Me And Andrew Bogut Like Andrew Bogut

A while ago - about two years, to be inexact - I wrote this:

.......one of my most extreme pet hates is the hand slapping after a free throw. It seems to lead to nothing but awkwardness. What if the free throw shooter doesn't step forward, leaving himself agonizingly out of reach of the rebounder? They're then both left to slap air. Does one of them make the final push to close the gap? Or do they leave it as an air shot? And is that a good precedent when shooting a free throw? Also, when the players come in from behind and smack the shooter on the arse, he generally is not expecting it. This often leads to them instinctively flailing out behind them to try and return the gesture, again coming up with nothing but air. Who is this helping? Does it help the shooter to do this? Do they get the feeling that his team mates are not rooting for him, unless this mindless routine is adhered to? Makes no sense to me. I would outlaw this instantly.

And I stand by it. It is, truly, an extremely gay ritual. However, I decided against a fully fledged campaign against it, for fear of its abject pointlessness being used against me.

It does appear, though, as if I have at least one supporter - Milwaukee Bucks centre Andrew Bogut.

Andrew Bogut has never been one to fear alienating himself, after incidents in the past such as deeming the majority of NBA players as being obseesed with "bling" (for which he was right), and after growing a seriously weird pony tail (for which he was oh so wrong). And seemingly his alienating worked, for not one teammate tried to touch his hands or his arse after this made free throw versus Atlanta, which is normally an automatic gesture of affection, comaraderie and slight homosexuality after every free throw, made or missed.

So he improvised.



Despite implications to the contrary on his profile - one which needs rewriting, after Bogut's recent and totally unexpected improvements in his weak side shotblocking - I like Andrew Bogut. In a league devoid of personality, Bogut has the outlines of one. And even if it's an extremely self-confident personality with the tiniest hints of martyrdom, that is, nevertheless, a personality.

In a league full Of Josh Smith's, I welcome this.

With apologies to Dwight Howard

In my season preview of the Orlando Magic, written back in October and located here, I wrote something that looks a bit stupid in hindsight. At this point, I'd quite like to try and weasel my way out most of it.

The following are some quotes that I stand by:

It would be very difficult if not impossible to provide a commentary on the Rashard Lewis sign-and-trade while also managing to take an interesting or unique viewpoint, or to say anything that hasn't already been said. So I won't. But I will recommend that you look at the figure that he signed for (listed above), and think long and hard about whether he is worth it. And if you come up with any answer other than "no", keep looking at it until you do. In 2013, a 33 year old Rashard Lewis is going to be being paid nearly $22.7 million. It's freakin' bizarre. Or freakin' stupid, pick your own adjective. Both work.

---

So now, ask yourselves whether the trio of Hill, Milicic and Diener (who should, without a doubt, have played over Carlos Arroyo all of last season, and who is now nicely lined up for a breakout season) is going to help any more than Rashard Lewis on his own. It's a tough answer, but either way, the Magic's player personel did not improve much. If at all.

---

Last season's mediocre performance suggests that the good run to end the 2005/06 season was nothing more than an aberration. With better coaching and better performance this season, the Magic have the opportunity to show that it was last season that was the anomaly instead. If Orlando gets breakout performances from one or perhaps a couple of young players (specifically looking in the directions of Jameer Nelson and J.J. Redick), they could contend for the open Southeast Division title.

If you only read those three passages, then I wrote a damn fine piece. However, I ended it like this:

Perhaps a more realistic expectation, though, would be for a low playoff seed once again.

Um, well, that's proven to be wrong so far.

Currently, the Magic reside atop the Southeast Division, with a record of 22-13. Their nearest rivals in the division are the Washington Wizards at 16-15, who apparently just lost Gilbert Arenas for the rest of the season. And in third place are the Atlanta Hawks, who are trying to justify my playoff call with a 15-16 record and a damn tough schedule thus far.

The Magic are the third seed in the East thus far, which is no mean feat given how the top two teams (Boston and Detroit) are by far and away superior to the rest of the conference. Now obviously they're inevitably going to lose this third to the mighty and surging Chicago Bulls (you heard it here first), but even so, they should still come fourth in the East. And that's not a "low playoff seed".

So somewhere along the line, barring dramatic unpredictable implosion, I've made a boo-boo.

I stand by my views on the Rashard Lewis deal, as he quite frankly hasn't been even nearly worth it thus far. I also can't be expected to have predicted the Keith Bogans Jumpshot Spectacular that's bizarrely given unto us by the Lord this season, although I won't be entirely surprised if he regresses to somewhere near his career norm any day now. The point guard play still isn't very good, although I did overlook the fact that Carlos Arroyo's contract is expiring, which always leads to him giving forth a more concerted effort. And I strongly admire Orlando General Manager Otis Smith's efforts to sabotage his team's good play with another poor trade, needlessly shipping Trevor Ariza to the Lakers for Maurice Evans and Brian Cook, two players who offer nothing that Orlando couldn't have gotten from within. The chances are that Smith has at least one more of those left in the gun yet, too.

But mainly, the prediction is my own fault, and it's rather to simple to see why.

I forgot to account for the fact that Dwight Howard is, quite simply, the shit.

Whoops. Sorry, Dwight.

Introducing Atlanta Hawks cheerleader, Briana

I think I've made my point.

