ESPN fun

[Gregory Odegaard <grodeg@kalama.com>]

Me again, still not back on list (HELP Paul)  Email any comments etc. to grodeg@scattercreek.com.  Would again appreciate any digest info to catch up.

Thanks,
Greg

Net loss, Wes may stay, and Bonzi!
 By Eric Karabell
ESPN.com 

 Johnny Newman and the Nets really enjoyed Boston's visit to North Jersey. Boston Celtics fans are passionate about their team, which is good. However, the ones we come across, in general, are not so realistic. They write in every week to complain about where the team is in the Power Rankings, whine that we don't give Antoine Walker enough love as a Hero in Around The Rim, and point out every chance they get that Adrian Griffin should still be the leading contender for Rookie of the Year. 

Last night, the Celtics, who are 21-27 by the way, allowed the New Jersey Nets, a team shooting a mild .424 from the field this season, worse than every other team in the NBA except the Bulls (worse than the Clips!), to put up 46 points in the first quarter and shoot .580 for the game. Two guys scored 30 and Kendall Gill looked like an All-Star. Jim McIlvaine, who managed to foul out in his 15 minutes, had eight points! 

Now, we're willing to admit some teams just have bad nights, but, Celtics fans, wake up. Your team is ranked No. 20 in the Power Rankings for a reason. Continue to beg for more positive coverage and favorable treatment, if you like, but ... there's always Spring Training and the Red Sox this month. Go Carl Everett! 

One last thing before we begin: Dennis Rodman makes his Mavs debut tonight. His hair color is blonde, by the way. Pressure? Dennis says: "I know pressure, I've been married once." Look for many, many more great quotes in the future from this guy. 

Anyway, here's Wednesday's Around The Rim. On Friday we will be live in Oakland, Calif., site of All-Star weekend, and filing a special Rim from there. As always, if you wanna vent your feelings, don't make like Dick Vermeil and cry, just click here and e-mail us. 

In Heroes and Goats, we obviously have to pick a Net as a hero. Since Keith Van Horn managed to turn the ball over eight times to go with his 30 and nine boards, we pick the point guard. ... Muggsy Bogues won't be a hero, but that's an impressive 12 assists off the bench for him in 24 minutes, a bunch in trash time. ... Maybe Clifford Robinson is hurt, but that's a few bad shooting games in a row now. If Karl Malone finds a way out of the All-Star game, Antonio McDyess just might get the nod. ... Watching Horace Grant on offense these days is a bit painful. Not only is he old, he can't push and shove with guys like Tim Duncan and David Robinson each night, or try to score on them. He was 1-for-9, but we'll spare him goat status. Enjoy. 

... and Goats 
Adrian Griffin
Celtics If you're hurt, sit down; Shot 1-for-7, now 9-for-37 since coming back


What are they thinking?
First, Michael Jordan screwed up the Gar Heard firing, the Rod Higgins hiring and the half-hearted, you're-our-second-choice Darrell Walker admiring. Now he wants Wes Unseld to stay on board for another five years. What gives? 

Wes is a nice guy, but that can't stop us from telling it like it is. He's not the best evaluator of talent in the NBA. Neither is Elgin Baylor. Great players, yes, great GMs, no. All MJ needs for proof is to look at the team. Sure, some of it can be blamed on Abe Pollin, who spearheaded the Juwan Howard deal, and some of it can be blamed on the players, who are quite accomplished but now look old and disinterested. However, Wes deserves some blame, right? 

Unseld has not agreed yet to the five-year extension, so MJ has time to take it back. Hopefully he'll handle this one better than he did the Gar Heard thing. We'll be watching. 

And over in Clipper world, where poor Jim Todd is now in charge for this season while Chris Ford is celebrating, there's talk Kareem Abdul-Jabbar might want to become the latest Hall of Famer to enter the non-playing NBA world so he can sully his rep. Kareem's coaching experience at this point has been only as helping to coach a high school team on an Arizona reservation. 

So, clearly the next step up would be the Clips. 

FANTASY CORNER . Jim McIlvaine is being picked up in fantasy leagues now. That's how desperate people are for blocks. 

. Quote from all Andre Miller owners: "Brevin, take all the time you want with that ankle injury." 

. If you have Glen Rice, you have to be patient with him. He really can turn it on at any time. Of course, a trade wouldn't be a bad thing at all. 

. Rookie Shawn Marion is back. Don't look for big numbers, though he did do some nice things against the Grizz. But that was a blowout. Unless Uncle Cliffy continues to struggle... 

. Anthony Mason becoming the point forward has to be good for his game, because he was struggling. All his numbers are down. A triple double here and there would be nice. 

. Staying with Charlotte, Derrick Coleman continues to get it done. At this point there's no reason to think he'll all of a sudden go in the tank. Of course, people have said that before. 

. Is anyone more up and down than Shandon Anderson? You know, sometimes he can be pretty good. Hard to recommend highly though. 

. Kurt Thomas had a nice first game as a starter. It wasn't a fluke. 

. Kenny Anderson had one assist vs. the Nets. One. Yet Walter McCarty had four. Remember when Anderson was a really valuable fantasy player? 

The fine people at NBA 2Night need your help. They'd like questions or suggestions about their Thursday Fantasy segment. To see the most recent segment, click on the ESPN Tab on the ESPN.com NBA page. To send in a comment to them, click here. If you see certain moves or trades that Jason Jackson or Fred Carter should consider, let us know! 

Just a little rambling
We enjoy just throwing remarks at you a few times a week, and we get good responses from you, so here we go again with some more things on our mind. 

