Envelope opening is more fun than a Conference Final game

Winning the lottery is like winning the lottery

The Utah Jazz were down 2-0 to the Rockets heading home for game 3, and things turned out fine for them. This time, it’s not as easy as just winning home games and then looking to steal one on the road. That is still the plan, but these are the Spurs not the Rockets. Cub will have his game recap later today. The lottery was much more interesting. San Antonio isn’t even selling out the arena.

Lang followed the lottery live as it happened. Forgetting all of your team allegiances for the moment, this is the best thing that could have happened to the NBA. The teams with the three worst records carried their bad karma from tankology ‘07 with them to the lottery. Remember the game where Michael Redd was unstoppable for 3 quarters and then wasn’t allowed to touch the ball in the fourth? I do. How about Boston holding Al Jefferson and Paul Pierce out? Now they’ve got Doc coming back without the quick fix once in a generation franchise savior. Memphis? Their plan was “Hey let’s see how Toney Barone does. We can’t win in the West anyways.” Is Larry Brown still coming to town? He doesn’t have his David Robinson to allow him to get the credit for the quick turnaround.

But enough about those losers. I know many of you are waiting with baited breath for the Bill Simmons column about how cursed the Celtics are and that they will never be good again. As am I. But the Red Sox own baseball right now, after a small run of bad luck for most of a century. Things should even out in life, and that seems to be happening. Celtics fans are just going to have to live with their glorious past of Russell, Bird, Cousy, all the history and banners. Not the present/future though! Good luck with all that.

Lang covered one of the big winners of the night, the Atlanta Hawks. Congrats to him and Hawks nation for not only keeping the rights to what is now the 11th pick, but for landing in the top 3 as well. Many options.

Seattle fans, your team has been stuck in NBA purgatory for a while. Getting into the playoffs and making a little noise at the very most. Never being so terribly bad as to be accused of tanking. When Ray Allen started having injury problems early in the season, I begged for him to take some time off. According to my research, that was on December 7th. But the Sonics didn’t exactly go into tank mode. Rashard Lewis was gunning for a mega contract and got them more wins than they needed at the end of the year. Seattle deserves this.

And finally, Portland… Trail… Blazers. We had a special guest on SLAM radio that predicted they would win the championship. He must have meant the lottery. Back to back rookie of the years? Not a bad foundation.
Congrats to all the Blazer fans out there. Henry Abbott of True Hoop fame – A Blazer fan - takes over espn’s basketball section, and now the Blazers are winning the lottery? Hmmmmmmm…

The Knicks didn’t get completely fleeced by the Bulls (this year) and that’s almost as good as winning a championship the way standards have been dropping over there.

Alright, no games are being played tonight. The LOST two hour finale is on. At this time tomorrow, our collective minds will have been blown. In 12 hours, there will be fifteen minutes until the show starts. I am mentally there already. Today is a holiday.

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This story is filed under: Blogs, NBA, The Peoples Champ

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54 Responses to “Envelope opening is more fun than a Conference Final game”

