Image via.

To nobody’s surprise, the Orlando Magic kicked off its spring housecleaning chores this week by firing both head coach Stan Van Gundy, and General Manager Otis Smith. For months, the tension between superstar center Dwight Howard and Van Gundy had been building like a snowball effect and inevitably came to a crashing halt on Monday. Three words popped in my mind the second I caught wind of the announcement: about damn time. The sports world had seen/heard enough.

The player-coach feud began picking up steam back in early April during a late-season press conference when Van Gundy shockingly confessed that the soon-to-be free agent Howard was leading a campaign behind his back to have him ousted from the head coaching position. In one of the most incredibly awkward sports moments of this generation, Howard proceeds to interrupt the interview and with a beaming smile appears (my speculation) to lie right through his teeth insisting he would never backstab his coach. However, even if Howard intended on getting his coach axed, Van Gundy certainly didn’t take the high road by bringing a closed-door team issue to a public platform. The spectacle was ugly, juvenile, and frankly it was a tiff you’d expect to witness on a playground between kids at recess, not amongst “professionals” on national television. The media is always drooling for gossip like this, so why anyone in this business would ever throw them a bone this juicy is absurd.

NBA experts are already weighing in on where the coach might land his next job and, fortunately for Van Gundy, it appears he’ll have a great chance to ink a position in time for the 2012-13 season.  My Portland Trailblazers are looking for a coach as we speak, however ownership might want to be wary of Van Gundy as a leading candidate. Sports Illustrated conducted a survey amongst 134 NBA players, and 22% voted Van Gundy as the coach they’d LEAST like to play for. Isn’t that a large enough red flag to direct the search elsewhere? 

Maybe not. The opinions bonk heads in the Magic Fires Coach, GM Trap.

-Geoff

When Oklahoma City Thunder’s James Harden hit the floor the other day in a matchup versus the Los Angeles Lakers, I was casually monitoring the game with a household of basketball fans. We all collectively groaned and instantaneously accused Harden of flopping after seeing him fall lifeless on the court after an emphatic Laker bucket. That being said, I’d like to apologize to Mr. Harden, because after taking a second look at the replay, we all saw that Harden was in fact victimized by one of most malicious and violent elbows I’ve ever seen in my life (that includes all the mixed martial arts fights I’ve seen, even this one).

Read More

Image via Associated Press.

The past 24 hours have been an absolute whirlwind of basketball hysteria—my head is still spinning this morning. Due to the NBA Lockout shifting the season’s schedule around, yesterday was the first day in basketball history that the March Madness mens tournament tipped off the same morning as the closing hours of the NBA trade deadline. Multi-tasking the highlights and box scores of NCAA hoops while absorbing all the breaking trade updates in the NBA was an example of information overload at its finest. Can we just declare this day a holiday already? Paging: President Obama. 

If you happened to be solely locked in on all the March Madness action, here is what you may have missed while NBA franchises were frenetically wheeling and dealing (check out the full recap for yourself with the NBA Trade Deadline Trap).

The NBA lost two of its highest paid coaches—you can now find them in the sports section of the unemployment line. The New York Knicks head coach Mike D’Antoni resigned (a.k.a. QUIT), jumping ship on the Big Apple’s most prized franchise along with his $6 million paycheck. As expected, there is plenty of speculation circulating the web that D’Antoni was in fact forced out. The Portland Trailblazers followed suit, axing the fourth highest paid coach ($5mill), Nate McMillan. As a Blazer fan, I was crushed by the news, but the general feel around the city is that this had to be the final episode of McMillan’s seven-year soap opera in the Rose City.

McMillan’s departure was just one aspect of owner Paul Allen’s housecleaning. The Blazers parted ways with multiple fan-favorite players in a matter of hours. And the Blazers weren’t the only ones making moves.

The Los Angeles Lakers snagged the point guard they’ve been searching for, while saying goodbye to a legend. No, they didn’t get Derron Williams. While teams like the Celtics and Jazz chose to stand pat, teams like the Warriors, Bucks, and Nuggets were all active, hoping to improve their roster lineups as the season begins to wind down.  

Last but certainly not least, if you haven’t been following the Dwight Howard saga, you certainly need to click [here] [here] and [here] and perhaps even [here]. Let’s just say LeBron James’ “Decision“ PR stunt is not looking so bad after what Howard has done to bewilder his Orlando Magic fan base.

