Article:Random Thoughts and Brutal Honesty 3/1/08

I feel it's time for a good old fashioned dose of straight talk, realness, the brutal honesty that Roger Clemens knows nothing about.

- Congratulations to the Dallas Mavericks for squandering the core ideals and purpose for acquiring Jason Kidd in less than 2 weeks. A combination of question marks and exclamation marks ran over Avery Johnson's head as he left Jason Kidd with his hands on his hips with the game on the line....against San Antonio. San fricking Antonio. The defending world champions. Talk about a vote of confidence. This is the same player the Mavs moved the ends of the earth to get by getting rid of way too damn much. The supposed missing link to a world championship for Dallas because of the mental toughness the Mavs lacked. Well, the Mavs have redefined the phrase "a lack of mental toughness". This is paranoia at an all time high. And then Doug Collins of TNT tried to defend his decision by saying J-Kidd had only played in 5 games!!! I like Doug Collins among his many years with Marv Albert during the Jordan Era, but to try and give this decision rationale is appalling.

- The Rockets need to consider breaking up the Mcgrady/Yao combo. Every year my head shakes in shame as Mcgrady and Yao miss a great deal of time with nagging injuries. Once again, my head shook in shame as I read the front page on ESPN.com with a picture of Yao in pain. It always seems to happen when the Rockets are hitting their stride. The Rockets have to consider a trade and one of them will have to go. You can't even count on Tracy Mcgrady to stay healthy down the stretch of the season with Yao out,  They still have a good chance of making the playoffs because of their stellar D, but it'll be another one and bye-bye situation. The bright side, {if there is at all} is seeing one of my personal favs Dikembe Mutombo play meaningful minutes in his last hurrah in the NBA.

- I don't care how tough the Western Conference is: When you have a team of Carmelo Anthony, Allen Iverson, Marcus Camby and K-Mart along with a decent complement of players, there is no reason to be on the outside looking in.   Unless, of course you're missing that one key ingredient called..Defense. The Nuggets defeated the Clippers by only six points, but the mere fact that the Nuggets didn't finish the hapless Clips off earlier is not a good indicator. And it would be really nice if they spread the ball around as well. The Celtics are definitely on the inside track to get Cassell, but if any team needs a Sam Cassell, it's Denver.

- The J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets are making early noise this offseason. Their signing of DT Kris Jenkins should shore up the run defense as he'll be lined up with Dewayne Robertson. Their signing of G Alan Faneca to the tune of 40 million dollars is a huge chunk, but it will pay off in the long run as he'll have heavy influence on Nick Mangold and Freeport High School product D'Brickashaw Ferguson {who I used to play against} If you're a Jets fan, you're praying for a Darren Mcfadden to drop into your hands at the 6th pick. If that happens, the Jets now instantly have a much better offensive team. The Giants run seems to have given this franchise an extra kick in the you know where, and they're responding well to it.

Finally,  a big shout-out to my man Daniel Phillips of the Farmingdale State Rams as they look to get an automatic bid into the Division III basketball tourney tonight against St Joesphs-Patchogue.