. Philly coach Larry Brown now isn't so sure he wants to deal Larry Hughes. Maybe that's because he realizes that Hughes is going to be a great player in this league. Hughes will be dunking in the big contest on Saturday. But for which team? 

"I'm also representing myself," Hughes said. "If I'm still wearing this uniform, I still have to be myself, show what I can do as a person. I'm just taking it [as it comes] every day." 

. So Marcus Camby didn't tear his ACL after all. Good thing for the Knicks. The season lives on. Amazing how many Knicks fans, before they knew Camby wasn't out for the season, said the team would still win it all. And P.J. Brown may want to watch his back on the city streets on his next visit. The natives sounds angry. 

. Why is Chucky Brown so much in demand? Apparently the shorthanded Knicks tried to get him as well as the Hornets. Interesting story, actually. 

The Hornets had hoped to sign Brown as a free agent after he cleared waivers, but they had to claim him before the NBA's 2 p.m. deadline. Had the Hornets waited they would have lost him to the Knicks. 

By claiming Brown off waivers instead of signing him as a free agent, the Hornets had to assume Brown's contract from the Spurs and pay the NBA office an administrative fee of $1,000. 

Brown would have benefited by clearing waivers and then signing as a free agent, because he would have gotten paid off by the Spurs and could have received another salary from the Hornets. 

"The Knicks cost Chucky about $400,000 by being problematic," said Bill Neff, Brown's agent. "But he's still going to Charlotte, and that's where he wanted to be." 

. The Kings are now 10-0 on Tuesdays. Not sure why that's important. The likelihood that their first-round playoff series will all be played on Tuesdays is pretty slim. 

However, there is a correlation with Nick Anderson here. The guy is shooting .387 for the year, but on Tuesdays, he's at .459, easily his best day of the week. He averages 13.3 points on Tuesdays, and shoots better than 39 percent only one other day of the week. On Thursdays he shoots .293. 

Must be from watching Ally McBeal. It affects everyone, um, right? 

. Dennis Rodman plays tonight. In his debut with the Lakers, he got 11 rebounds. That's the same number he got in his first game with the Bulls. Hey, he may be a joke, but you'd watch if you could. 

. The Rockets signed Moochie Norris. The Warriors have Mookie Blaylock. Can't wait for these teams to play each other. 

You may remember Moochie as the guy who landed on the injured list last season because of insomnia. 

"It was just me being a little nervous being up in Seattle, one of the top teams in the league," Norris said. "I don't have any problem with that anymore. I sleep like everybody else now." 

By the way, Norris averaged 20.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.4 assists in 33 games for the CBA's Fort Wayne Fury this season. How will that translate to the six minutes a night he'll get in Houston? 

All's Wells in Portland
The Trail Blazers are good. We know that. Part of the reason is that guy (or one of them) with the headband who comes off the bench and adds instant energy and offense. It's quite a change for Bonzi Wells, who didn't think he'd get here. 

"I kind of looked up to a lot of the guys on this team when I was in college and high school," said Wells, 23. "They were guys I wanted to play with or against if I made it to the NBA. When I first got here I used to trip a little bit because I used to go to practice and look around and think, 'Man, look at all these great players around me.' At first I was a little nervous, but all the guys are genuine and they've helped me so much." 

These days, Wells is returning the favor, as he is proving to be a perfect complement to the slashing, athletic, talented Blazers, who own the NBA's best record at 36-11 and hold their opponents to 88.6 points a game, the best mark in the league. Though the 6-5 product of Ball State averages a mere 16.5 minutes, he makes the most of them, averaging 8.2 points and 2.6 rebounds, and has enjoyed several breakout games, including a career-high 23-point performance against Phoenix on Jan. 8 and an 18-point effort last Thursday against New York. 

"Bonzi has worked extremely hard," says Blazers coach Mike Dunleavy. "We've liked him since Day 1. Last year we played a lot of veterans, but we made some changes in the off-season based on the fact we thought he could play. And he hasn't disappointed us." 

After sparkling against the Suns, he joked he was "probably in some other teams' scouting reports now." It's no longer a gag, as Blazers opponents have no choice but to take Wells' abilities very seriously. 

"When the scouting report starts with guys like Damon (Stoudamire), Rasheed (Wallace) and Pip (Scottie Pippen), you get down to nine, it doesn't even matter," Wells says, "because you're worried about the first five or six guys on our team. But our second unit prides itself on coming in and giving our starters a boost. When I go against Scottie, Steve (Smith) and those guys in practice, I feel like if I can score against them, if I get in a game, you can't stop me because I go against the best every day. I've had some of my best playing time in practice. So that helps build my confidence." 

Now you know why Wells' name is being mentioned in the Toni Kukoc trade talks. Don't look for that deal to happen. 

Quote of the Night
"If he was going to sit at his locker across from Charles Oakley and Antonio Davis and say he wasn't going to play because of three stitches, I would have feared for his life."
-- Toronto coach Butch Carter about Vince Carter, who was questionable for Tuesday because he hurt a finger lifting weights. Carter played and scored 36 points. 

Quote of the Night, Part II
"I don't know why but we seem to play with less enthusiasm on the road. At home, we're a different team, and I really can't explain it."
-- Sacramento's Jon Barry after beating up the Bulls.

Quote of the Night, Part III
"I've had a disappointing season. There's a half-season left for me to continue playing well. That was my intention whether Jerry said anything about it or not. It certainly wasn't news to me that I wasn't playing satisfactorily."
-- Suns center Luc Longley after his best game of the season.