Detroit11 Posted: May.23 at 9:00 am
First?
Myung Posted: May.23 at 9:01 am
I was so happy about the Hawks “win” last night that I forgot there was an actual basketball game.
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 9:01 am
TWELVE HOURS AND THREE MINUTES!!!
Detroit11 Posted: May.23 at 9:02 am
And does anyone think that Oden being mentored by Zach Randolph could turn out to be anything other then disaster?
Eoin Posted: May.23 at 9:03 am
Seattle deserves to pair Ray Allen with what is currently a skinnier version of Rashard Lewis?Sonics fans better hope Durant turns into the next Jordan.The only other way this team is going anywhere is if they blow everything up big time.
Sam Rubenstein Posted: May.23 at 9:12 am
The Sonics do have trade flexibilty. Maybe they could move Ray and/or Rashard for smaller pieces and start over.
I love how the West is superior to the East and now the 2 supposed franchise players in the draft are both going to bad teams in the West, which in theory should make them less bad or good. The East is never going to not suck.
Steve O Posted: May.23 at 9:13 am
I’m a C’s fan and I just put my order in for a green Yi Jianlian jersey. While it does suck we didn’t come away with a top 2 pick I can’t really complain. Sam is right, as is everyone else who has brought up the fact the Celtics have had a nice run and might deserve some losing years. We may have to weather the storm but hopefully it doesn’t last too long.
Cheryl Posted: May.23 at 9:17 am
Listen, don’t be surprised if Randolph is traded fro a couple of “character” veterans. And Darius Miles is already out of there, right? I’m going to be late several times next season to get a look at that team. They have a bright future. Maybe the Heat can somehow swing Rashard Lewis now that Seattle will have Durant and Allen at the 2 and 3. One can dream, right?
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 9:22 am
Between Magloire, Z-Bo and D.Miles, Potland has enough trade bait to land a quality point guard. Mike Bibby? Jason Kidd? Jason Terry? Hell, Mike Conley? WIth the right point, this team could be going to the second round next year.
Detroit11 Posted: May.23 at 9:25 am
Sam, you are so right about the West. The good thing I can take out of that is that my Pistons will be sitting atop the East for a few more years w/ only Chicago primed to give them a legit challenge. But the West is so loaded its ridiculous….
Tariq Posted: May.23 at 10:00 am
Max, do you really think it would be a good idea for the Blazers to trade for Jason Kidd? They have an excellent nucleus in Oden, Randolph and Roy, and they should just let them develop and gel for a year or two. In ayear or two Jason Kidd will be 49.
Tariq Posted: May.23 at 10:04 am
I really hope Ray Allen is traded to a contender. Seattle and Portland will contend for the 2012 Western Conference Finals, but Ray should be making deep playoff runs while he still can. I really hope that Jermaine O’Neal, KG, Ray-Ray and Michael Redd won’t be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention next season by November 12th.
H to the izzo Posted: May.23 at 10:06 am
With Durant in town(whatever city that’ll be)I think that Seattle(?) will have a legitmite chance of making some noise next year maybe go a few rounds in the playoffs.They still need some muscle inside to win it all but it doesn’t look a million miles away.Maybe they could make a move for Z.Bo in exchange for Ridnour and get a point from the free agency or make a move for Conley
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 10:07 am
I wish I could post the Lost Spoiler for tonight but I don’t want to ruin it for everyone else. But Sam, you WILL lose your mind. The only thing I will say is it is centered around Jack.
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 10:13 am
Not the best idea but still an idea. I feel you Tariq, Kidd is old, but he’s still the best PG available (allegedly) and would be a good mentor to Jarret Jack who would make a nice backup. But maybe they do package some of these guys for a run at Conley instead, Greg did say they want to play together…
Keith Posted: May.23 at 10:13 am
For Bucks sake.
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 10:14 am
And Eboy, ruin it for me. Im a spoiler whore. mdotbrown @ gmail.com
Milan Posted: May.23 at 10:23 am
Please, Sam, go easy on the spoilers tomorrow on this site, cause chances are I’m gonna read anything you write, before I watch the final. I’m happy for the Sonics that they got a high pick and I also hope the Bulls use their #9 pick for someone useful.
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 10:31 am