The sports world is reacting inside the NBA Trade Deadline Trap. Step inside and bonk heads with the rest of us. 

-Geoff 

It’s official, Greg Oden—with his ceaseless knee injury woes—is the city of Portland’s worst nightmare: Sam Bowie, part II. Before we say one final goodbye to the Trailblazers’ basketball star that never quite scintillated, here’s the Greg Oden Trap!

Just months ago, the Trailblazers received the heart-shattering news that its franchise’s guiding light, NBA All-Star Brandon Roy would be forced to retire due to degenerative knees. Now “Rip City” must also come to grips with the fact that its former number-one draft pick Oden will likely be forced down a similar path after it was announced the center would need his fifth significant knee surgery since 2007.

Imminent retirement? Oden begs to differ. The seven-footer insists he has no plans to throw in the towel despite undergoing a second microfracture procedure on the same left knee that sidelined him indefinitely less than two years ago. As a die-hard Blazer fan myself, I will be rooting for an Oden resurrgence, however the time has finally come to distance myself from any optimism that Oden’s comeback will occur in a Blazer uniform. He’s gone, folks.

With Portland’s recent (tentative) signing of center Joel Pryzbilla, it’s fair to assume that Oden will be the player to get waived from the Blazers’ roster in order to make room for the acquisition of the, “Vanilla Gorilla.” Oden will become free to sign with any team in next season’s loaded free agency pool, although it is highly doubtful he’ll be ready to return to the court when NBA’s opening night tips off near Halloween. The recovery rate for a microfracture surgery typically takes longer than a calendar year, so Oden’s appearance at all next season appears to be in jeopardy. With Oden’s mammoth frame and precarious health issues, the NBA world may have seen the last of the the gentle giant from Ohio State University.

My vibrant red number-52 jersey once hung proudly in my closet. It was a miracle the Blazers even had the chance to draft him in the first place. The miracle that was supposed to be a blessing rapidly turned into a curse. After a myriad of non-contact knee injuries, the jersey was demoted to the bottom shelf of my dresser. Still, the Blazers organization refused to declare regret drafting him. Tomorrow, my Oden jersey will make its way to Goodwill to be donated—I can’t harbor the curse and the ghost of Sam Bowie any longer.

-Geoff

Today’s sweeping craze in the Big Apple: Linsanity! Carmelo Anthony is out potentially two weeks with a groin injury? No problem. I’ll say it again: Linsanity!

I couldn’t believe my eyes the other day after receiving a text message from a friend of mine in New York City. He informed me that the New York Knicks’ crowd inside Madison Square Garden was chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P! M-V-P!”

For who??? …Wait, what—really?!

The New York crowd was brought to their feet dozens of times. Not by perennial All-star and Olympian Carmelo Anthony (or Crymelo as I prefer to call him). Not for highly-touted signee Amare Stoudemire, and definitely not for Tyson Chandler, the final member of Knicks’ self-invented, “big-three.”

The ovation was for the undrafted 23-year-old point guard, Jeremy Lin. In a matter of three NBA games, the rising star has won over the traditionally not-so-welcoming New York fan base. The Harvard grad finally earned the minutes on the basketball court he has been waiting for and has been putting up All-star caliber numbers ever since. It’s as if all he needed was the Broadway spotlight to finally settle on a place to shine.

Just three weeks ago Lin was playing in the developmental league for the Erie BayHawks, searching for motivation, and trying to compete in front of crowds with mediocre, high school basketball attendance rates. Apparently the Knicks caught wind that Lin has some serious skills, as word spread quickly that the young point guard racked up a triple-double for the BayHawks, scoring 28 points, to go along with 12 assists and 11 rebounds. Lin was called up to the Knicks three days later. He hasn’t looked back since and his numbers don’t lie.

On top of helping the Knicks reach a three-game win streak, Lin is also rapidly becoming one of the most-watched athletes in all of Asia. Even ESPN Philippines has reached out wanting to air Knicks games featuring the first ever American-born NBA player of Chinese or Taiwanese descent.

Lin will officially get his first monumental test as the ultra-competitive Los Angeles Lakers come to town tonight. Can he possibly maintain his numbers, or could the reality of his stardom be slightly inflated after all? For the record, Lin is the first player to score 20+ points, with at least eight assists in his first two NBA starts…since Lebron James did it eight years ago. Unreal!

