Carmelo Anthony could be the best offensive player in the league. 37 points against a good defensive team today (Celtics) on 10-17 shooting and 13-15 from the line.

The Celtics’ Brandon Bass could be the best off-season acquisition.

The Mavs don’t look like the NBA Champs.

Goodbye, Nate Robinson.

The Oklahoma City Thunder look very good.

Carlos Boozer looks sick.

Tyson Chandler blocked 6 shots for the Knicks, but was bested by the Clippers DeAndre Jordan who swatted 8 shots.

Good for you, Chauncey Billups.

Derrick Rose can shoot threes? Good luck defending him NOW, rest of the NBA…

Kobe Bryant looks a step slower and had 8 turnovers in their loss to the Bulls today. But still good for 28 points, 7 boards & 6 assists.

The Lakers defended quite well today, showing more urgency on the defensive end than we’ve seen in years. A lot more double-teams and guys getting out in the passing lanes… great to see the influence of the defensive-minded Coach Mike Brown already. We still don’t get how the Lakers blow that game up 87-81 with under a minute left… to lose 88-87. Probably that Derrick Rose guy, dropping a jum,p hook over Gasol with 4.8 left.

Photo Source

Yeah right? Buck Williams… that dude who played for the Blazers back in the day. Old dude, goggles? Yes… but no. Before that, Buck Williams was born Charles Linwood Williams, in North Carolina. ‘Buck’ was born into hard work. His mother was a worked in the cotton fields in Rocky Mount, North Carolina and would take Buck with her into the fields, keeping her baby son in the cotton bag whilst she picked.

Williams would go on to a stellar three year career with Maryland where he finished his third year with averages of 15.5ppg, and 11.7 rebs. Buck was selected at number 3 in the 1981 NBA Draft by the New Jersey Nets. At the time, he was the number one power forward in college and the only two players selected ahead of him were scoring machine Mark Aguirre & Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas. Also in that draft were Orlando Woolridge, Tom Chambers, Eddie Johnson, Rolando Blackman, Kelly Tripucka, Herb Williams, Frank Brickowski, Larry Nance and current Boston Celtics GM, Danny Ainge. Pretty good company to be in for and the 6-8 forward with the big smile showed why he belonged as he picked up NBA Rookie of the Year, All Rookie Team selection and averaged 15.5 points, 12.3 boards, a steal, a block and shot 58.2% from the field.

The 1980-81 New Jersey Nets won only 24 games but behind Buck Williams and new head coach Larry Brown, the Nets turned it around to 44-38 finish and made the playoffs in 1981-82. Buck was also named an All Star in 3 of his first 5 seasons. Buck new hard work, evident by his 12 rebounds a game he averaged in the first 6 seasons of his NBA career. As talented as Buck was, he only once led the Nets in scoring (18.3ppg in 1987-88) and never led the team in field goal attempts. Buck was the consummate team-mate, evident by his first NBA coach Larry Brown was saying ‘Buck doesn’t have a selfish bone in his body’.

Larry Brown would quit the Nets as head coach at the end of the 1982-83 season to take the head coaching job with the NCAA’s Kansas Jayhawks and this was the start of bad times in New Jersey. They would bottom out in 1987-88, winning only 19 games and 26 games the following year.

At the end of the 1988-89 season, the Nets traded Buck to the Portland Trailblazers for the questionable Sam Bowie. Williams would give the Blazers the front-court presence they never had to complement their established backcourt of Terry Porter and Clyde Drexler. In Buck’s first season, with all five starters (Williams, Drexler, Porter, Jerome Kersey & Kevin Duckworth) avering double figures, the Trailblazers went all the way to the NBA Finals but would lose to the Detroit Pistons four games to one. The Blazers would make the finals again in 1992 but were bested this time by Michael Jordan & the Chicago Bulls four games to two.

Buck rounded out his career with 12 points & 8 rebounds on 6/7 shooting against the Bulls. A typically efficent & solid game to cap off an impressive playing career that included All-Defensive team selections, an All-NBA selection. Williams also joins a select few of players whom have averaged a double-double.

Post-playing career, Buck had a construction company and more recently in July 2010, Williams was employed by the Portland Trailblazers to serve as assistant coach to Nate McMillan.

