We are currently accepting nominations for the second annual edition of the NBA Worsties, a list that describes the best of the worst of the recently concluded season. And there's a lot of it.
We'll be publishing the Worsties some time next week, so act fast. All nominations should include:
1. A title (or titles) for the entry (or entries).
2. A pithy quote/description for the entry (or entries).
3. Your preferred name/alias and/or a Web site address that can be included in the entry. (I do try to credit my sources.)
You can also -- and this would be wicked helpful -- provide story and (if available) video links to support your nomination. Submissions can be left in the comments section of this post or sent to us directly in the form of e-mails (the address is provided on the main page), smoke signals, or psychic mind-rays.
Reference: Feel free to read the
2006-07 NBA Worsties for reference. Or because they are awesome.
Labels: fan submissions, NBA Worsties
He showed up on the press conference and started talking trash to the press, disrespecting the order of the conference. Bizarre moment.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=8UUBC8NoQgA
Deshawn = Soulja Boy, Lebron = Overrated: Deshawn calling Lebron overrated was by far the dumbest qoute in the history of the major sports. Then came Jay-z´s, "Blow the whistle" and the soulja boy thing to finish the mess.
P.S.: The cavalliers won the series ...again.
http://slamonline.com/online/2008/03/deshawns-opinion-of-lebron-overrated/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWdluT_DOxw
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/17/lebron-is-jay-z-deshawn-is-soulja-boy/
By Maggots, www.lanaranjabasket.blogspot.com
YOU HAVE A GREAT WEB!!!!
*The Isiah Thomas experience
Really, no explanation necessary. Isiah is now ready to enter the Worst of Professional Basketball Hall of Fame.
*Championship piggybacking
As discussed here: http://basketbawful.blogspot.com/2008/04/word-of-day-championship-piggyback.html
Yeah, PJ Brown and Sam Cassell got their rings, but really, what a shamockery. But it's even worse for dudes like Grant Hill (no ring), and worster for guys like Mighty Mouse (no ring and a collection of DNP/CD)
Injury bug - Yao Ming, I guess nice guys do finish last.
NBA Officiating/Donaghy Scandal - seems like Yao is targeted after all
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rd0w-N_Ryic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qi55kwI8B3w
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBe9SP2O0C0&feature=related
Shaq "ethered" Kobe
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLLIUr-NePw
**incase you don't know what ethered means - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ether_(song)
The Enver Nuggets/John Hollinger - for attempting to make a claim of them being a top 10 defensive team
The Kwame Brown trade
Mike Bibby and his diehard fans
http://www.hoopsvibe.com/nba/nba-news/mike-bibby-fans-of-the-boston-celtics-are-bandwagon-jumpers-ar48024.html
Tracy McGrady - those high gas prices, all his fault
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oleKfixy-7A
Is there anyone who runs into more bad luck in the league!?
Luther Head - shot 1/14(7%) in the playoffs
Ole' Z-bo decided to prove all the critics right and show off his sweet ball handling skills and 3-point accuracy.
You already made a post about this, but here is the link:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7lvYf08X6tc
Kobe selected as cheerleader for the 2008 NBA all star game
Kobe Bryant listed to the fans and played a whole 3 minutes of the 2008 all star game instead of graciously backing out. Somewhere, Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis were choking someone. Then again, who am I to complain? As a Blazer fan it opened up time for Brandon Roy who proved people wrong with the ridiculous...
I'll put more on throughout the week
During the regular season Denver had a defensive efficiency of 106.3 (points allowed per 100 possessions), good for 10th in the NBA. This puts them ahead of Utah (12th), Toronto (13th), Phoenix (16th), Atlanta (18th), Golden State (19th), and Washington (24th).
The problem is Denver is good enough to win 50 games in the regular season but they aren't good enough to do anything in the playoffs. They're stuck.
Clay Bennett steals the Supersonics from Seattle, lies about stealing the Supersonics from Seattle, and probably covets Oregon's wife in the process.
