zuobuwan

Also, juniors like KU’s Morris twins, well, honestly, does anyone really expect them to return to college?

Every day now college basketball players are declaring for the NBA draft, and almost always, too much is made of it.Juniors like Mizzou’s Laurence Bowers and Kim English have absolutely nothing to lose by getting feedback from the league. In fact, if you’re a junior and DON’T declare (without hiring an agent) it’s only because you’re lazy or too busy with classes* or just have no desire to play in the NBA**.* Ha!** HA!!!Also, juniors like KU’s Morris twins, well, honestly, does anyone really expect them to return to college?But there are some interesting decisions, and this year, with our local schools, the most interesting one will be Josh Selby’s. He is apparently in Las Vegas, missing a few days’ worth of classes to work out for NBA folk. KU coach Bill Self indicates Selby has not hired an agent. This is a good thing.Quick disclaimer: this is Selby’s life. Whatever he wants to do, bully for him. I assume he’s like most others and grew up dreaming of the NBA much more than college basketball, and if he wants to take his shot now, pursue his dream, then he doesn’t need to pay attention to anybody else outside his immediate family and closest friends.All that said, it sure looks like a huge mistake if he stays in the draft.Chad Ford lists Selby as the No. 44 prospect for this year’s draft.This projection has Selby going 38th.This one only does the first round, and Selby isn’t listed.Same with this one.Now, guys go pro every year who could probably benefit from one more season in college, but what separates Selby is that he has SO much to gain from another year.The Morris twins, for example, had fabulous junior seasons so you have to figure wherever they’re projected now is as good as it’s going to get.Selby is different. He was suspended, hurt, and mostly bad as a freshman. NBA teams saw that, every uncomfortable second of it, and that promise out of high school is buried somewhere underneath the uncertainty he played with at Kansas.The talent is still there, though, and there can’t be too many others who could show as much improvement next year as Selby. Assuming he can stay healthy and confident, Selby will lead KU in shots, have the ball in his hands the most, and every opportunity to have a bad-A sophomore season. If Thomas Robinson returns, they could be like the new Sherron Collins and Cole Aldrich, only Selby could behave himself in elevators.If he fulfills 80 percent of the promise placed on him coming out of high school, don’t you think he’d work his way from the second round to the top half of the first?Go pro now, and he’s counting on the right team selecting him, counting on a nails summer and finding a roster spot on a team that won’t have much invested on him.Stay, and he’s fairly likely to get much more money next year and a much safer place to stick around for the all-important second contract.Seems like a pretty easy decision.But Selby’s the only one who can make it.

NEW ORLEANS — Amid calls for more points, more thrills, more excitement and electricity – and those are the requests of the owner, by the way – the Dolphins offense in 2011 will continue to operate under the same philosophy.“We’re going to continue to run the football because that’s my nature,’’ coach Tony Sparano said Tuesday at the NFL annual meeting. “That might not be popular with everybody, but that’s what I like to do. So we’re going to continue to run the football.’’And there you have it. That microscope you’ve had trained on the quarterback position? Keep it there. But purchase another one and focus it on the running backs because the ignition switch to new offensive coordinator Brian Daboll’s attack will be found at the handoff.The only problem with that is a practical one. The Dolphins don’t have any answers at running back right now.Yes, they have Lex Hilliard and Kory Sheets on the roster. But Ricky Williams and Ronnie Brown — the twin threats, primary ball carriers and Miami’s best playmakers the past five years — are not signed.They’re not even part of a conversation Sparano wants to have.“I don’t want to talk too much about those two guys not under contract right now,’’ the coach said. “From our end, the guys we can talk about are Lex Hilliard and Kory Sheets. … It’s going to be a position we’re going to have to address one way or the other.“When I say one way or the other, obviously that’s through the draft or free agency that we address it. We’re going to have to do that. We have plans to go forth accordingly with whatever comes first.’’Change is coming at running back for Miami. My best guess? Neither Ricky Williams nor Ronnie Brown return.No one representing the team is saying that publicly. And Sparano is saying he can’t discuss either because he doesn’t want to address free agents.But it is no one other than the Dolphins who allowed Brown and Williams to become free agents in the first place without making any significant attempt to re-sign either. Miami’s attitude with both lately is akin to a shoulder shrug.That doesn’t mean the approach is wrong. But it is, in fact, the approach.The truth is the Dolphins have never been keen on paying Brown ever since he signed his rookie contract. They have never made a strong, serious effort to get him to sign a second deal.The truth is Williams will be 34 years old in May and despite how little wear he has or how much he nurtures his body, his age and the position don’t suggest he’s about to get better.The truth, as one Dolphins executive told me last season, is that you must ask yourself this: “What about either of them is special now?’’A run-first team needs at least one special running back. The fact is a run-first team needs two backs and one of them better have some speed to threaten the defense with a 75-yard run now and then.“I would like those two guys to complement each other a little differently in the big picture, but you don’t always have that luxury,” Sparano said. “… But we don’t hold those pieces right now.’’The Dolphins ranked No. 21 in run offense last season. A passing team such as Green Bay or New Orleans or Indianapolis can get away with that. But a running team like the Dolphins must be more efficient.So what was wrong with Miami’s running game in 2010? Sparano numbers three general things:Second-level blocking from everyone downfield, including wide receivers, was not good enough.The backs were not good enough at either breaking tackles or making defenders miss once they got past the line of scrimmage.And then there were the mental mistakes from one guy or another on far too many plays.The running game is a ballet. It needs to be synchronized. It doesn’t work if even one thing is going wrong from play to play.Sparano, looking for answers, sometimes changed things along the offensive line. The right guard spot was often a revolving door that dropped one player off and picked another up. And that was probably too much switching week to week.There is too much uncertainty about the entire running game to be very comfortable, but this much we know: Don’t invest in Ronnie Brown or Ricky Williams jerseys this offseason.