A great person, great player, great career, hard worker… and he’s still smiling.

Photo Source

3MW Top Ten

Now that the NBA has dispensed (somewhat) with their millionaire squabbling, we’re back to what’s important which is BASKETBALL! With NBA Free Agency to open up Monday, 5th December at 10am (ET, USA), 3 Man Weave takes a look at our top ten free agents of 2011-12!

10. Tayshaun Prince (Unrestricted, Detroit Pistons)
The Pistons have finished with Prince. He was such a key part of those mid-2000′s Pistons teams, winning a championship in 2004 and making the finals again in 2007. But now he’s the guy who walked out on coach John Kuester and couldn’t maintain professionalism in what was no doubt a very trying season for the Pistons players. Hopefully, we see Prince in a fresh situation because let’s face it, the guy can still ball. He averaged 14.1ppg last year and there’s a number of teams looking for a defensive 3 man.

9. Caron Butler (Unrestricted, Dallas Mavericks)
The Mavs were without Butler in their NBA Finals victory and many questioned whether they’d keep him this off-season. The Mavs then traded for Rudy Fernandez as well as having Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Corey Brewer, Roddy Beaubois & the developing Domonique Jones under contract. Butler won’t stay with the Mavs and there will be a number of teams who would love to slot Butler’s scoring ability & playoff experience into their lineup.

8. JR Smith (Denver Nuggets)
We question whether JR would be as effective in any other system, as he is in Denver. He gets a TONNE of offensive freedom and his shot-selection shows it. We aren’t a huge fan of Smith and don’t see him playing as well anywhere else (other than perhaps the Knicks under Mike D’Antoni). But you can’t ignore a guy this talented, who can pour on points and is only 26 years old.

7. Jamal Crawford (Unrestricted, Atlanta Hawks)
Still no doubt a little annoyed he wasn’t offered a contract extension last year, we’ll see Crawford on another team in 2011-12. Crawford isn’t young anymore, but the 31 year old came off the bench for 14.2ppg in Atlanta last season. Realistically, Jamal could be that guy teams need to go from a playoff team to a finals team.

6. DeAndre Jordan (Restricted, LA Clippers)
Jordan was huge in 2010-11 for the Clippers. 7 points, 7 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game in 26 minutes of action last season. Add to those numbers, DeAndre oozes potential and is a good friend of Blake Griffin. The Clips are only at $43m in salaries with 10 players under contract. They could comfortably re-sign DeAndre Jordan, sign rookies Trey Thompson & Travis Leslie and they’d still be comfortably under the salary cap. That being said, they have to offer him the contract he deserves (and will demand). If the Clips can’t do that, there’s around 10 other NBA teams with the capacity to sign him to a big deal.

5. David West (Unrestricted, New Orleans Hornets)
Great player, young, still hasn’t hit his ceiling and will be there for the someone to pounce on. It was well-known last season that West and his superstar point guard Chris Paul. Our thinking is that West will go elsewhere and the Hornets will let him go. We aren’t saying West is the bad guy, not at all. In fact we think he’d flourish in another situation (see Zach Randolph).

4. Marc Gasol (Restricted, Memphis Grizzlies)
Was one of the better centres in the NBA last season, averaging 11.7ppg, 7.0rebs, 2.5ass & 1.7 blk. Not to mention shot 53% from the field & 75% from the line. Marc then upped his numbers to 15.0ppg, 11.3rebs & 2.2blk in the postseason. At only 26 years of age and with only 3 NBA seasons on his body… Gasol hasn’t reached his potential. Mind you, the Grizzlies have money to spend so other teams will have to offer some huge money to get Gasol on board and hope the Grizz don’t match it.

3. Jeff Green (Restricted, Boston Celtics)
The Celtics have only 7 players under contract and around $56m tied up in Rondo, Allen, Garnett & Pierce alone. Green is restricted, yes. But the C’s won’t have the money to match the offers that Green is really worth. Before he was traded to Boston, he averaged around 15 points & 6 boards on an OKC team where he was the 3rd option behind Durant and Westbrook. Green is good enough to be a second option on a number of teams. He’s a good guy, a hard worker… and if not for the a couple of solid bigs in free agency this year, we’d have Green at number 1. Indiana and New Jersey would be our picks for Green.

