Lombardi's_kid_brother

There is no reason not to trade anyone on this team for the right deal. And the Wizards are in no position to feel clingy with bench guys. In my view, there is only one guy on this team who should be pencilled in long-term, and I'm not even completely sold on him.

To me, that's a front court of a bunch of the same guys - energy/hustle/defense first guys. And there is still not one guy on the roster to either play pick and roll or (more importantly) pick and pop with Wall.

How goofy did Cena look during that? There is one direction that they can go with Cena that is kind of interesting: He can just be a mark. I mean, no other wrestler in history would have stood in that ring and given his basic spiel about honor and decency while getting booed out of the building and then turned around to see a remorseless killing machine like Brock and reacted with....a smile and a handshake. Seriously...who does that? (And does it well dressed like a little kid I should add?) There is an interesting character in that - something like Kurt Angle's All American Dork crossed with a corporate yes man. Someone eager to get into the ring with Brock becase it's good for the company - even if it is bad for your spine. If you do that, the kids can still cheer him while the adults can boo him mercilessly and enjoy him getting turned inside out. The general consensus on the boards seems to be that Cena's role is now "Guy who gets beat by people we liked ten or fifteen years ago." I'm just waiting for D-Lo Brown to come out and beat him up.

You know what I love about wrestling. How stuff just happens. I wish the WWE was better at just letting stuff happen. For example, Punk-Henry. This needs to be a huge feud. Jericho-Punk is fine for what it is. They are great wrestlers who are going to have great matches because they have great matches. But Punk-Henry can be a story. I would happily watch Henry beat the **** of Punk for weeks but for some reason can't quite win the title - countouts, dqs, whatever - until Punk finally solves the puzzle. They did this years ago with Vader-Michaels except they condensed it to one match and it didn't quite work, because for all of Michael's greatness, he was not great at selling. Basically, the match turned into Michaels being dead until he wasn't. So much weird stuff happened last night that I'm certain they did not script. Daniel Bryan is apparently the biggest star in the company not named Lesnar. Punk-Henry have insane chemistry. Cena became a heel by refusing to be a heel. Will they role with this? Or will Vince get pissed that people aren't reacting the way he told them to?

Here's the problem: If he turns heel, who is the babyface? I guess they can do it now with Brock but Brock has never exactly fit the babyface profile. (And to be honest, I want to see Brock in the ring before I get too excited about him. He looked really really out of shape last night). And it's really hard to imagine Randy Orton fighting for the honor of the fans. I guess Punk could do it, but they seem to have created a ceiling for Punk. The Rock obviously could do it, but that's maybe four matches a year if they are lucky. I think what people hate most about Cena is how his presence has kept anyone else from reaching his level. Say what you will about the Hogan Era, but at least three and maybe four guys reached his level during his run. If they wanted to, they could have turned Hogan heel and had him run against a face Savage, Piper, Warrior, or maybe even an Orndorff and it would have worked. But if you watch those old tapes, they never had to. There was never a debate about who the most over babyface in the company was until the 90s. (I recently re-watched all the buildup to Wrestlemania III recently. My God, Hogan was such a villain during that and he still got the face pop to end all face pops in the Silverdome).

I will join the others in saying that the only thing that can hold Davis back is his strength. But he's not Shawn Bradley. Keep in mind that he's grown about a foot in the last four years. I don't think his body has figured itself out yet (that's science!) In a weird way, out of all the Kentucky guys, he might be best served by sticking around another year, but that's obviously silly. Everyone was worried about Noah when he came out of Florida. He's gotten bigger and stronger every year. I think Davis will too. And I completely disagree about him having no offensive game. The little hook shots he was hitting against Ohio State showed a lot of skill. He has a lovely little baseline jumper. He has incredible hands and finishes strong at the rim. And he's a pretty good free throw shooter. He had some trouble with Withey last night, but Withey is a pretty damn good defensive center. How many times in his life has Davis faced a 7-footer who can actually move?

I think he has the chance to be what Garnett became. I really don't remember Garnett's first few seasons because I was kind of out of the NBA loop for a bit and he was in the Northern Wastes. Were his defensive instincts this good out of high school? I honestly don't remember. The one thing Garnett has that Davis does not yet have (though I think he can get it) is that jumper. Garnett was damn near automatic inside of 18 feet in his prime. ---------- Post added April-3rd-2012 at 11:20 AM ---------- A. I don't see how on earth you are comparing a 6'9 forward to a 7'1 center who happens to be a defensive savant. B. Davis should get you 18 and 12 every night - at worse - if he just keeps on the same developmental line. And he will be a Garnett-esque force on the defensive end. Guys like Robinson come out every year. Christ, the Jazz seem to produce them on an assembly line.