Brook Lopez scored 20 points, Deron Williams added 16 and made the clinching 3-pointer, and the New Jersey Nets extended their longest winning streak in three years to five games with an 88-79 victory over the Boston Celtics on Monday night.
Kris Humphries had 16 points and 15 rebounds, following his strong performance against Blake Griffin by turning in one against Kevin Garnett to help the Nets snap a nine-game home losing streak against the Celtics.
New Jersey has won five in a row overall for the first time since late December-early January in the 2007-08 season.
Ray Allen scored 19 points and Garnett had 18 for the Celtics, who couldn’t overcome horrible shooting nights from All-Stars Paul Pierce and Rajon Rondo and fell back into a tie with Chicago for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
A night after allowing a franchise low in the shot clock era in an 87-56 victory over Milwaukee, the Celtics wasted a good defensive effort with a bad offensive one. Pierce was 2 of 10 for seven points, while Rondo shot 1 of 10 and scored two.
Rondo, who went down after a hard pick in the first half and briefly went to the locker room in the third quarter, missed his first seven shots before making a jumper with 3:10 left in third quarter.
The Celtics have been so successful and so popular when they play in New Jersey that the games seem better suited for the TD Garden than the Garden State. The Nets finally beat Boston at home for the first time since April 16, 2006.
The Nets announced their second straight sellout and third of the season at the Prudential Center, but the arena was decorated in so much green it seemed the St. Patrick’s Day celebrations had started a few days early.
But the Nets started to win the crowd with a strong finish to the third quarter, when Anthony Morrow and Sundiata Gaines made 3-pointers in the final 34 seconds, with Gaines’ coming at the buzzer to give New Jersey a 67-61 lead.
The Nets extended it to 74-62 on Travis Outlaw’s 3-pointer with 9:34 remaining. The Celtics quickly cut into it, but missed a chance to grab a lead when Allen missed from 3-point range with about 4 minutes left, and botched a chance to tie inside 3 minutes when called for a 3-second violation.
After Rondo missed a jumper that would have tied it with about 1 1/2 minutes to go, Lopez made a short jumper for an 83-79 edge with 1:14 remaining. The Celtics failed to score and Williams, back after missing the last two games following the birth of a child, nailed a 3 with 35 seconds to go to make it 86-79.
The Celtics picked up defensively where they left off Sunday. New Jersey took a 14-9 lead with 6:28 left in the first quarter, then missed its final 10 shots while going scoreless for the remainder of the period while the Celtics took a 23-14 lead.
The Nets missed two more to open the second, but the Celtics couldn’t extend their lead while giving plenty of time to their reserves. With Rondo missing all six shots in the half, Boston scored only 15 points in the period and led 38-36 at the break.
Notes: Celtics coach Doc Rivers said G Delonte West (sprained right ankle) could return Wednesday against Indiana. … Troy Murphy, who spent most of the season away from the Nets while awaiting a trade, then was bought out after being dealt to Golden State and signed with Boston, was booed when he entered. Murphy was a New Jersey high school star. … The Nets will send reserve G Ben Uzoh to Springfield on Tuesday to begin a stint with their NBA Development League affiliate.

