I just stepped back in the house from a trip to D.C. and the first place I went was to ESPN.com to verify what I'd been texted earlier: Allen Iverson swapped places with Chauncey Billups and Antonio McDyess.
This confirms two things:
1) Joe Dumars realized that his version of the 90's Atlanta Braves weren't going to cut it.
2) Rodney Stuckey is about to take over the franchise.
The Piston Era as we knew it is over. Chauncey Billups was more associated with the success of the Pistons than anybody on the team. That's like when the Braves traded David Justice. When they did that, the heart of the team left. Even though the Braves went on to win eight more division titles, they were fixtures for early playoff departures because they didn't have any position players to, you know, show heart. There's no mistaking that the Pistons needed to make a change. Their recent stagnation in the playoffs exhbited their tendency to be a step slower and lackadaisical than the other teams (Miami, Cleveland, Boston). But acquiring A.I.?
That's a bold move for Detroit. This is not about Detroit acquiring a superstar to jolt the team. This is Detroit acquiring Allen Iverson; who is extremely skilled at filling up the box score but also a prodigious ballstopper. For Allen Iverson to be effective, he needs the ball in his hands for an inordinate amount of time. His assists tends to come in midst of double-teams than in the flow of the offense, as opposed to Chauncey Billups. Nobody has ever confused A.I. for a point guard, which is the position that he now is thrust into. In other words, Allen Iverson and his 27.7 point per game average is the anti-Piston.
That's why the Pistons as we know them have left the building. (The irony of this deal is that A.I. lands in the big D seven years after Larry Brown tried to ship him there. The only thing that stopped the deal is Matt Geiger refusing to pass on $5 million. Smart guy he was...what ever happened to good ol' Matt Geiger?)
But something tells me that Joe D isn't finished dealing. Just my penny.
Denver, meanwhile, gets the point guard it needs as well as a hometown star coming back. Denver gets a more than serviceable big man who comes back to the place where he started his career. Denver....gets better. Simply put, they got over on this trade.
Here is a nice piece by J.A. Adande on the deal, providing supporting details to my theory that Detroit winning that championship a few years ago was a fluke.
-IV
Monday, November 3, 2008
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Black Masculinity Project
It's up and running. My blog that is. Check it out. Insightful articles are abound. Plus it's kinda cool to sharing a site with Stringer Bell.
Peep Rules To The Game...a personal favorite.
- IV
Peep Rules To The Game...a personal favorite.
- IV
Friday, October 31, 2008
Guess who's bizzack
Yes, it has really been about seven months since I last posted on my own blog. This is somewhat excusable, at least in my twisted mind.
Much has been going on:
- Wrapping up a documentary on the ever-changing scenery in Atlanta. This is sure to ruffle some feathers and be a real eye-opener for even the most seasoned Atlantan.
- Writing for Clutch Magazine has escalated. Check out the kid's interviews with John Legend, Sheila Johnson and Keke Palmer. Check out the articles from the ladies on fashion (if you are a woman). Check out the design. Just check it out! I'll tell you what: If there's a better business mind for a start-up than Deanna Sutton, then I have to meet him/her. Her work ethic is sickening (though the eternally self-deprecating editor would disagree) and her passion for gauging consumer trends and staying ahead of the times is worthy of noting for any aspiring magazine guru.
- Blogging for the Black Masculinity Project. Details forthcoming.
- Building a business. More details to come later.
- Becoming a father...naw, just kidding. Just felt like doing that. Right now, it's business left to accomplish.
And I'm back now, with renewed focus and vigor and yada, yada, yada. Oh yeah, before you bounce, check out this take on the Jennifer Hudson catastrophe and leave your thoughts. This is a topic I will forever grapple with.
Get at ya later.
-IV
Much has been going on:
- Wrapping up a documentary on the ever-changing scenery in Atlanta. This is sure to ruffle some feathers and be a real eye-opener for even the most seasoned Atlantan.