But he was forced down our throats for - what - six months? That was also another era when Vince still believed in the smiling babyface. The difference between then and now is obvious. Vince used to - at least on some level - give the people what they wanted. They hated Rocky so he sent him to the NOD to get repackaged. He had no idea what to do with Steve Austin so he said "Try to get over on your own" and when he did, he strapped a rocket to his ass. Last night was fun, because it was basically the fans versus Vince. Vince wants a company where Cena is the top face, because he is good on radio interviews. He wants Del Rio at the top of the card, because he is such a draw in Mexico. Seamus is going to be at the top of the card, because HHH likes Seamus. The fans want to boo Cena out of the building. Vince sends him out there to say basically "I will always be the hero." The fans want Daniel Bryan. So, he has him beat in 18 seconds. The greatest example right now is Zack Ryder. Ryder had the gall to get himself over with no one's help. And Vince has buried him like no one I've ever seen. Ryder has spent the last six months losing every match, getting crippled, and having his chick play him for a fool. Even if there is a push somewhere on the horizon for him, the fans are now programmed to see him as a complete and total loser.

There is a difference between heels getting cheers and faces getting boos and what Cena is doing right now. This is unprecedented. The Rock basically started out with X-Pac heat - except he was getting it as a face. The fans booed him because they disliked him as a performer. So, he turned heel and more or less got real X-Pac heat for a while. Until he became the Rock and was eventually forced into a face turn because he was just that awesome. I don't know if there is a name for a heel being so awesome that they become a face by default, but it could probably be called "Road Warrior Heat." Rock and Austin had that. I've never seen anything like this Cena thing. I don't even think the boos he is getting are directed at him. I think they are directed at the McMahons who insist on pushing this guy down everyone's throats. I'm not even sure a heel turn would be good for Cena, because I'm not sure he can pull off a Bash at the Beach type promo like Hogan could. Nor do I think he knows how to work a heel match like Hogan could. His boos are more about disgust and boredom. The genius of prime Hogan was more or less than he wrestled as a heel even when he was a face. All he had to do when he turned was run during the heat segment instead of taking the beating.

Last night just proved how weak a top guy Cena really is. Seriously, could you imagine Hogan or Savage or Flair or Austin or the Rock letting an arena completely overpower their promo like that? I'm surpised the force of Lesnar's charisma didn't push Cena into the fourth row when he showed up. Here is the difference between pro wrestling as an "art" and pro wrestling as a "performance." The most awesome part of that ending was the way Brock just casually kicked that stupid green hat out of the ring at the end. I'm sure that was not "on the script" but that's the kind of thing that takes a moment to the next level. I end with a question. I have been watching pro wrestling since 1980. I have never seen the fans boo a wrestler NOT making a heel turn before. Has anyone ever seen anything like that before?

Jesus Christ, that is idiotic. What I found amazing about Davis were: 1. His rebounding instincts. It's one thing to be the biggest guy on the court and just grab the ball before it reaches everyone else. He always finds the ball. He's on the proper side of the rim and just engulfs it. 2. How many of his blocks led directly to fast breaks. This is a lost art in the NBA where most bigs either spike the ball or send it into the third row. 3. His basketball IQ. He really reminds me of Duncan on that end. Granted, Duncan had a far more polished offensive game when he came out, but Davis just gets basketball. (Actually, everyone on that Kentucky team gets it. I think the team's basketball IQ was higher than Calipari's - who still doesn't know how to manage a second half worth a damn.

So...the race for the top draft pick have just gotten interesting.

Kirilenko is a 31 percent 3-point shooter; Vesely has never taken a three point shot. Is he going to suddenly teach himself to shoot long range jumpers one summer? Isn't that something you enter the league with?

Wasn't that going to be the way that Sean May became a star? I know May had injury issues, but I dunno. 15 years ago, I would be on board. Now, the league is loaded with power forwards who run and jump like guards. He'll defintely need to be in the right system.

You can go very far in college by being strong and absolutely relentless. In the NBA, strong and relentless means that a goofball like Javale sends your shot into the sixth row.