It’s thought the N.B.A. All-Star weekend is a chance for weary players and coaches to refresh, recharge and come back for the second half of the season raring to play. Apparently, the long weekend did not do the trick for the Orlando Magic.
Its All-Star center, Dwight Howard, who did not have the weekend off, is showing signs of fraying patience. The Magic lost, 111-105, to the Kings on Wednesday, and Howard seemed plenty annoyed with his teammates.
He frequently yelled and snapped at his them during the game, begging them to play harder, according to The Orlando Sentinel. After the game he sounded like a parent who is tired of begging a child to clean his room:http://koellmann.blog.co.uk/
“I’ve said everything there is to say,” Howard said. “That’s it. I’ve talked every timeout, when we’re in the huddle, in the locker room… What, you want me to Tweet about it? I’ve done everything I’m supposed to do as a leader.”
“…If guys don’t want to play, they’ve got to sit down. We just can’t have guys or anybody out there not playing hard.”This season has been a frustrating and annoying ride so far, as the Magic continues to fall short in becoming one of the East’s elite teams. The Magic stand fourth in the Eastern Conference, 6.5 games back of the leading Boston Celtics and Miami Heat.
Howard continued his introspection.
“We have a lot of talent, but talent will not get you a championship,” Howard said. “We’re one of the most talented teams in the NBA. We’re a deep team. We’ve got guys who can do a lot of different things. But if we don’t bring it every night, it’s a waste of talent.”
It’s an old hoops adage that you can’t coach effort, and Howard is wondering aloud what’s going on with the Magic.
“Everybody on the team has to step up and play hard,” he said. “I’m not singling anybody out. I’m not calling anybody out. But as a team, if we don’t play hard we’re going to lose every night.”

http://zhegehaoduo.blog.com/

Jack Wilshere believes Arsenal must employ a physical style of play against Barcelona when the two sides meet in the Champions League at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
While the youngster insists the Gunners have learned from their defeat to the Catalan giants in the competition last year, he has called on them to “be a bit nasty”.
“We’ve got to change our game a bit to play against Barcelona,” Wilshere said, according to the Daily Mail.
“We’ll learn from last year. When we’ve got the ball, we’ve got to keep it as well as they can. We need to get in their faces and win the ball back and, if you like, be a bit nasty with them.
“There’s no point one of us going after them. We have to press as a team and get the ball back.”
At a personal level, Wilshere’s stock has risen in recent times and he has managed to make consistent appearances for the Gunners this season, and even made his full England debut during the victory over Denmark last week.
Now the 19-year-old wishes to gain valuable experience playing against the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
He added: “I watch Barcelona playing in La Liga and I watch Xavi and Iniesta just run the games. That’s what I want to learn from and do myself. It will be great to play against them.
“It’s been a brilliant week for me, probably one of the best of my life. I will never forget that England game.
“Playing for your national team is amazing. Playing with the players I played with was amazing. Frank Lampard was great.
“I’m comfortable in the role I played for England. It wasn’t really just a defensive role. I spoke to Frank before the game and he said, ‘If you want to go forward, go forward’, and vice-versa. It was similar to my role at Arsenal.”

Yeehaw! Dallas Cowboy Tony Romo wasn’t fooling around when he proposed to love Candice Crawford Thursday night during her 24th birthday dinner in Dallas, Tex.
PHOTOS: Stars’ blingiest engagement rings
Crawford showed off her enormous new engagement ring in a pic posted at The33TV.com (The Dallas/Fort Worth station first reported the engagement; a rep for Romo, 30, confirmed the news exclusively to UsMagazine.com.) Check out a very similar-style platinum and diamond ring from Kirk Kara at left.
Judging from the original pic, jewelry and style expert Michael O’Connor tells Us the bride-to-be’s sparkler is “one of the more romantic we’ve seen in celebrity engagement rings this year.”
PHOTOS: Gorgeous celeb weddings
The ring features an approximate 4-carat center diamond set in platinum “surrounded by a vintage inspired design,” O’Connor says. “Tony chose a band with a split platinum shank and micro pave diamonds, a feature that makes the ring more elegant.”
Approximate price tag? $80,000, O’Connor tells Us.
PHOTOS: Jessica Simpson’s many men
Romo, 30, began dating Crawford (a former beauty queen and little sister to Gossip Girl’s Chace Crawford) in September 2009, two months after his split with Jessica Simpson. He and Simpson, 30, dated for almost two years. Simpson herself got engaged last month to ex-NFL pro Eric Johnson.
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