Dumars' decisiveness draws critics, fans

Like many of his decisions over the past few years, Detroit Pistons president and general manager Joe Dumars' quick move to sign shooting guard Ben Gordon and forward Charlie Villanueva on the NBA's first day of free agent signing will be met with skepticism.

Dumars took over the front office duties in 2000 and built a team that went to six straight Eastern Conference Finals from 2003-2008, won a championship (2004) and lost a repeat title bid in seven games (2005).

Since then, he's been under some criticism for his hastiness to fire and hire head coaches (going on No. 5 since he took over), drafting eventual bust Darko Milicic No. 2 in 2003, trading Chauncey Billups (33) for expiring contract Allen Iverson and essentially beginning the dismantling of the championship-winning core, and even rejecting a reported trade that would've sent Rip Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and Rodney Stuckey to Boston for Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen.

Now, critics will question his signing of Gordon (5 years/55 mil.) and Villanueva (5 years/35 mil).

Gordon's offensive prowess has always been his greatest trait and it was on display to the nation when he carried the Chicago Bulls many times during their epic second round playoff series against the Boston Celtics. Fans and critics question Gordon's defensive and passing abilities.

Villanueva's work ethic and consistency have been questioned. He just finished the best season of his career, but skeptics will say he did so because it was a contract year. He'll get called soft for a 6-foot-10 forward. Villanueva plays a similiar offensive game to Rashard Lewis. A lot of people criticized Orlando's signing of him in 2007, too.

NBA and Pistons fans should realize the franchise is trying to rebuild with youth while still being competative. Signing Gordon (26) and Villanueva (24) alone aren't going to bring Detroit back to the 2004 championship glory, especially with the Magic, Cavaliers and Celtics on top of the Eastern Conference.

But bringing in two young, energetic and offensive-minded players that replace a core of aging and unfocused veterans that reached their peak in 2007 is a good thing for the franchise. Dumars likely won't resign Rasheed Wallace (34) and will probably move Richard Hamilton (31) and/or Tayshaun Prince (29), all three of whom were members of that title team.

Detroit desperately needs a post scorer, but the Gordon and Villanueva signings free up Hamilton and Prince to be moved for one or two.

Dumars isn't done. NBA and Pistons fans need to recognize that he's building another team for another title run.

Dwight Howard is bored

A few days after he and his team lost in the NBA Finals, Orlando Magic star Dwight Howard seems completely bored.

The 23-year-old posted about a dozen pictures on Twitter today posing with friends in goofy masks and wigs. Howard also flashes a big white smile with a puppet he calls, Lil Dwight, which mocks the Kobe and LeBron puppet commercials we saw throughout the playoffs.

Dwight seems to be acting like any other jobless and out-of-school 23-year-old in the summer...BORED.

Someone removed my Lil Wayne post

I wrote a post last Friday about Lil Wayne's rap song about Kobe Bryant. I got linked in The Big Lead's 6/6 AM Roundup and got a good amount of hits. But the post is not here anymore and I didn't delete it.

So if you're visiting this blog through that link or from somewhere else on the Internet, I am sorry you got an error message. My guess is Blogger or someone with a copyright issue had it taken down - likely because I linked to a Website in which you could download the song in mp3 format.

Long story short: Weezy apparently recorded the song last Wednesday, released it on Thursday and it was big on the Net on Friday.

The song is all over YouTube if you want a listen. Forward through the Screamin' A. Smith stuff in the first 30+ seconds and you've got a good listen.

Can't resist posting this

It's possible I'm responsible for half of the 300K+ views of this video of Bret Michaels getting blasted by a stage prop on Sunday at the Tony Awards.

The NBA's All-Ugly Team

Me and the fellas over at The Big Lead got on the topic in last night's Late Night posts about the NBA's ugliest players. A lot of names were thrown out there, but here's what we settled on. Bear in mind these are current NBA players, so Sam Cassell, Popeye Jones and the like aren't included.

Point Guard - Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics


What's not going for him:
1) Bug eyes
2) High cheek bones
3) Boney shoulders
4) Abnormally large hands
5) Wears green

AKA: Female alien.

