Kalou to Arsenal??? No!

Arsenal coach (possible pedophile) Arsene Wenger recently expressed his keenness for Chelsea winger Salomon Kalou. And Kalou, following his performance in Wednesday's Champions League match vs. Juventus (that I already raved about) suggested that he would like to join Adebayor, Toure, and the group at Arsenal under Wenger. He hadn't seen consistent first-team opportunities until Hiddink's arrival and that is still in its beginning phases, so we'll see how he feels at the end of the season. He is showing continual improvement and I hope Chelsea can keep him as a part of the young nucleus of that team.

There are two problems with this transfer:
a) Chelsea would likely charge a huge sum of money for a young, talented, and raw player like Kalou. And we all know how Arsenal feels about big signings.
b) The second is that he's 23. The last player Wenger signed was Aaron Ramsey (17) and Jack Wilshire (16) plays in his first-team squad. I believe the last time he signed someone who could legally purchase tobacco products was 2006. So this would be a big change of heart for Wenger.

Champions League Update

I caught as much Champions League action as possible this week, which means just two games since we don't get ESPN Classic here in the dorms. But, I caught the Man U-Inter game yesterday then Chelsea-Juve today. Two pretty entertaining games that I'm going to rehash really quickly right now. I know most of you aren't soccer fans so I'm going to keep this relatively short and then I'll be back with a hoops article in the next few days.

Firstly, Man U. Despite only getting a draw, they showed a dominating performance. Something that is really scary when you take into account the fact that not only were they away and missing 3 defenders (which was a surprise; would've been 4 if Johnny Evans didn't step onto the field), they also had Tevez and Rooney on the bench and got absolutely nothing out of Berbatov sans some shoulder shrugs and angry gestures. The midfielders though picked it up. An ordinarly good performance from CR7, along with some typical showboating and some Oscar-worthy acting. Who really impressed me though was Ji Sung Park: Despite making some mistakes, he constantly found himself on/around the ball, putting himself in a position to make plays. Carrick and Giggs also played pretty well, but Giggs definitely had a few solid chances to score, so he could be a little disappointed. As for Inter, they played a boring, defensive game (Under Jose Mourinho? No way! hahaha), and got nothing out of Ibrahimovic, who had his first real chance to prove himself to the English fans/press.

Chelsea dominated the first half of their game, but Juventus showed some signs of life especially from from the 20th minute to the half-hour mark in a very exciting first 45. The second half though, was nothing to be compared to the first. It was filled with defensive mistakes, poor posession, and was generally unexciting.

As a Chelsea fan, I was still happy with the performance under new coach Guus Hiddink. Drogba looked reinvigorated. The difference between Hiddink Drogba and Scolari Drogba is like night and day. He looked reminisicent of the Mourinho Drogba in fact, with three clear cut chances in the first 15 (including the winner in the 12th). Ballack played a very effective, scrappy game as well. But other than those two, the other two guys who really impressed are probably surprises. John Mikel Obi was fantastic in that holding midfield position, looking like a young Vieira/Makelele, doing great coming back on defene and also playing as the anchor of a tantalizing Chelsea attack. Kalou was the real centerpiece of the Chelsea offense though. He was nothing short of brilliant from the right wing position, constantly making plays, including the brilliant pass that assisted Drogba for his goal (with some help from Ballack who really hustled to retain the ball for the Blues in the first place).

All in all, I'm really excited about the direction Chelsea will take for the rest of the season with new additions Guus Hiddink and Ricardo Quaresma (one of my favorite players). The development of young guys like Kalou, Mikel, and Mancienne is also tremendously impressive and important. It seems like the Blues might be too far behind in the Premiership but they're still alive in the Champions League and domestic tournaments in England, so here's to the rest of the season! Cheers.

Kryptonate

So, I hear Nike is releasing 24 pairs of the Nike Kryptonate Foamposite II's that Nate wore for the Dunk Contest. They are beautiful and I want a pair but I ain't got no $1000. Bummer right? I'm just keeping my fingers crossed for a large scale release in the next few months.

Sorry for no major posts lately, I've been really busy but there should be one up in the next few days.

This one is for Eric Gordon and Nate Robinson (two of my favorite guys), and their performances all-star weekend. EJ was certainly the most impressive player other than KD in the Rookie Challenge game.

Rodney Stuckey = 50 Cent

So I'm watching the Rookie-Sophomore game at my brother's right now. And I predicted before this that the Rookies would win, including an Eric Gordon MVP award. But, there was something else that was bothering me... Rodney Stuckey looks exactly like a smaller, quicker, less roid-raged 50 Cent (bat included).

Out for the week

Hi guys!

Sorry no posts in a week, I've been sick and I'm going to DC to hangout with my brother this weekend (and Brittany). So, I'll be back next week probably Monday or Tuesday with an article regarding Indiana Basketball...