30 teams in 36 or so days: Atlanta

Atlanta Hawks

Players acquired via free agency or trade:

None



Players acquired via draft:

First round: Al Horford (3rd overall), Acie Law IV (11th overall)



Players retained:

None



Players departed:

Royal Ivey (unsigned, crap), Slava Medvedenko (unsigned, crap), Esteban Batista (unsigned, crap)



Bobbins:

The Hawks got lucky, I think they would admit that. The Joe Johnson trade of 2005 left the Hawks owing two first round picks to Phoenix. One of these had already been conveyed, and was used to select Rajon Rondo last year, whom Phoenix then stupidly sold to Boston. The other pick was still outstanding headed into this summer, and was only top 3 protected, meaning that Atlanta had to win a top three spot in the lottery.

They did this, despite only having the fourth worst record and thus only the fourth most chances of moving up (I say "only", but that's enough to make it a statistical improbability). For that, they should be bloody thankful - had they not done so, they would have had a mediocre roster, with only an MLE and the number 11 pick to work with to improve it. And that would not have been fun. Ironically, the three teams with worse records than Atlanta (Milwaukee, Boston, Memphis) all failed to move up, thus proving the worthlessness of statistical probability.

(Incidentally, the number 11 pick itself was also subject to changes in the lottery - the pick was Indiana's as a part of the Al Harrington last summer, and had top 10 protection on it. Had Indiana moved up in the lottery, Atlanta would not have gotten it, and had Indiana moved up into Atlanta's place moving Atlanta out of the top three, Atlanta would have had no first rounder at all this year. Which would have been bad.)

Despite that little but of sorely needed good fortune, things could have been so much more profitable for Atlanta this offseason, were it not for a few things not quite falling their way. As welcome as it was to move up to the number 3 spot, the position is something of an anti-climax in this 'two superstars' draft: it only needed one more spot, and Atlanta had either Greg Oden or Kevin Durant to call their own. And if Billy Knight hadn't decided that the holy trinity of Speedy Claxton, Lorenzen Wright and Anthony Johnson was so valuable that it was worth spending nearly $12.5 million for next year (and, in the case of Johnson, also costing the Hawks their 2007 second round pick), Atlanta would also have had maximum cap room this offseason.

So that's a bugger.

(That trio, by the way, combined to score 597 points on 658 shots for Atlanta last year, at a scintillating 39% shooting, 54% from the free throw line. And they aren't there for their defense. Wright is now a third string center, and Claxton and Johnson are fighting it out for the 3rd and 4th string point guard spots. Feisty!)

Still, regardless of what mistakes had been made prior, General Manager Billy Knight made the correct picks with his two first rounders. Needing a young power forward/center with an inside scoring game, and a point guard who could distribute the ball, play some defense and not suck too much, Knight chose Horford and Law. The two not only figure to be a good young tandem to add to an already highly talented young core of players, but who also sound like a very believable name for an accounting company. And that's what matters, really.

Seemingly working to a budget, with both Josh Smith and Josh Childress to have their extensions (if signed) kick in next season, the Hawks haven't made any roster moves outside of these draft picks. With 14 roster spots filled with guaranteed contracts, the Hawks didn't have a lot of room to play around anyway. The only sub plot to develop from the Hawks offseason has been surrounding the man himself, Esteban Batista.

Left unrestricted by the Hawks, Batista has attracted a modicum of interest around the league, largely based off of his performances in the FIBA tournament this summer. It sure wasn't for his performances in his first two seasons in the NBA - Batista played 576 minutes in his two seasons and 70 games with the Hawks, the majority of which came in garbage time. Given my undue and inexplicable love for terrible basketball players and the garbage time in which they shine, I endeavoured to try and watch every single minute in which he played, and came fairly close to doing so. All Batista managed to demonstrate to NBA standard was his rebounding psoitional sense, and good strength. Everything else was lacking. In layman's terms, he did sod all.

And yet now, he's strangely hot property, due to his fine performances on the big stage as Uruguay's personal one man show. Hmmm. Maybe he got better or something. Or maybe I'm just wrong about stuff. That would be bad, but a fair comment.



Next season:

Last season, I pencilled the Hawks in for roughly 38-40 wins. I did not document this anywhere, which was probably best, given that they missed this mark by the worryingly large margin of 10 games.

With the benefit of hindsight, it's easy to see why they did so. Never a particularly deep roster to begin with, only one Hawks player managed to play over 72 games (Shelden Williams with 81), and even All Star Joe Johnson's consecutive games streak ending at 376, playing in only 57 contests for the year. Additionally, the unmitigated disaster that was the signings of Speedy Claxton and Lorenzen Wright did not help anyone, nor did the deadline trade for Anthony Johnson. Point guard play all season long was a massive weakness, as you would expect from any team which featured Tyronn Lue as its best, most consistent option at the position. And the backup center soap opera continued to disappoint with no real resolution to be found.

Despite all of what went wrong, though, I don't believe that a similar prediction for next year would be too out of the question. Point guard remains a concern - Claxton's knees may never be good again, and who knows how well or how quicly Law adjusts - but the Hawks should have more luck with injuries this year, and they also have an extremely talented roster, something often overlooked. With a lineup scheduled to feature Josh Smith, Joe Johnson, Shelden Williams, Horford + Law Ltd, Josh Childress, Zaza Pachulia and Marvin Williams, Atlanta boasts a young rotation full of talented players who continue to improve, and who have mostly been together for quite a while now. While as a team they continue to struggle for consistency, their talent level counts for quite a lot, and having young role players like Salim Stoudamire and Solomon Jones on hand too is a further bonus.

Although they've had to trawl through some hard times, some bad luck and some mismanagement to get there, the Hawks have wound up with a core of players that almost every team in the NBA, bar about 6, would dearly swap with. And that counts for a lot.

It just should have been better.

Still, their expendable players can rustle up about $10 million in expiring contracts, should they choose to go that route. Let's see what becomes of that.

Probably nothing.