connecting*the*dots

Go Jersey!

Post-game update: (81-77 L) The Nets don’t have a shot in this series if they don’t change up a few areas of their game:

• Grab defensive rebounds
  The Cavs had 17 offensive boards by the third quarter. Gooden (6 ORB)and Ilgauskas (8 ORB) must be boxed out.
• Take the ball to the rim and quit bitching
  Vince Carter can’t play a strong game on the road for his life. Sasha Pavlovic is a good player, but Carter should be able to dominate him off the dribble, taking him to the hoop All Day. Instead, he settled for pull up jumpers and/or spent forever dribbling himself out of control. And when he didn’t get a call, he dropped into prima donna mode and allowed breaks to develop the other direction.

I’m not panicked, though. Losing by four, on the road, as poorly as the Nets played and shot, there’s only room for improvement.

The man seems to have the golden touch on draft night; first with Michael Jordan, then working a deal to land Richard Jefferson and most recently finding Nenad Kristic on the other side of the planet.

Rod wouldn’t select a Yinka Dare or Rex Walters with a first-round pick.

I have to be honest, I missed out on much of the college basketball season last year, so while I’m familiar with Williams and Boone to a degree — I’ve caught them here and there while following my Syracuse squad — I don’t have too much to go on regarding the particulars of their games over a long stretch of time.

Not that such details would stop me from giving my opinion:

Marcus Williams is the real-deal point guard — a court visionary (not many college PG’s average better than 8 dimes per) and steps-up big time in clutch situations. Unfortunately, he’s also (reportedly) out-of-shape, under-motivated and (legitimately) guilty of participating in the theft and sale of four laptops on the UConn campus his junior year.

His own mother had to move across country to live with him to get his shit straight.

If he can get his head out of his ass, and take his career responsibilities seriously, he’s projected as a top-notch guard in the NBA. With JKidd as a mentor, well, he’s in a perfect position to succeed, as he has the opportunity for big-time minutes next year. I’m betting he’s worth the gamble.

Josh Boone was probably the best PF available at #23, and the Nets are desperate for size and shot-blocking, so he’ll get some run as a rookie.

I’m just hoping he doesn’t turn out to be another Jason Collins.

It’s reported that he has decent hands, can finish around the basket, rebounds well and is a shot blocker, but he also has a reputation for being soft, a poor free throw shooter and has no offensive game — very much like Collins. Thankfully he’ll have Kidd and Williams getting him the ball in a position to finish, so as long as his hands are good and he can finish over another big, his limited offensive skills shouldn’t be too much of a burden.

IMHO, Hassan Adams is a great pick for a late second round selection. He’s an energy guy, can score in bunches, rebounds well for his size; he actually reminds me of Stevie Thompson, the 6 foot 2 inch G/F from Syracuse back in the late eighties. He may not have a specific position on the floor, but he can ball and Lawrence Frank likes to go to a small line-up from time to time. Between him and Antoine Wright, the Nets look to have a nice, athletic 2nd team rotation (later, Zoran). Hopefully he can bring an on-court attitude the Nets have missed since the departure of Kenyon Martin.

Man, we’re only a week beyond the end of the NBA season, and I’m already jonesin’ for the start of next year.

Back in February, NBC made a completely bonehead business move by making YouTube take down the hugely popular video short Lazy Sunday. My instant response was to fire off a salvo at NBC for being old media ogres (NBC: We Get Web 2.0… Sike!) and not working within the limitless parameters of the web to strike a business deal that suits their needs to protect their copyright, while allowing us to continue to enjoy their content when we want and how we want.

Well, today NBC announced that it’s embracing a few of the ideas I previously lobbed into play:

[…]

“Under the deal, YouTube will create a separate channel for NBC video, so that visitors can easily pull up the half-dozen or more items that NBC plans to offer at any given time. It will be similar to channels that other companies, filmmakers and everyday users create.

[…]

NBC and YouTube officials acknowledged the possibility that fans will reject the clips if they appear simply as promotions, but YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley said fans would likely embrace the video if it is compelling and not available anywhere else.”

[…]

Promotional video is somewhat of a start — I suppose you can’t expect major change from a major television network without them testing the water first. Give the experiment a few months; if uptake begins across numerous types of unbundled content, I’m sure they’ll be banging on YouTube’s door, attempting more creative ways to “let” people upload their content.

Affecting The Interface

In terms of the user experience, I only ask one thing of YouTube: please refrain from creating a pulldown of “channels” on your interface.