Meanwhile, Chelsea confirmed the hiring of Guus Hiddink today, but only for the remainder of the season and he will continue to coach Russia during this time. This seems to set up for Chelsea to allow him to go back to Russia following the season and then to hire the beloved Zola/Clarke combo away from West Ham. But, I certainly hope Hiddink can do his part this season, as I was very disappointed in Big Phil... Maybe we'll get a coach we can keep for more than a few months, but that might be too much to ask for.

In other news, several people confronted me about the lack of Kevin Durant in my article lasy week. I recognize this as a mistake, and I certainly think that he should have been included, however I see him as already at or near his ceiling, so despite playing like an early... oh wait, no one has been this dominating offensively at his age. But, for me, KD is a definite wait and see type of guy. He probably would have made it to the quarterfinals but I don't think he could crack the top 4. Anyways, that's it for this week, see ya next week!

Franchise Player (not Kobe or LeBron)

Spurred on by an ESPN.com poll asking who I would build a franchise around excluding Kobe and LeBron, I have decided to tackle that topic here. The options were Dwight Howard, CP3, D-Wade, and other. I, on a second's thought, chose CP3 thinking that Howard would be ineffective without a good point guard and some perimeter shooting, and that D-Wade doesn't have what it takes to be a franchise leader. Despite his championship success, he just gives off this vibe, like he's a great scorer and everything but is he really going to be good enough in the other areas to lead his team without a great wingman (Posey) and two interior forces (Shaq & Zo) and a supreme outside scorer (Kapono)? I don't think so. But before we get into details, how about some guys who could be considered in the "other" category? Melo, Devin Harris, Danny Granger, CB4, Derrick Rose, OJ Mayo, Deron Williams and Brandon Roy seem to be prime candidates.

So that's it: Howard-CP3-Wade-Melo-Harris-Granger-Bosh-Rose-Mayo-Roy-Williams
The criteria will be clutch scoring, leadership qualities, off-court behavior, natural basketball talent, age, and their play from the last two years.

I'm gonna start by throwing Ovinton J'Anthony Mayo, Brandon Roy and Chris Bosh off the island. I've been really disappointed in Bosh's play of late, he can't hold his own against bigger, stronger guys (like Howard), and so he has to be one of the first eliminated. Though Mayo seems to be a Kobe-esque scorer, he doesn't have the other intangibles to be a long-term franchise player for a successful team and is second-to-last among these players in clutch scoring. Roy might be one of the hardest working guys in the league, and he's also #7 in the NBA in clutch scoring, averaging 40.5 points per 48 minutes of clutch time (defined as 4th quarter or overtime, less than 5 minutes left, neither team ahead by more than 5 points), that's 4th on this list. (1 and 2 are Kobe, LeBron and 6 is Paul Pierce) He's a great player, but he's probably the least talented of all the guys on this list, so he's got to go too.

Round 2: Howard-CP3-Wade-Melo-Harris-Granger-Rose-Williams

Next to go are Harris and Granger. Harris's recent tiff with Coach Frank has me worried about his leadership qualities. Frankly, despite his terrific play this season, I haven't been thoroughly convinced that he has the skills to be a superstar. Granger, whom I love, is in the middle of the pack in terms of clutch scoring, but that's disappointing considering he's fifth in the NBA in scoring. Shows a lack of clutch-time leadership to me, and hasn't been able to lift his team to success yet. The Pacers obviously don't have great talent, but they have enough to be at least middle of the pack with a player of Granger's ability.

Round 3: Howard-CP3-Wade-Melo-Rose-Williams

Melo and Williams are going to be the losers of Round 3. Melo leads this list in clutch points, but his points per game have gone down each of the past three seasons, and I see him as a liablity on the defensive end. He also needs a good point guard to help him out, which is why Billups has been such an improvement for the Nuggets. Deron is another guy whose numbers are going down this year, from 18.5 (points) and 10.5 (assists) to 17.6 and 10.1. This isn't a significant drop, but you want to see improvement at this time in his career. He's also the third worst clutch scorer on the remaining list, ahead of Rose and Howard.

Semifinals: Howard-CP3-Wade-Rose

And the losers in the semifinals: Rose and Howard. Most people probably expected it to come down to Howard and Paul so this might be a slight shocker. However, despite leading the league in rebounds and blocks (amazing!), Howard is the last of all the guys in clutch scoring, 85th in the league at 19.6 per 48 minutes. Again, he's a guy who needs a solid point guard and good perimeter play to dominate, so he's not the best choice to build a franchise around. Rose is only in his rookie year so it's hard to gauge his performance. He's been very impressive, and looks to be a great future talent, but he's only 16th in the league in assists. He's also the worst remaining clutch scorer coming in at number 36.