Everyone who knows him hates him, except for his execu-friends. Oklahoma becomes the awkward mistress of the adulterer.
http://www.nba.com/suns/
For knifing fans of the game by trying to become Spurs II.
Kobe Bryant- It ain't a worst of list without Kobe Bryant.His disappearance in the finals is enough to warrant him being on the list, plus he robbed Chris Paul for the MVP award.
Glen "Big Baby" Davis' body- He should never take his shirt off again.
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Perhaps the funniest and most unintentionally hilarious after-game speech that I have ever heard. Not even KG's "ANYTHING'S POSSIBLEEEEEEEEE" beats this original interview. I think KG stole Zaza's speech style and modified it.
"Nothing easy....nothing easy....we goin to game 7 baby. Game SEVENNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=2cQjjvFAf6Q
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Paul Pierce Is A Blood, Yo
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Nothing more than "Blood, Sweat & Tears" according to Danny Ainge, but to any person with a relevant knowledge of modern culture, that is a Bloods sign. Imagine if Kobe Bryant did that.
The Classic Isiah Thomas Knicks
I hate Isiah, and I hate Nate Robinson. I also hate the Knicks as a whole. So, seeing this unfold is awesome.
Link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=0bkPvYojRiQ
Brought to you by Karma (http://canadianballer.blogspot.com/), although I'm sure other people have/will mention it as well.
http://i2.tinypic.com/wugg9c.jpg
Just a few more randomw worsties..
* Yi Jianlian - the 22, err, 19 year old chinese rookie needed to be convinced by his team's billionare owner, no less, to play for them. Also has handlers instead of agents, making him some kind of wild animal or something.
* REPLAY! Miami Heat vs Atlanta Hawks. first replay since 1982.. (i bet a third of the league werent even born yet) Shawn Marion gets to play 51.9 seconds of this game
* Dwayne Wade in the playstation skills challenge.. ego ectomy!!
* Dirk in the 3pt shootout. Dude was shooting 29% and they add HIM??
* Getting fired Dec 24 - Merry Christmas Scott Skiles!
a couple of worsties suggestions :
- the Miami Heat. in a couple of years from now, we can safely say there probably is a curse on them, too
- George Karl's lack of responsibility in his team blatant failure
- the media's feathercock attitude resulting in Kobe Bryant's awful MVP coronation
- Jemele Hill's recurrent biased and undocument articles
He be back in a month..... two months... two weeks.... oh wait he won't be back until next year!
I would trust Microsoft's release dates more then the Laker's doctors.
1) had a semi-official basketball term dedicated to him (your infamous but genial Mario - less than a minute played in a game)
2) he collected 23 Marios himself (3 in the playoffs), with 12 SuperMarios (2 in the playoffs)... which means that 15% of his games were SM!
Even more astounding, the fact that in the three Hawks' games between December 15th and December 19th he played 53:30 (I know what you are thinking... they must have been blowouts! Nope, they were ALL close wins), thus earning there 20% of his total playing time.
To put that in perspective, it would have been like Kobe Bryant playing 630 minutes in a three game span.
Kobe Bryant listed to the fans and played a whole 3 minutes of the 2008 all star game instead of graciously backing out. Somewhere, Stephen Jackson and Baron Davis were choking someone.
How bout nominating Sun Devil for getting his facts so wrong? Per league rules if a player is selected as a starter to the All-Star game he must play in it or be forced by the league to miss five games afterwards. Kobe and the Lakers actually asked the league to let him skip the game, but the league refused. Sorry to be the one to let the facts get in the way of your hate :)
Smush's Parking Disaster - After self-combusting last year on the Lakers (prompting Phil Jackson to remove him from the starting lineup 80 games into the season), he was given a new shot at an NBA career in Miami this season... until he physically attacked a female valet over a disputed $12 parking fee. This essentially ended his season with the Heat (the league's worst team), and after a couple month hiatus from playing he was eventually sent to NBA Hell for what probably marks the end of his career.