Shooting guard - Delonte West, Cleveland Cavaliers

What's not going for him:
1) Ginger
2) Race unknown
3) Herpes mouth
4) Gross tattoos in bad spots

AKA: Ent from Lord of The Rings (thanks, commenter mrejr)

Small forward - Charlie Villanueva, Milwaukee Bucks


What's not going for him:
1) No body hair
2) Seriously. No body hair.
3) Not even eyebrows

AKA: Shaved cat

Power forward - Robert Swift, Oklahoma City Thunder

1) Ginger
2) Cryptkeeper Hair
3) Uncanny resemblance to the Flying Ginger Shawn White

AKA: Rocky Dennis

Center - Shelden Williams, Sacramento Kings


What's not going for him:
1) Excessively large forehead
2) Ears stopped growing at age 3
3) Eyes roughly 7-8 inches apart
4) Probably drank nerve tonic

AKA: Ken Griffey Jr. from The Simpsons

Also receiving votes: Chris "Caveman" Kaman, Joakim "My Precious" Noah and Adam Morrison (pre- and post-hair)

Extra Starburst help Odom sink Nuggets

Los Angeles Lakers forward Lamar Odom goes through several bags of candy every day. SEVERAL.

Check out ESPN's Shelly Smith's feature on Odom before last night's Game 5 win by the Lakers.



Odom must've ate some extra Starburst before the game because he was huge for the Lakers - 19 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks and the Lakers took a 3-2 series lead.

Postseason LOST nerdy fun

I found this today in Doc Jensen's teaser to his LOST Season 5 wrap-up column.

And as the camera pulls back, we see what we've been waiting to see since we first glimpsed that four-toed foot over three years ago... the towering, majestic statue of the Egyptian goddess Taweret.

There was a lot of Internet discussion and analysis about the identity of the statue, which was represented partially in Season 2 with four toes. The mystery stood for three seasons before an opening scene flashback of Season 5's finale, in which we were treated to a close-up of a completely in tact statue. It was Tawaret, the Egyptian goddess of birth, rebirth and the horizon.

Here's more details about Tawaret...

Early during the Old Kingdom, the Egyptians came to see female hippopotami as less aggressive than the males, and began to view their aggression only as one of protecting their young and being good mothers, particularly since it is the males that are territorially aggressive. Consequently, Taweret became seen, very early in Egyptian history, as a deity of protection in pregnancy and childbirth.

I wouldn't be a true LOST fan (nerd?) if I didn't post my theory.

Despite what the Wikipedia entry says, I don't believe the statue was destroyed sometime before 1974. There isn't proof. Instead, the statue was destroyed in 1977 during The Incident. Explaining The Incident is a debate in itself, but I believe it was the hydrogen bomb-detonating actions by the Losties stuck in 1977. Juliet apparently set off the bomb, known as Jughead, and the screen went white to end Season 5.

As the statue crumbles during this explosion, so does the protection of the pregnant women (this is something we've been made aware of the entire series). Hence all of their deaths and the reason Juliet, a miracle-working fertility doctor, was brought to The Island in 2001. The only proven storyline that corraborates by theory is that Amy berthed Horace's child (Ethan) in 1977. It seems that Juliet's detonation destroyed the statue and subsequently caused the problems with the pregnant women, which brought her to the Island. I-RONY.

Still follow? Good.

Ruminations on Magic's big win

That I did not expect. The Magic went into Cleveland and beat the Cavs 107-106, on a court in which the latter only lost twice all season - to the Lakers and on the final day of the regular season with LeBron and the starters resting.

To be down by 16 and not panic speaks a lot about the Magic and teams at this point in the season. Continuing to play their style and slowly work back into it is the sign of a great team that deserves to be in its conference finals.

I wrote yesterday about the Magic holding a significant frontcourt matchup advantage and I was right. Dwight Howard is too quick for Big Z and too strong for anyone else the Cavs put on him. Only Howard can stop Howard (foul trouble). Rashard Lewis made Anderson Varajeo look slow. That guy was cold as ice in the fourth quarter. I'm not sure if he missed a shot. That game-winning three-pointer with about 14 seconds left was CLUTCH. Hedo Turkoglu was alright and did his fair share of abuse on the Cavs frontcourt.

Cleveland missed tons of open shots, something it hasn't done most of the season. LeBron hogged the ball at times last night when he shouldn't have. But when he did move the ball, no one else seemed to want to do the same thing.

Here's some other reaction around the blogosphere and news sites.