So that leaves us with a Finals showdown of Chris Paul vs. Dwayne Wade

They are third and fourth in the league in clutch scoring, behind Kobe and LeBron. Wade averages 50.6 per 48 and Paul 49.8. Paul is #1 in the NBA in assists averaging 10.9 per game, down slightly from last year, but his scoring is up about half a point per game as well. Paul is also first in steals with 2.48 per game, and set the record for consecutive games with a steal at 108 regular-season games. He's averaging just 3.1 turnovers per game. Paul averages 21.5 ppg and 5.4 rebounds per game. Wade leads the NBA in scoring, averaging 28.5 points per game (a career-high) and is also near his career-mark for assists (7.2 this season). He averages 2.1 steals, 5.0 rebounds per game and 3.5 turnovers per game. I'm going to settle this debate with simple math.

1 PPG = 1 Point
1 Assist Per Game = 1.5 Points
1 Clutch Point Per 48 = 2 Points
1 Turnover Per Game = -1.5 Points
1 Steal Per Game = 1 Point
1 Rebound Per Game = 1 Point
MINUS their age (CP3 is 23 and Wade is 27)
PLUS their championships (1 for wade)

And the final tally is: 117.68 to 116.35
A narrow win for Chris Paul. I guess my original feelings were right on this one.

My Love Note to Danny Granger

Dear DG33,

There are so many reasons why I love you. You single-handedly prevented my beloved Pacers from being the worst (and whitest) team in the NBA, among other things. You're building a bat cave in/under your house. That alone warrants you some bro-love. But, now for the basketball.

Each season since coming out of UNM you've averaged 6 more points per game (7.5, 13.9, 19.6, 25.5), and have been putting up consistently gaudy numbers this season. 45% field goal percentage for your career. A beautiful stroke. You've been improving on your three point percentage too, up to 40% this season. 18 Double doubles and 285 games in 3 and a half seasons (out of 291 games total)... He's missed 6!!! And this isn't the NFL, this is the NBA where they play 82 games a season, and sometimes have 4 or 5 games a week. That means he's missed about two weeks of action in 3 and a half seasons. He's no absent-star (Bob Sanders much?).

You went 42-6-7 (points, assists, rebounds) on Dec 12th vs. the Pistons, then 41-6-11 on the 17th in a win over Golden State. 12 (count 'em, TWELVE) 32+ point games this season and your first All-Star nomination! You have the 19th best PER (according to my man John Hollinger) at 21.39.

Danny, you have arrived, and you will be around for years to come. I can only hope those years will continue to be in the White, Blue, and Yellow Pacers jerseys for an improving Indianapolis team returning to its prominence. DG, Brandon Rush, TJ Ford, and Marquis (I'll count Dunleavy when he shows me some injury-free consistency): That's a nucleus to build on right there!

Love,
Your main man, and a huge fan,
Jesse Bielasiak

Super Bowl

The Super Bowl was last Sunday, and I think it's fitting I talk about it as my first blog post. Almost everything has been said about it though so I'm going to just keep this short and sweet.

Firstly, I took the Steelers at 3.5! So I made some small cash, but I was actually rooting for the Cardinals (had to root for the underdogs). Anyway, that game was absolutely terrible until the fourth quarter. Here were some of my observations:

• That James Harrison interception was one of the greatest plays I've ever seen, but no one really seemed that excited about it. Everyone was basically like "That was a really good play. Amazing," but didn't show any real excitement. All the talk was Santonio Holmes and referee-ing, yet that was the only above average play of the first three quarters, and one of the best big game plays in recent memory.
  
• Ben Graham is an absolutely terrible punter, and this is a rare case where the punter helped to change the outcome of the game because of all the field position swings he engineered.
• How was Harrison not thrown out for that Assault he committed following one of the punts? Held the guy down, hit 'im a few times then threw him to the ground... Don't know about that one.
• I was 100% sure that, during the third quarter, the refs had done what I did, taking the Steelers at 3.5. Two straight 15-yard penalties (that facemask! no way!) followed by that Running Into the Holder penalty! I didn't know such a call existed, and beyond that, Adrian blatantly tripped and did not intentionally bowl over that guy. The end was better, though I think they should have definitely reviewed it, that WAS a fumble.
  
• In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals finally decided to be their true selves. Throwing left, right, and down the middle to Fitz, Quan, and Stevie (as I affectionately call the best receiving corps in the NFL) and using the no-huddle. Now if they had done this the whole game, and not pretended to be a rushing team when they are really the worst rushing team in the NFL. Every year, these teams that are really one-dimensional or gimmicky make it to the Super Bowl, and they try to play like a real team. Don't do that! Play the way you've been playing. It works. That's why you are there.
• Kurt Warner played well. Yeah, he fumbled and threw a pick. But that's what he does. It's Kurt.
  
• Finally, I was not that impressed by the Santonio Holmes' catch. Don't get me wrong, it was a great catch, but it was not the greatest play in Super Bowl history. It was a great catch that gets matched every four weeks during the NFL season. Now, if he had made the one the previous play where he was nearly parallel to the ground about 5 feet off it, then that would've been something entirely different.
  

I'm going to have to leave by giving it up to my roommate Ryan, who is from the Burgh and got to see his team win their 6th Super Bowl!


(photo courtesy of Getty Images)... I don't know if I'm allowed to do that, but I just did.