2. Tyson Chandler (Restricted, Dallas Mavericks)
The big guy showed over the past season (realistically, the past 3 seasons) that he’s no longer the young kid who was drafted with Eddy Curry to the Bulls. Chandler may not have put up huge numbers for the Mavs, but a respectible 10.1ppg, 9.4rebs, 1.1 blocks and a whopping 65% from the field. Chandler was huge for Dallas in the Finals against Miami and many Dallas players have openly campaigned for Chandler to return. You’d have to think that Mark Cuban has pretty deep pockets but with their team salaries at $63m and only 10 players on their roster the Mavs may not be able to match offers for Chandler.

1. Nene Hilario (unrestricted, Denver Nuggets)
Nene led the NBA in FG% last season, averaged 14.5ppg, 7.6rebs, 2.0ass, 1.1stl & 1.0blk. He’s not Dwight Howard, but he can score, rebound, defend, has worked hard and in a time where we lack true big men… there is Nene. There’s not a better player at their position in this free agent class than the big guy from Brazil. The Nuggets have a number of unrestricted players (Nene, Kenyon Martin, JR Smith & Melvin Ely), as well as a few restricted players (Gary Forbes, Wilson Chandler & Arron Afflalo). We feel that Nene’s decision may have as much to do with the Nuggets’ approach to keeping his team-mates around as it will Denver’s & other teams’ offers to him.

Honourable Mentions

Thad Young (Philly) - Is restricted and the 76ers brass have openly said they’ll be matching any offer on Young. They won’t be letting him go, so hardly worth talking about.
Jason Richardson (Orlando) – Unrestricted free agent and very talented baller. But we’re not convinced teams will take a gamble on the guy who upset Steve Nash.
Shane Battier (Memphis) - Battier is extremely valuable to your team… hard to fathom for a guy who averaged 5ppg on .426% shooting after the trade to Memphis. But if you know basketball, you know that Shane Battier is that guy who helps you win games.
Kris Humphries (Nets) – We’ll be very surprised if Humphries leaves New Jersey. He’s one of the best big men in this free agent class but New Jersey was where Humphries found his feet. Coach Avery Johnson gave Humphries his chance, gave him his minutes and Humphries responded. The Nets will have to pay him to keep him, but it will happen.
Michael Redd (Bucks) – If you’re signing Michael Redd this offseason, you could end up looking very good. The former All Star who once averaged 26.7ppg in 2006-07 has played only 28 NBA games in the past 2 years. Redd’s contract paid him $18.3M last year and given he’s been paid… we don’t see Redd demanding big money. Let alone being in a position to command it. That being said, the guy is only a few years removed from being one of the best shooting guards in the game.

A long time between drinks, hasn’t it been? Don’t worry, we’re back… Some basketball news around the web:

Why we should feel positive for the Trailblazers’ Greg Oden.

Also in Trailblazers news, point guard Patty Mills is killing it for the Melbourne Tigers in Australia’s national league, the NBL.

The sale of the Atlanta Hawks is off.

Not all NBA players are rolling in cash during the lockout, some are doing it tough.

The NBA may be squabbling over who deserves more coin, but the D-League is still rolling. Check out Matt Hubert’s update on D-League Digest.

Happy Halloween from Tony Allen.

Philadunkia’s interview with the 76ers Lou Williams.

Jeff Van Gundy has spoken… you must listen, David Stern.

A great article from Order of the Court about the Catskills resorts back in the day.

That’s all for now…

I don’t care who you marry, what you buy, where you live. You’re a basketball player, not my personal example of how to live life. I love this game in its entirety; the nuances, the movements, the situations, the poetry and majesty of every step, every dribble, every release. I love how you play the game, don’t ever consider that to mean I love you. I don’t know you. I may respect what you do with your fame and fortune, I may be at times entertained by your public persona, but my love of the game and how you play it will always remain on a court.

Any court.

My apologies, Kevin Durant. You are exempt from this rant. You, who went back to the Drew League, again, and played hard. Who is organising streetball royalty to clash in DC. You who has played in more Leagues this year than most players have had training sessions. You, Kevin Durant, putting in work at Dyckman, Rucker, Drew… You, Kevin Durant, who reminds me why I love this game so much, every time I see you play.

KD is preaching. Bow your heads and say Amen.