"Hey lets get Jason Kidd a proven HoF PG who has been to the finals twice, but we have to trade our long time starter and our bench and a draft pick and our team chemistry! Just in time for the playoffs! This should turn out well..."
Worst use of the D-League
Miami basically having open tryouts during games. It seemed like I could've jumped in the car driven a few hours to the arena and been given a jersey and starting SG duties.
Worst local TV broadcast
How about the fact that the Magic basically had no local broadcast for much of the season. Honorable mention: 2 words Tommy points
Best Worst action sequence:
Anything a Pacers player did. Whether it was Stephen Jackson shooting and getting hit by a car or Tinsley having car chases or he and Marquis Daniels acting a fool at the strip club, my favorite team was action packed all year.
I'm probably gonna be labeled as a Kobe apologist for taking issue with this, but it's as untrue as what Sun Devil said above. Kobe "disappeared" in the Finals? He had 25.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg & 5.0 apg in the Finals, as well as 2.7 steals per game. His shooting percentage was bad at 40.5%, but the Celtics had by far the league's best defense (LeBron only shot 35% against Boston). Compare Kobe's stats to the Finals MVP, Paul Pierce: 21.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 6.3 apg with 1.2 steals per game. Pierce shot better than Kobe at 43.2%, but wasn't exactly lights out himself. All in all you could legitimately say Kobe's stats were comparable to the guy who won the Finals MVP award, so I daresay he didn't "disappear".
As for Kobe "robbing" Chris Paul of the MVP award, if anyone robbed Paul it was the sportswriters who voted, not Kobe; but considering Kobe led his team to the Finals (over the very team that beat Chris Paul's team in the 2nd round), and came two wins from winning the title, it's tough to say the sportswriters definitively picked the wrong guy this year. Kobe had a great year and led his team to a better record than the Hornets did. Should the fact that the Hornets' turnaround from last season was two wins better than the Lakers' turnaround from last season mean it was "robbery" that Kobe won the MVP?
I'm really not a Kobe apologist, but it does bother me that some people so dislike the man that they ignore reality in their quest to run him down. If one of those OMG KOBE RULZ! idiots was in here saying how he's the best ever, I'd give them the same treatment. Kobe and the Lakers had a great year - if Kobe deserves to be included in the Worsties it's for the same reason he was in there last year: for his offseason rants about wanting to be traded, not for anything he did on the court this year.
You said, "It ain't a worst of list without Kobe Bryant", but if you don't manufacture reasons for him to be included here (like you did with the Finals reference or Sun Devil did with the All Star thing) what did he really do this season to be included?
Numbers in and of themselves are meaningless without context. Kobe's overall numbers were indeed good and compared favorably to Pierce's. But the reality is, Kobe did disappear for crucial stretches of the Finals. He was nowhere to be found during the first half of Game 2. He was powerless to protect a 24-point Laker lead in Game 4 (he scored only 17 points on 6-for-19 shooting). And he shot a combined 15-for-43 (with 10 turnovers to only 5 assists) over the final two games, including an inconsequential 7-for-22 in an embarrassing 39-point blowout.
Fact is, Kobe played 1.5 great games: The second half of Game 2 (he finished with 30 points on 11-for-23) and Game 3 (36 points, 12-for-20). He shot in the 30s four out of six games. He had more turnovers than assists in three of the six games. He kept the Celtics close in Game 3 by missing seven freethrows. He hit only 9-for-28 from beyond the arc (and most of those makes came in the first quarters of Games 5 and 6).
So while those two (or 1.5) games certainly helped his series averages...but the fact is, he did disappear for long stretches of the Finals. Particularly considering he came in as the MVP and is widely touted as the "best player on the planet," and the most unstoppable scorer in the league.