Asking people to assign ripped video to a “media channel” in the upload process makes sense:

• It alerts you (YouTube) to content that needs to be assigned a “shared monetization flag” and
• It automatically assigns network metadata to the video object to help people finding content they desire

Balancing the two-way participation of a user base with the business opportunities of old media is a difficult conversation to manage and execute, for if you transform your main interface too far towards the navigation of paid-for, primary channels, the entire participatory, community vibe will begin to deteriorate.

Remember, your brand is YouTube.

Uncle Cliffy… couldn’t you have just waited a month or so?

Nets’ Robinson suspended for violating drug policy

Another violation of the NBA’s drug policy will prevent Clifford Robinson from playing in the remainder of the New Jersey Nets’ playoff series against the Miami Heat.

The league announced on Friday that the veteran forward has been suspended five games for violating the terms of the anti-drug program.

The suspension will begin Friday with Game Three of the Eastern Conference semifinal series between the Nets and Heat. The best-of-seven series is tied at one game apiece.

Robinson was suspended five games for violating the league’s anti-drug policy in February 2005 as a member of the Golden State Warriors. Later in the month, he was traded to the Nets for a pair of second-round picks.

Although he is 39, the 6-10 Robinson remains a solid post defender and still can score a bit.

The Nets need all the help they can get in the interior against the Heat, who have Shaquille O’Neal and Alonzo Mourning in the middle and Udonis Haslem at power forward.

In New Jersey’s eight playoff games, Robinson averaged 4.5 points and 3.3 rebounds in 24.8 minutes. He was shooting just 33 percent from the field (13-of-39), including 6-of-19 from 3-point range.

The absence of Robinson should mean more minutes for shooting forward Lamond Murray and power forward John Thomas off the bench.

Robinson started 13 of 80 games this season and averaged 6.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 23.3 minutes. He shot 43 percent from the field, including 34 percent from the arc.

In his 17-year NBA career, Robinson has played in 1,330 games and averaged more than 14 points and four rebounds. He won the Sixth Man Award in 1993, was an All-Star in 1994 and a member of the All-Defensive Second Team in 2000 and 2002.

Dear Rod,

Remember when I asked you for a Nets squad that could in the very least compete with other NBA teams a few years back? You responded by delivering us K-Mart, J-Kidd, RJ and a healthy Kerry Kittles. Well, I don’t think I ever properly thanked you for that one. Thank you. It was huge. Watching Nets’ playoff basketball was a dream of mine for years and contending for two championships was, well, an experience beyond my wildest expectations.

Now, please don’t take the rest of this the wrong way. You’re obviously still the Man; the Mac Daddy, Pimp Extraordinaire; a true Thug. The last thing I’d ever do is tell you how to do your job. I mean, you did draft the greatest basketball player to ever play the game after two Rod-wanna-be GM’s passed him up. Over the course of your career, you’ve earned the right to be provided with the benefit of doubt for any move… and then some. Here’s my dilemma: I’m not privy to your eyes and ears.

All media reports indicated that Shareef’s knee scarring was present since high school and that it’s never been an issue during his career. You were about to sign him to a relatively cheap contract, locking him up for six years, until his 34th birthday. Couldn’t we have just rolled the dice and bet on his ROI to ring true within the next two years? I mean, J-Kidd isn’t getting any younger. By the time an arthritic condition might set in, we’d be in rebuilding mode anyway… right? See, this is me — an interactive strategist — trying to play Rod without all of the available information. It is blasphemy. But you do get my point, right? The window is closing on this J-Kidd led squad. The future is now.

So we now have Wright replacing Buford as the backup swing-man, McInnis replacing Best as the backup scoring point and Jackson replacing Smith as the backup… big scrub. Each of these moves has improved the team, but we still don’t have a back-to-the-basket PF. Remember the playoffs, when Miami doubled Vince and our offense completely shut down? Sorry, man, of course you remember. And sure, I realize that RJ wasn’t at 100% either, so maybe the results would be different this time around. But with all due respect, I don’t believe that for a minute.

So here I kneel, praying to Rod that you’ll listen to me once more. Would I take a Brian Grant signing? Sure. But he doesn’t bring anything to the table on the offensive end. Here’s my armchair GM suggestion: VC for Okafor and a few contracts. Vince wows the crowds every night in NC (with Sean Mays and Raymond Felton in tow) and we get a young, solid post-up player with great rebounding and shot blocking skills. Then, as only you could do, sign Michael Finley off waivers as our starting 2.

J-Kidd, Finley, RJ, Okafur and Nenad. Not to0 shabby.

Again, it’s your world, Rod, I’m just a squirrel trying to get a nut. My honor code is Rod, family and friends — in that order. So you go do what it is that you do so well: hustle a GM into thinking that he’s the Man and rip out his heart in the process. You do you. I’m just going to kick back and watch the story unfold with amazement.

Amen.