Stay tuned, the Jeremy Lin show is just beginning to take off. For a better feel on the Linsanity craze, check out the Jeremy Lin Trap!

-Geoff

As NBA fans, our deepest fear has become a reality: a “nuclear winter” is on the horizon.

From the boardroom to the courtroom, the National Basketball Players Association has arrived at the conclusion that the union has no choice but to dissolve after collective bargaining negotiations came to a complete standstill yesterday afternoon. After the NBPA rejected the latest proposal placed on the table by league ownership, it is now looking highly doubtful that NBA fans can expect to see a single professional basketball game this entire season. NBPA executive director Billy Hunter broke the grim news in a New York press conference:

“We have arrived at the conclusion that the collective bargaining process has completely broken down. As a result, within the last hour we served a notice of disclaimer on Commissioner David Stern and the NBA.”

The players union has confirmed that it will eventually disband, boiling down to become a “trade association” allowing individual players to follow through with legal action against the NBA. This puts the entire season in jeopardy, as both sides of the argument are stepping away from the drawing board, looking away from the basketball court, and into the courtroom. While many players are expressing their anger through social media outlets, one has to wonder how a vote would have turned out if the union resorted to a league-wide democratic poll on the latest proposal.

The NCAA is smiling, and will surely be reaping the benefits if an NBA season is in fact lost. However, It’s never over until it’s over, I suppose. Until the season has truly been laid to rest, keep on following the NBA Lockout trap! Keep the faith!

-Geoff

With the NBA Lockout still in full swing it hasn’t stopped professional basketball players from searching for the limelight and that capacity crowd they’ve grown to know. While dozens of lower profile players have signed contracts overseas, the superstars of the league are trying something a little different and rather entrepreneurial. But is it even a good idea in the first place?

The World All-Star Classic is expected to debut this Sunday in San Juan, Puerto Rico featuring phenoms such as Kobe Bryant, Dwayne Wade and Kevin Durant for starters. Although the tour will also feature a plethora of other star hoop talent, the event took a huge hit after hearing that LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Chris Paul have defected, deciding to opt out of the tour to spend more time with their families. The tour was expected to continue on with other stops in London, Macau and Melbourne, however sources are speculating that these sites could be in jeopardy after the recent news of players dropping out. Word has it, the Aussies are particularly upset with King James turning his cold shoulder on them.

Regardless of who ends up going, the footage of these games will be a non-stop highlight reel. If you are a basketball purist and a big fan of defense, this may just not be your thing! Hopefully the lockout will be lifted, but in the mean time, keep your eye on the ball with the NBA World Tour Trap!

The newborn king of the NFL gridiron?

With the recent announcement that the first two weeks of the NBA season have officially been cancelled, the social media world has been set ablaze with rumors that LeBron James might be making a radical change in his professional career. And we are not taking about a trip overseas to play Euro hoops either. It has always been a dream on the back of King James’ mind to become a star performer in the NFL, and with the NBA lockout negotiations looking grimmer day-by-day, it’s starting to feel more realistic that the sports world will “WITNESS” LeBron in pads down the road this season.

But is it too good to be true…again? We all remember how he teased us two years ago with his Cleveland Browns commercial.

I was a huge doubter at first—like this guy—however, LeBron took it to a new level this past week tweeting at ESPN NFL analyst John Clayton inquiring what the NFL policy is on the free agency deadline. Well, LeBron, technically there isn’t one. He can sign whenever he should feel he is ready to make that transition. Professional experience, or not, NFL coaches will be licking their chops thinking about a chance to land an athletic specimen of LeBron’s stature. On top of that, he is a PR gold mine that would sell out any stadium regardless of a win-loss record. He is as big (or bigger) than the average defensive end, but as fast as the average wide receiver. Just thinking about what position he might play is thrilling to ponder and speculate.

The Seattle Seahawks’ coach Pete Carroll has even reached out to LeBron already, posting a photo on the web of a Seahawks jersey with “LeBron” stitched on the back. Although Carroll’s approach could be taken as humor, there is no doubt that his organization would take a shot at bringing him on, even if it happens late in the NFL season.

For LeBron, is it worth the risk? One of the first things Carroll asked him was, “are you aware what the league minimum is in the NFL?” LeBron snapped back at him, “more than what I’m making now Coach.”

Could this be just another classic LBJ publicity stunt, or is there validity to his aspirations? Follow the LeBron James’ NFL Dreams Trap as this saga continues to unfold.

-Geoff