Furthermore, the Lakers finished with a better overall record than the Hornets, and the playoffs furthermore demonstrated that Kobe did indeed deserve the trophy, because this was in essence, HIS year. I know the Lakers lost in the finals, but people are quick to forget how ridiculously dominant and effective he was in the Western Conference playoffs. Where were all you guys then? Now that his team lost in the Finals, all of a sudden all this "he didn't deserve MVP" talk is back on again?
Furthermore, Paul had a phenomenal season yes, but saying that Kobe didn't deserve the MVP at all simply shows bias and nothing more. His team was the best team in his conference, Kobe had astounding numbers and was a dominant force throughout the season, and once again, the Lakers were WINNING. Not to mention the fact that he played most of the 2nd half of the season with a broken pinky, and the fact that the Lakers were forecasted to NOT BE IN THE PLAYOFFS. How did he not deserve it?
The problem with most people who hate on Kobe is that they really do have a "he's wrong no matter what" approach to him. If Kobe had gone off for 40+ points every game against that defense, he probably would have had to shoot it 30+ times a game, and that wouldn't have secured a Laker title any more than playing the way he did would. We've discussed this before: Kobe does need to figure out how to better balance when to facilitate and when to take over, but let's be real - Kobe did have the Lakers in position to win 5 of the games in the Finals and they even won two of them. And considering the Celtics had, IMO, the far better team, that's not too shabby. In a seven game series the better team almost always wins, and that's what happened here. It was Boston's triumph more than it was Kobe's failure. You can look at how LeBron James fared against Boston to see that the one incredible scorer wasn't going to be enough to beat the Celtics this year.
Mr. Bawful, you're a smart guy: does Kobe really deserve a Worstie for how he played this year? Funny how the people who hate him the most seem to expect the most from him.
I couldn't find a video of this, but it was both hilarious and sad, as endemic of what officiating in this league has become. It's one play, sure, but definitely one of the worst of the year.
(lol @ jaz's version of this post)
Robert Horry 2.0: With his Game 6 thuggery so reminiscent of something from a year ago, it's like he's not even ashamed anymore to even try and hide it.
National media coverage wondering what Shaq's ass tastes like: Do I even need to link the YouTube?
-AnacondaHL
Uh, anyway.
I disagreed with your earlier response to Anonymous because you tossed out Kobe's series averages as proof, but those averages can be deceiving because they don't measure impact. When did those points/rebounds/assists happen? How did they affect the games? Etc. That's how Red Auerbach looked at things, and that's how I look at things.
My point was this: Kobe is the MVP and considered the "greatest player on the planet" by many, but Boston flat out stopped him. To me, scoring average is inconsequential compared to what I saw happening with my own eyes. Kobe got stopped, and stopped cold, by a great defense. And he couldn't figure out when to facilitate and when to dominate. He seemed confused, frustrated. He cursed out his teammates. So on and so forth.
I wasn't saying I was going to give Kobe a Worstie for it, but it doesn't make it any less true. He put his stamp on one game out of six (he lit it up in the second half of Game 2 only after Boston built a huge lead and basically stopped playing) and his team suffered the worst game-clenching ass-pounding of any team in league history. And that's not me being anti-Kobe...I would be saying the same thing about any other MVP who got humbled that way (for further reading, see my collected words on Nowitzki, D.).
Then a special double worstie to the Denver Nuggets for losing 151-147 to Seattle month later.
Lamar Odom for discovering that he in fact has gonads only after being down 30 points in game 6 of the finals. Oh and Pau Gasol for being a huge mangina the whole series.
Any Spurs player for acting like they were shot everytime someone walked past them.
Bruce Bowen- a special place in hell for just being dirty. This just in: Bowen was caught sweeping the legs of an infant just learning to walk and then kneeing it's mother in the crotch.
http://sports.aol.com/fanhouse/2008/03/25/pat-riley-is-there-for-the-miami-heat-in-good-times-and-bad/
Spoelstra better watch his back if the Heat ever look like they are contenders.