Max, check your email.
H to the izzo Posted: May.23 at 10:36 am
Eboy a spoiler for me too if ya don’t mind I won’t be able to watch it ampr51@hotmail.com
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 10:38 am
Eboy, I havent gotten anything yet.
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 10:45 am
izzo, check your email. Max, I’ll send it again.
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 10:46 am
Thanks dude. I put space between the my actual email address so that Sam wouldnt have to moderate it. Maybe that was the prob…
H to the izzo Posted: May.23 at 10:50 am
Thanks Eboy,to everyone who will be watching it,its f*ckin ridiculous
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 10:54 am
Izzo, help me out.
H to the izzo Posted: May.23 at 10:57 am
Just sent it ya there Max
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 10:57 am
Max does gmail not liek AOL? WTF.
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 10:59 am
How about like.
Max Airington Posted: May.23 at 10:59 am
Apparently GMail does not want me to see this. I give up. Thanks anyway guys. TEN HOURS AND FOUR MINUTES!!!
bigmike407 Posted: May.23 at 11:01 am
The Blazers need a PG. But you can’t pass on Oden. But Memphis and Boston got what they deserved. The Lottery did its job. It is in place for bad teams to improve. Teams who sell off the season for positions in the Lottery never succeed. Not since the Knicks got Ewing has the truly worst team got the top pick. Look back: When the Magic got Shaq and Webber in consecutive years, they missed the Playoffs on the last day or two of the season both times. When Cleveland got Lebron, they were one of the worst teams, but not the worst. People get it twisted that the Lottery is to make the worst team the best, but it’s there for all of the non-playoff teams to come up, not just the worst one or two teams. Check the history to verify what I’ve said here.
H to the izzo Posted: May.23 at 11:02 am
Max I tried to send it twice and it failed twice there might be something wrong with your mail,do have any other address
whooo! Posted: May.23 at 11:02 am
i dunno bout ppl rushing to say portland or seattle going a few rounds in the playoffs next yr. phx, dallas, san an, are still round, probably getting better too, so they should make a push for the northwest to lock up the 4 seed. but that also means beating out utah and denver. and this is ignoring the potential sucess of teams like houston, n.o., and kobe. the west is brutal, and t-mac and melo haven’t even made it out the 1st round yet, what’s to say these 2 rooks are gonna do it? like sam said, it’s bout the future, and they’re definately in the right direction, but nothing is entitled to the team by winning their player.
Dblizzy! Posted: May.23 at 11:08 am
Doesn’t Conley Jr. look like Donkey from Shrek??
Anyway, I hope Durant has been eating and hitting the weights, he’s a good scorer and all that but it won’t be as easy for him to get his shot of accurately with a grown man putting some body on him.
Nothin_personal Posted: May.23 at 11:09 am
There is atleast one Redd/Boozer type in this draft, and probably a couple of JHo types too. I don’t know too much about the US guys, but judging from wher Belinelli and Rudy Fernandez are projected (huge talents, take my word on that), this class is deep.
whooo! Posted: May.23 at 11:17 am
bigmike, cleveland traded a budding pg in andre miller (who led the league in assists) to the clips for darius miles in 2002-03, setting themselves for a 17 win season. they got lebron by having the worst record in the league (tied w/ denver). the very next year, orlando had the worst record in the league w/ only 21 wins w/ t-mac, and they won the #1 pick. so yes, the worst team doesn’t always win (that’s why it’s a lottery), but they have the best chances of winning, as seen as recently as ‘03 & ‘04!
Bigi Posted: May.23 at 11:19 am
Too bad that Telfair dude sucks…Because now the Blazers could have a pretty good team…
deestarbuckz the Notorious H.A.T.E. Posted: May.23 at 11:49 am
Yes “brother” I will be late to work just for the Lost finale! Damn Tivo tonight, I will take the reprimand! Eboy… I would as for the spoiler too, but I wanna SEE what happens!
Baller av undergangen Posted: May.23 at 11:54 am
being a C’s fan i can only sigh and hope Danny “I’m not qualified” Ainge can do a good job with the draft. *sigh*
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 11:55 am
deestarbuckz, just make sure you SEE the last 5 minutes. If it is what I received, that sh*t is bananas.
deestarbuckz the Notorious H.A.T.E. Posted: May.23 at 12:08 pm