After that Baylor game, I don't know if I could bring myself to draft Jones at any point in the first round. How do you not show up in an NCAA tourney game? Sully works really really hard. I also think he is going to get his shot blocked five times a game in the pros. He reminds me an awful lot of Big Baby since they both seem nailed to the floor.

The bizarre thing about Orlando is that it's not a halfway bad team. Jameer Nelson is having a some kind of crisis of confidence this year but he's a pretty good PG. Ryan Anderson is the perfect guy to play next to Dwight. If it didn't have so many awful contracts tying up its cap space, it would be one deadline trade from contending for the title. Like - imagine if you could insert Ellis into the 2 guard spot there..... I don't entirely get what Dwight wants. Even with Williams, I think the supporting cast on the Nets would be worse than what he has in Orlando. From a basketball standpoint, his choices to me are; 1. Chicago 2. Houston 3. Orlando None of those teams seem to be on his radar.

Steve Nash is 39 and not slowing down. I'm not even sure Kobe is out of his "prime" yet. I think he plays at an All Star level until he is 37 or 38. And I can see him in MJ on the Wizards mode until he is, Christ, 43? 44? ---------- Post added February-29th-2012 at 03:57 PM ---------- I stopped reading there. No one goes to the D-league to get better. They go to the D-league as punishment and/or desperation.

I'm sort of intrigued by the fact that this idea that you belong to the WWE until death has actually caught fire. The main problem in wrestling right now is that all the guys on the WWE roster grew up wanting to be wrestlers. Wrestlers used to end up in wrestling by accident - Ric Flair just happened to bouncing at a bar that Ken Patera drank at. Hulk Hogan lifted in a gym with the Briscoes. Now, it's a career decision made at age 15. This is really being exposed by the build to Wrestlemania. The guys in the top matches don't care about creating "Wrestlemania moments;" they want to beat up their opponent and win their matches. That's what has always made wrestling tick. Acting like a Cirque de Solei performer does not work.

Why is Howard going to sign to a team that is worse than Orlando, in a city with ****tier weather than Orlando, on a team that has no Q rating at all, and in an area that will increase his tax bill? Explain in 500 words or less.

I've watched that play 8 times like it was the Zapruder Film. Where is Wall throwing that pass? Is he throwing a lob for a dunk? I have no sense of the depth from that image. It's a dumb pass. But I also have no idea what McGhee is doing. When he realizes that the ball is not going to be reversed to his side (which is probably what needed to happen in the first place, he needs to spin to the middle. He spins to the right - away from his man and the ball. So...yea...what I gather from that is that no one on the Wizards knows how to play basketball.

That trade makes no sense for anyone. There are two teams out there who win a title if they acquire Ray Allen - OKC, Chicago - and four more who suddenly become major threats. Why would he come to Washington to play on a ten-win team? And why do the Wizards really want a 37-year-old guard next year? I mean, it would be nice to have a great veteran leader on the team, but there are all kinds of problems with that marriage for both teams. ---------- Post added February-23rd-2012 at 11:49 AM ---------- I like those moves. I think I'm the only Kris Humphries fan in America though.

The level of luck there is off the charts. Durant is a Hall of Fame level talent. So, they had to be in the lottery the year he was available and they needed Portland to take the crippled center in front of them. Westbrook is the classic "project" lottery pick who never develops, except in three years, he became not only an All-Star but an All-Star who is willing to spend his entire damn career in a backwater like Oklahoma City. Ibaka was a classic late-round overseas flyer pick. Again, these guys work out one out of every ten times. The best case scenario is usually DeSagana Diop. This guy, as others have said, turns into Ben Wallace with a pretty jumper. There was nothing all that lucky about Harden. That's just a great pick. The only "lucky" thing is that he's not the type to demand starters minutes and 25 shots a night. Because on the Wizards, he would be playing 40 minutes and taking 25 shots a night. The other player to consider is Jeff Green who was good enough to trade for one of the ten legit centers in the league. They got lucky that his health problems didn't show up until after the trade.

All the Wizards need to do is follow the OKC model of drafting two guys who should make All NBA teams every year for the next ten years and then drafting another young guy who can score 20 points a night while coming off the bench and then draft a "project" who can occasionally put up a triple double with points, rebounds, and blocks. It's so simple.

Oh, Christ. The Wizards have one real talent and you want to put him in an offense that essentially neutralizes all of his skills? That's insane.