Like I said above, I thought that Boston was the better team, and I thought that before the playoffs started the Boston would win. People got too high on the Lakers because of their run to the Finals (and Boston's relative stumble there), but in the end Boston was the better team, even though LA did have Kobe. Given that, in Games 1-5 the Lakers were either ahead or within 5 points with less than 5 minutes to play in every game, and any time you do that you put yourself in a position to win. If Kobe really did disappear at all in any area of the Finals it was in the area you least expect him to: in the clutch. Once again though you have to credit the Boston defense for the job they did there. You can say the numbers don't matter, or that you as a Celtics fan didn't see Kobe doing enough out there in the series, but the reality is that he did have his team in a position to win each of the first five games, even though they only delivered twice.
Kobe did not disappear in the Finals. He did not dominate and he did not excel, but he didn't disappear either. As I said, the people who hate him the most are the ones who expect the most from him. In the eyes of many, if Kobe does not deliver a championship then he has failed or "disappeared", and that's probably a reaction to all the hype created by other people about how he's the best in the world or he's as good as Jordan or whatever; but it's everyone else who has said that about him and who have set the bar that high. Kobe himself may have the bar set that high for himself, but he's never asked that people think of him that way. That even his most ardent detractors do have such lofty expectations for him I think is somewhat telling in what they really think of his abilities, even if they only use that backdrop to paint him as someone who fails to live up to what they expect of him.
You say "this isn't about Pierce or KG" but the whole point of this thread is to discuss the worst of what happened this year, so it is as much about them as it is about Kobe or anyone else who was involved with the NBA this year. Pierce and KG were just as inconsistent as Kobe was, as was Lamar Odom, Pau Gasol, Rajon Rondo, etc. Not one player was consistently good in the Finals, not one. But history is written by the winners, and as such the haters are running wild with Kobe's latest "failure". Maybe next year the Lakers will win and then the insane OMG KOBE people will run wild with how he's suddenly better than Jordan. I find both equally silly. Every great player has successes and failures, just as Kobe has. Even Jordan was shut down by superior teams before he broke through and won; Magic and Bird both were bested by better teams as well, as was Kareem, and even as was Bill Russell. Nobody's perfect, especially not Kobe, but this doesn't make him the worst that basketball has to offer anymore than winning a title would make him the greatest ever.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=3j1q6osDAEc
However Yams, you are correct to call me out on the MVP award thing. I should have put the media (especially espn) on my list for their season-long circle jerk over Kobe Bryant. They made me realize I probably wouldn't dislike Kobe as much if they weren't constantly trying to anoint him as the next Jordan.
The Eastern Conference (for X years running, where X=anything I can remember after college).
David Stern's press conferences
That awful Mavs coach. Boy, he sure looks familiar...
Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gouly docking pee-pees in ecstatic verbal sodomization.
The media for trying to promote vendettas and stories at every turn (Shaq & Kobe most notably).
The year of the crotch grab. Ugh.
WNBAs 10th anniversary.
Bill Simmons. Just because he's a true rectal clown.
The Zach Randolf airball is hilarious. I remember watching that game and thinking wtf is he trying to do? Then came the great Nate Robinson/Randolh water fight for the ages, followed by the Marbury debacle. It must feel great to be a Knicks fan right about now.
Sadly, I find the Knicks trainwreck hilarious, simply because I hate almost EVERY player on that team except David Lee obviously.
for following in the footsteps of Harold Miner, Grant Hill, Vince Carter and whoever else you wanna name and proving that he is NOT the next MJ.
The "I finally get to use those lyrics I wrote a couple of years ago" category: Shaq
no explanation needed
The "I got the 1st pick and I'll have him play 10 minutes a game cause I Kirk is so much better" category: John Paxson
for already telling the media that Rose "will be brought along slowly" which means he'll have to learn the game while watching from the bench. brilliant. NOT !