I will make sure I do! I had damn near given up on the show because of a few of the earlier episodes but now… WHEW!!! Oh… GO CAVS!!!
Rich Posted: May.23 at 12:33 pm
Bulls should trade Duhon or Hinrich and the 9th pick for Z-Bo. This would solve Portland’s PG issues, and BG can move over to the point, leaving Thabo at the 2. The Bulls starting five would be: BG, Thabo, Deng, Z-Bo, and Wallace. Tell me that ain’t a good hand. Can’t beat it. After watching these playoffs, Kirk ain’t bigtime like we in the Chi thought.
Russ Bengtson Posted: May.23 at 12:37 pm
It’s scary when Danny Ainge and Billy Knight have to actually think. And not that Ainge had anything to do with it, but it’s always fun to look back at the ‘97 Draft when the C’s had No. 3 and No. 6, and came away with Chauncey Billups (traded halfway through his rookie year for Kenny Anderson) and Ron Mercer. They could have had Billups (and, you know, kept him) and Tracy McGrady. Or Tim Thomas. Or Stephen Jackson (who went 43rd).
Russ Bengtson Posted: May.23 at 12:38 pm
And that’s too much to give up for Z-bo, IMO.
SK Posted: May.23 at 1:11 pm
As long as we’re tearing off old scabs, Russ, let’s consider the 2001 draft when the C’s took Joe Johnson (good pick, but traded too soon in Pyrrhic run to E. Conf. Finals), Kedrick Brown (exercised option to take Denver’s pick one year too soon; C’s could have had Denver’s #5 pick the next year), and Joe Forte (six picks in front of Tony Parker, the PG they desperately needed). As Tony would say, Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose (translation: No booty again tonight, Eva? Aw maaaan….)
Allenp Posted: May.23 at 1:24 pm
They will not get Randolph for Duhon and the 9th pick. HInrich would be too much cause Gordon would struggle at the one. Plus, even though he is a scorer, Randolph would clash with Skiles. If the Bulls had kept Aldridge, they wouldn’t be having these problems.
Ryan Jones Posted: May.23 at 1:32 pm
What is “Lost”?
white hot eboy Posted: May.23 at 1:44 pm
Ryan, The Heat’s chances at a repeat.
BKBishop Posted: May.23 at 2:33 pm
Seattle should start a lineup of Ridnour, Ray, durant, Lewis, and Wilcox….a low budget Phoenix….they’ll be fun to watch and they could win more games then expected depending on how well Ridnour runs the offense….that’s a lot of fire power!!!!
Stuie Posted: May.23 at 5:32 pm
I don’t get why every one thinks durant is going to seattle. I mean the trailblazers already have Alridge, LaFrentz, Maglorie, Randolph, and Pryzbilla. Unless they let Randolph go why would they need another big guy. I’d say drop miles and start either Outlaw or Durant. Hey even if they keep Miles its still better.
Russ Bengtson Posted: May.23 at 6:22 pm
J.R. Rider will play another game with the Blazers before Darius Miles does.
slate Posted: May.24 at 3:43 pm
@Stuie: that’s the same mentality Portland had when they passed on Jordan,they already drafted Drexler the year before, why take another 6′6″/6′7″ 2G? We all know how that turned out,so now who think they’re gonna take?Potential franchise centers come along much less often than versatile scorers.They can use those big men as trade bait to further improve their potentially up & coming team.
slate Posted: May.24 at 3:47 pm
Hey Sam y’all ended that nickname contest for Brandon Roy one day early ’cause without a doubt we all know his nickname has gotta be “Lucky-Boy” Roy.
Stuie Posted: May.24 at 4:21 pm
@Slate
Ok lets look at some facts now before you think oden is that good. KD won college player of the year award. Although oden mad it to the finals i dont think he will play like he did in that game all of the time. If you remeber in the rest of the playoffs he sat out with foul trouble. I Think you would want some one who can play more than half a quarter before getting in foul trouble.
slate Posted: May.25 at 5:00 pm
@ Stuie:First things first.I think (I know) KD is a better basketballplayer,no doubt.But he’s more of a finished product than GO.GO is gonna have his bumps n bruises most big men do.College is not made for them thats why you always see them in foul trouble,and remember shot blockers/defensive players are prone to foul more than others because they put themselves in a position to get into foul trouble,but you just cant pass up a defensive minded player with a higher ceiling.As time goes on he wont be in foul trouble as often(respect from the refs),his offense will improve and overall(like KD)will become a better overall player.The bottom line you cant go wrong with either way But just like when you’re choosing up sides:’WHEN IN DOUBT TAKE THE BIG MAN”