#22? Tongue Out? Milwaukee? So close, kind of. Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images
- As noted yesterday, Yi Jianlian's All-Star write-in votes are piling up. Charles Gardner has more on Yi's popularity, and more interestingly, Charlie Bell's own All-Star campaign:
"It's going to be tough to beat him as far as votes. I've got to go on a world tour. I'm going to go on an Asian tour and build up my fan base over there.
"The thing is, I ain't got that many people in Flint (Mich.). Everybody's trying, but we aren't going to keep up. I've got to get everybody to vote at least 100 times, but it ain't going to work."
- Speaking of All-Star campaigns, Ty at Bucks Diary wants you to vote for Michael Redd.
- And for good reason. Look at his conventional stats lined up against fellow Eastern Conference shooting guards. No one on that list is having a superior season to Redd's. I'm definitely on board with Ty on this one.
- Check out Bucks Podcast Central for a link to Larry Krystkowiak talking about the Bucks and Celtics, courtesy of Bucks.com.
- Some trade speculation chatter has focused on Jason Williams, perhaps coming to Milwaukee for Bobby Simmons. Chris Sheridan rates Williams the NBA's most likely player to be traded. The Bucks aren't the most likely suitor for Williams, given the strong play of Mo Williams and general surplus of point guards in the Bucks' system. If it were 1999, Williams would be worth pursuing if for no other reason than because he was one of the most exciting players in history to watch. In the last few years, he won a title and then posted a better assist-to-turnover ratio than Steve Blake, Brevin Knight, and Steve Nash. This year, he's been bothered by an ankle and has fallen out of favor to Chris Quinn. Interesting career path? Yes. Future Buck? Maybe not.
- Remember when some people were worried about Redd playing for Team USA? Well, I wasn't one of those people. Not only because I thought Redd would be a great fit on Team USA, but because of my research about the regular season performances of Team USA players last year.
Carmelo Anthony: He hyperextended his knee while playing for Team USA but was easily ready for the Nuggets season. He also exploded for career-best 28.9 point per game and played 65 regular season games.
Shane Battier: Played all 82 games, in consistent, Battier-like fashion.
Chris Bosh: Had career-year in leading Toronto Raptors to division title. Missed some time in the regular season due to knee injury suffered in a game versus the Chicago Bulls.
Elton Brand: Appeared in 80 very strong games. Proved this summer that offseason injuries happen in simple, daily workouts sometimes.
Kirk Hinrich: Also played 80 of 82 regular season games. Posted career-highs in points per game (16.6), field goal percentage (.448), three-point percentage (.415), and free-throw percentage (.835).
Dwight Howard: Played all 82 games. Stepped up with career-year.
LeBron James: Played 78 amazing regular season games... And had enough left over in the tank to play 20 more in the playoffs, including a dominant performance or two.
- Redd, who is now having his best year ever, has even credited some of his improvements to his play with the national team. This year, Team USA's players are ballin' to such a degree that USA Basketball is proudly displaying how well they are performing, via John Schuhmann of The Court Reporters.
- We gave a heads-up earlier about Kelly Dwyer's Yahoo! blog, but his insistence on posting insightful and entertaining stories around the clock demands another shout-out. Plus, he was kind enough to put us in his 10-man rotation yesterday. Dwyer's analytic, spirited, and jocose basketball blend is always refreshing.
- Our friends at We Rite Goode are Dwyerists too, it seems, though also witnesses of a small, odd group of malcontents.
From an objective standpoint--say, using the same criteria we applied to newspaper blogs--Dwyer's totally acing every measure for a great site. He's prolific and blog-friendly, the words are sharp, the length is right, and the analysis is tight.
And for better or worse...folks are reading!
But while the bloggers who get what Dwyer's doing love him, many Y! members seem to be unfamiliar with the blogging model. As a result, their expectations are totally misaligned; short posts like "Players who..." do seem like "pointless articles" next to Kenny Smith's latest 15-paragraph cliche. Yet let's not cut them too much slack; while the Y! executive editor believes the site has "an audience and community that is desperate to interact with each other," all we've seen so far is the lamest form of community-building: Picking on the new kid.