The "A coach ! A coach ! My .... pocket spare change for a coach !? But not all of it, cause I need to buy a coffee and a sandwich and ... " category: Jerry Cheapsdorf ... ummm, I mean Reinsdorf
no explanation needed
The "Ain't Karma a biatch ?" category: Karma
for not letting Kobe win a title after he blasted his team mates, GM and owner last summer
The "Falling off the face of the Earth" category: Stephon Marbury
for, well, falling off the face of the Earth
The "It's like deja vu all over again" category: The Phoenix Suns
for losing to the Spurs in the playoffs yet again.
The "I can't feel my face (or find my brain)" category: DeShawn Stevenson
for sticking his dick in the giant hornets' nest.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NeQAngGLjo
1. Hugo the Hornet Jumps the Shark - Hugo caused a 19 minute delay during the Hornets / Spurs second round playoff series when his jump through the flaming ring of fire but went awry. After the incident, players were slipping and sliding all over the floor. The only way this would have been any worse (read: better) was if one of the Spurs (read: Robert Horry) had gotten injured during the "performance." You know you have loyal fans when your mascot starts "accidentally" hurting opposing teams' players.
2. The Pau Gasol "Trade" - Enough said.
3. Chris Mihm in the Finals - The Zen Master had the infinite wisdom to play Chris Mihm during the NBA Finals. Shockingly, it wasn't even during garbage time. It was during actual, competitive game time. This was Mihm's first playoff appearance of the entire postseason. And how did Jack from Lost (it is an uncanny resemblance, no?) respond during his 2:46 minutes of glorious PT? 0-1 FG, 1 TO (which was an awesome inbound pass to Ray Allen I believe), 2 PF's. Not even the decency give the Lakers a Super Mario.
4. T-Mac One and Done.... Again - God damnit I feel sorry for this guy. But fuck, what happens to this guy during the final quarter of games? If Yao had been around, he probably had a good shot of making it out of the first round. T-Mac's first round exits kind of remind me of George W. Bush. It's just not funny anymore; a little sad really.
5. No Suspensions during Hawks-Celtics - David Stern, that MOTHERFUCKER, decided not to enforce suspensions when multiple players got off the bench and stepped onto the court during scuffles/intense sessions of man-love during the Hawks-Celtics series. Including...
6. That one time Zaza Pachulia thought he was hardcore - I still to this day cannot believe he got in KG's face. Garnett is one bad dude. No, KG is a futuristic robot sent back in time to wreck Soviet-commie-pinkos... Scratch that, he is a basketball-playing dinosaur sent forward in time to intimidate and feed Ruskies Spalding sammies. Whatever the case, he is one crazy motherfucker. Dudes named Zaza, by definition, are not -- no matter how big they are.
7. Duncan icing a trey in Game 1 against the Suns - Suns fan across the world collectively shat in their pants' when that shot went in, forcing overtime of Game 1 of the first round of the playoffs. It was the beginning of a now familiar pattern of mental and physical domination by the Spurs. The audacity of that shot. Say what you will about Pop, but that ugly bitch has balls. Of pure, American made steel.
8. Shot clock error in Atlanta - Just a classic moment in the history of the NBA. Atlanta's first home playoff game in god knows how long and their shot clocks malfunction. All I know is some dude, whoever was responsible for that, was literally shitting his pants knowing about his impending trip to the unemployment office.
9. Being a Miami Heat fan - Ridiculous. Would have been better off to be an Idaho Stampede fan or a Phoenix Mercury fan.
10. Deshawn Stevenson - Lebron James "Rivalry" - Rivalry is a term reserved for peers, or relative equals. That is why this term does not really apply to this case. 'Shawn went on with his "can't see my face" jazz hands move and called down the thunder of King Zeus. The only thing he did was ensure that the Bullets received a third trip home courtesy of the King and his jesters.
Also, looking through last years worsties, when you mentioned Dwayne Wade's injury you neglected to mention that he needed a wheelchair... for a shoulder inury.
http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/02XF0Kk0s2eeZ/610x.jpg
Strong Defense????WTF?????
By Maggots