma City. No one other than an all world MVP-caliber player could’ve led them to the second seed in the highly competitive Western Conference. At 33 years of age Kobe Bryant put together one of the most remarkable seasons in NBA history. In his sixteenth year after losing the greatest coach of all time, and tearing ligaments in his shooting wrist during the preseason Bryant still managed to
finish second in PPG leading the Lakers to the third best record in the conference. All this after the “Chris Paul Fiasco” divided his locker room and led to the departure of former Sixth-Man of the Year Lamar Odom. Tony Parker even led his wildly over-achieving San Antonio Spurs to the best record in the league, and are now the favorites to win the title. Not saying they’re better players, or even that they had better seasons, but they all played more of an essential role in their respective team’s success than Mr. James.

Most Valuable Player is an individual award but one’s supporting cast must be taken into consideration when voting. Finishing second in an inferior conference when you have one of the most dynamic rosters in history isn’t an MVP season to me. Lebron was most certainly worthy of the award, I just think the other candidates were a bit more deserving.

PUBLISHED 6/01/12
CHECK IT OUT ON HUFFINGTONPOST.COM – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharief-easterling/lebron-james-mvp-award_b_1551501.html

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NO JUSTICE FOR METTA WORLD PEACE

October 21, 2013 by carnegiekid No Comment

Rodman, Oakley, Laimbeer, Artest, NBA players you do not mess with. This is common knowledge to NBA fans and especially to the players. The elbow from Metta World Peace to the head of James Harden was brutal to say the least but blame can not be fully placed on Artest. Although he has a history of on and off court altercations he’s been a model citizen since joining the Lakers three years ago. No longer resulting in controversy on the court he still approaches every game with the fierceness and intensity that makes him one of the best defenders of all time. Unfortunately in this case his dark past is coming back to haunt him.

“Chippy” is a good word to describe the Oklahoma City Thunder. Players like Kendrick Perkins, James Harden, and Russel Westbrook continuously use subtly abrasive tactics to gain a psychological competitive edge on their opponents. Rightfully so, the game is eighty percent mental so any advantage gained in that regard is priceless. Trash talking, holding, fouling, even something as minuscule as momentarily impeding someone’s progress can be used to agitate an opponent. A late season game against a conference rival like the Los Angeles
Lakers is like adding fuel to this inferno.

After twenty two minutes of incident free basketball, following a thunderous tomahawk dunk and trademark “chest-beating” celebration Metta World Peace hit James Harden with an unintentional elbow to the head. The replay clearly shows his progress down court is purposely being impeded by Harden in an attempt to interrupt his celebration. If you watch closely you can also see Artest never makes eye contact with Harden and is blindly swinging his arm to free himself and continue down court. I’m not condoning throwing elbows, but when you purposely antagonize someone especially someone with a no nonsense personality like Ron Artest you must be prepared for the consequences. The adrenaline rush following the dunk and enthusiastic celebration are the reason for the force in which he swung. The elbow wasn’t given with intent to injure, he was merely attempting to create space.

Had the elbow connected six inches lower to the shoulder rather than the head it wouldn’t have even been called a personal foul. However, it did connect to the head resulting in a concussion, so the flagrant-two and seven game suspensions are warranted. What isn’t warranted is the ridiculous backlash against Artest on social networks and in the media. Suggesting that he should be suspended for an entire season or kicked out of the league is utterly ridiculous. This was a mistake. Basketball is an extremely physical and emotional sport. Altercations will happen and people will get hurt, its inevitable! The attempts to ostracize the man who’s been such an ambassador for mental health awareness are just ignorant and mean spirited. He was removed from the game, he’s been suspended, now leave him be. Stop allowing your Laker-hate to cloud your better judgment.

PUBLISHED 4/30/12
CHECK IT OUT OF HUFFINGTONPOST.COM – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sharief-easterling/ron-artest-metta-world-peace_b_1451052.html

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