- Writing for Clutch Magazine has escalated. Check out the kid's interviews with John Legend, Sheila Johnson and Keke Palmer. Check out the articles from the ladies on fashion (if you are a woman). Check out the design. Just check it out! I'll tell you what: If there's a better business mind for a start-up than Deanna Sutton, then I have to meet him/her. Her work ethic is sickening (though the eternally self-deprecating editor would disagree) and her passion for gauging consumer trends and staying ahead of the times is worthy of noting for any aspiring magazine guru.
- Blogging for the Black Masculinity Project. Details forthcoming.
- Building a business. More details to come later.
- Becoming a father...naw, just kidding. Just felt like doing that. Right now, it's business left to accomplish.
And I'm back now, with renewed focus and vigor and yada, yada, yada. Oh yeah, before you bounce, check out this take on the Jennifer Hudson catastrophe and leave your thoughts. This is a topic I will forever grapple with.
Get at ya later.
-IV
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Has it really been...
over three weeks since I last posted? Where does the time go? Well, believe me, for me to stay away from my loyal readers (all three of you), it HAS to be something important. I am working on something people. What? Can't exactly say yet, but hopefully, in its completion it will be worth the withdrawal pains that you have been going through. Gotta skedaddle.
-IV
-IV
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Back at ya...
It's been a week, a long week too, but I'm back at you live from the Georgia Dome, where the SEC tournament is taking place. Not a lot of big names but a few to go around: Charles Barkley and Pat Riley were the only people I saw personally. I am two games into the tourney, with a more talented LSU team losing to University of South Carolina, and now Vandy is beating Auburn by nine with 15:35 to go. A couple of things of note here:
1) The stadium is empty and boast the noise level of a library. I suspect when the big boys start playing tomorrow things will change. Of course, Philips Arena's decibel level is in competition, but I digress. But this is a bit disconcerting, and only emphasizes the lack of importance of basketball in Georgia. That right, totem pole bottom baby. I shouldn't be able to call out somebody 25 rows up in the middle up the game and that person be able to hear me.
2) Media people are treated very well. Unlimited ice cream, food and snacks. Unfettered access everywhere. People looking at you like you may be somebody important. OK, the last point isn't really important to me, but seriously, if there is a better job in the world for someone who loves to write stories and be around people, then God kept it for Himself.
Right now, the lead has stretched to 16 with 6:56 remaining, Vandy's way. The team is well-trained, but what sticks out to me about them is their interior defense and how they do a great job of moving their feet and avoiding fouls while still altering shots.
Alright, that's it for now. Audi 5000.
-IV
1) The stadium is empty and boast the noise level of a library. I suspect when the big boys start playing tomorrow things will change. Of course, Philips Arena's decibel level is in competition, but I digress. But this is a bit disconcerting, and only emphasizes the lack of importance of basketball in Georgia. That right, totem pole bottom baby. I shouldn't be able to call out somebody 25 rows up in the middle up the game and that person be able to hear me.
2) Media people are treated very well. Unlimited ice cream, food and snacks. Unfettered access everywhere. People looking at you like you may be somebody important. OK, the last point isn't really important to me, but seriously, if there is a better job in the world for someone who loves to write stories and be around people, then God kept it for Himself.
Right now, the lead has stretched to 16 with 6:56 remaining, Vandy's way. The team is well-trained, but what sticks out to me about them is their interior defense and how they do a great job of moving their feet and avoiding fouls while still altering shots.
Alright, that's it for now. Audi 5000.
-IV
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Check this out
An interesting read and take about Barack Obama and the lax treatment that the media gives him. Take from it what you will...
Hole in the armor?
-IV
Hole in the armor?
-IV
Monday, March 3, 2008
Through The Wire - Late Editions
Note: Spoiler alert, if you have been comatose or under a rock for the past 59 episodes of The Wire, and don't want to be reminded of it, then DO NOT read ahead.
With the season and series finale airing next week, March 9 at 9 pm, I could not resist writing a quasi-assessment of the greatest television show I have ever laid my eyes on. Few shows contain the realism, entertainment and adhesion that The Wire has. Sunday's penultimate episode was in many ways a microcosm of the total series at large. Four quick points:
- The scene in which Carcetti's aide was in the office with Rawls and Daniels, with the aide imploring - more like demanding - that the police department bring the crime numbers down 10%. "This thing is a tanker, you can't expect us to turn this ship around like that," said Rawls. The same ole' games. Police department being handcuffed, and then given the impossible, and if that impossible is not given, then the police department falls on the scimitar. Seasons 1-4 had the same elements in it, and with an idealistic new mayor, Carcetti, promises of change were made. Yet, when it came down to it, even the most well-intentioned politicians fall prey to the crippling machinations of their predecessors. School system deficits leads to police budget shortfalls which leads to more criminals experiencing carte blanch. The faulty system prevails! God help us.
- Kima "snitching" to Daniels should have been expected. Remember in Season One, when she was in the hospital, and Bunk came to her to identify the shooters who put her in there? Well, she ID'd one of them but WOULD NOT point out the other. Notice I said would not. Bunk gave the best speech he could to assure her that it was Wee-Bay who shot her, but Kima didn't see him so she wouldn't play ball. An interesting scene at the time, who knew that it would persist as Kima's defining role? Her integrity and commitment to doing honest cop work involved her turning in her closest co-worker and friend McNulty. Many question why she did it. Did she have to do it? I wish she hadn't. But I don't blame her. She did what she felt was right...in other words, she capitulated to her conscience. Something rarely seen these days.
- Michael and Snoop produced arguably the best scene of the season. The poignance of the kill emphasized the dichotomy of Michael and Snoop. The way Snoop reacted when the gun was pulled out on her was telling - it was as if she really believed that "deserve ain't got nuttin' to do with it" and when it is your time, it is your time. That's how true assassins think and carry themselves. Micheal, who constantly questioned Marlo's indiscriminate killings, was told before he pulled the trigger by Snoop that "you were never one of us, and you never could be." Well, she was right. Snoop was soldier, Michael is more CEO. Soldiers are followers, CEOs are thinkers and hence leaders. Mike only got into "the life" because Chris embraced him and did him a favor. He cared about Bug, his younger brother, and protected him. That was his number one mission in life. Everything else fell in line. But for Snoop, the life was all there was. Soldiers die for a cause, CEO's always think a step ahead. I will be real surprised if Michael ends up expired when this series end...
-Bug and Duke and Bubbles. Another emotion-packed scene that left any tender heart in tears, or the hardest heart feeling like "Dang..." As stated earlier, Bug was everything to Michael. But Mike knows that Marlo will retaliate, so he has to protect the people closest to him. Duke is now living with a junkie...time will tell if he is using too. Reginald - the guy formerly known as Bubbles - is probably the biggest feel-good story of The Wire series. We have all seen his regression and progression from a drug junkie/police informant/streets salesman/mentor to Sharrod. As someone who has frequented a few AA and NA meetings in his lifetime, the veracity of that scene hit home for me. When Reggie opened up - finally - about Sharrod and ended with the line "There's no shame in holding on to grief, as long as you make room for other things as well," there wasn't a thawed heart in the room (for the record, I was the only one in the room). I wonder if Fletcher will end up writing that story on him and if his sister will finally let him upstairs.
- How about Marlo and his blow-up in jail? For the first time in the past three seasons, he snapped and misplaced his cool (I don't want to say "lost" because he regained it quickly). The thing that gets me is, why didn't his lieutenants tell him about Omar? I have had numerous discussions with colleagues about this, and I haven't heard a satisfactory answer yet. My guess is that either they were ashamed that Omar was getting the "best" of them - which is an indictment on them not doing their jobs - or that Omar had them shook and feared that Marlo would have been killed if he went at Omar himself. I am inclined to say the latter, knowing that Marlo would not have resisted a showdown with Mr. Little to protect his reputation. After all, his name is his name.
Now you wonder, how could Zet do a psuedo-review of the penultimate episode of the fifth season of The Wire without incorporating his livelihood, the media? Doing that, would be so un-Wire like. Unpredictability is David Simon and company's calling card. Who am I to break away from what works?
-IV
With the season and series finale airing next week, March 9 at 9 pm, I could not resist writing a quasi-assessment of the greatest television show I have ever laid my eyes on. Few shows contain the realism, entertainment and adhesion that The Wire has. Sunday's penultimate episode was in many ways a microcosm of the total series at large. Four quick points:
- The scene in which Carcetti's aide was in the office with Rawls and Daniels, with the aide imploring - more like demanding - that the police department bring the crime numbers down 10%. "This thing is a tanker, you can't expect us to turn this ship around like that," said Rawls. The same ole' games. Police department being handcuffed, and then given the impossible, and if that impossible is not given, then the police department falls on the scimitar. Seasons 1-4 had the same elements in it, and with an idealistic new mayor, Carcetti, promises of change were made. Yet, when it came down to it, even the most well-intentioned politicians fall prey to the crippling machinations of their predecessors. School system deficits leads to police budget shortfalls which leads to more criminals experiencing carte blanch. The faulty system prevails! God help us.
- Kima "snitching" to Daniels should have been expected. Remember in Season One, when she was in the hospital, and Bunk came to her to identify the shooters who put her in there? Well, she ID'd one of them but WOULD NOT point out the other. Notice I said would not. Bunk gave the best speech he could to assure her that it was Wee-Bay who shot her, but Kima didn't see him so she wouldn't play ball. An interesting scene at the time, who knew that it would persist as Kima's defining role? Her integrity and commitment to doing honest cop work involved her turning in her closest co-worker and friend McNulty. Many question why she did it. Did she have to do it? I wish she hadn't. But I don't blame her. She did what she felt was right...in other words, she capitulated to her conscience. Something rarely seen these days.
- Michael and Snoop produced arguably the best scene of the season. The poignance of the kill emphasized the dichotomy of Michael and Snoop. The way Snoop reacted when the gun was pulled out on her was telling - it was as if she really believed that "deserve ain't got nuttin' to do with it" and when it is your time, it is your time. That's how true assassins think and carry themselves. Micheal, who constantly questioned Marlo's indiscriminate killings, was told before he pulled the trigger by Snoop that "you were never one of us, and you never could be." Well, she was right. Snoop was soldier, Michael is more CEO. Soldiers are followers, CEOs are thinkers and hence leaders. Mike only got into "the life" because Chris embraced him and did him a favor. He cared about Bug, his younger brother, and protected him. That was his number one mission in life. Everything else fell in line. But for Snoop, the life was all there was. Soldiers die for a cause, CEO's always think a step ahead. I will be real surprised if Michael ends up expired when this series end...
-Bug and Duke and Bubbles. Another emotion-packed scene that left any tender heart in tears, or the hardest heart feeling like "Dang..." As stated earlier, Bug was everything to Michael. But Mike knows that Marlo will retaliate, so he has to protect the people closest to him. Duke is now living with a junkie...time will tell if he is using too. Reginald - the guy formerly known as Bubbles - is probably the biggest feel-good story of The Wire series. We have all seen his regression and progression from a drug junkie/police informant/streets salesman/mentor to Sharrod. As someone who has frequented a few AA and NA meetings in his lifetime, the veracity of that scene hit home for me. When Reggie opened up - finally - about Sharrod and ended with the line "There's no shame in holding on to grief, as long as you make room for other things as well," there wasn't a thawed heart in the room (for the record, I was the only one in the room). I wonder if Fletcher will end up writing that story on him and if his sister will finally let him upstairs.
- How about Marlo and his blow-up in jail? For the first time in the past three seasons, he snapped and misplaced his cool (I don't want to say "lost" because he regained it quickly). The thing that gets me is, why didn't his lieutenants tell him about Omar? I have had numerous discussions with colleagues about this, and I haven't heard a satisfactory answer yet. My guess is that either they were ashamed that Omar was getting the "best" of them - which is an indictment on them not doing their jobs - or that Omar had them shook and feared that Marlo would have been killed if he went at Omar himself. I am inclined to say the latter, knowing that Marlo would not have resisted a showdown with Mr. Little to protect his reputation. After all, his name is his name.
Now you wonder, how could Zet do a psuedo-review of the penultimate episode of the fifth season of The Wire without incorporating his livelihood, the media? Doing that, would be so un-Wire like. Unpredictability is David Simon and company's calling card. Who am I to break away from what works?
-IV
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