That could explain why guys like Shaq, Mutombo, Duncan, and Garnett have had (and other than Mutombo, are still having) productive careers, where they are still considered high-impact players.

Shooting touch gets better with age, so do BBall IQ and craftiness, and size doesn’t go away.

On the other hand, a player like Iverson can fade a bit more quickly, because he is losing one of the attributes that he had over his counterparts: speed/quickness.

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As a side note, am I the only one that is foreseeing a trade between the Cavs and the Warriors? Golden State is reportedly asking for Big Z in exchange for Captain Jack. If I’m the Cavs (seeing how their smaller lineup was great and the twin-giants lineup was aweful), I would ask for Ronny Turiaf to be thrown in to make the financial side work.

Then I would give the Cavs the following rotation:

Williams / West / Gibson
Jackson / Parker / West
James / Jackson / Moon
Varejao / Powe* / Turiaf / Hickson
O’Neal** / Varejao

* – Turiaf would be bumped up until Powe is back.
** – I would give Shaq only about 24-26 minutes a night, none of them in the last 8-10 minutes of the game.

Am I the only one that thinks that lineup is twice as good, effective, and deep as their current rotation?

Unlike some of the past big men high picks, Bargs came to the NBA with some useful skills ready to use.

It’s easy to list big men busts, guys who never developed but when drafted the only real skill one could point to was they were big.

For me it was easy, as the mrs is fiery Italian woman who didn’t really ‘get’ sports of any kind (except for World Cup Soccer, of course), so like a hungry salesman spotting a slam-dunk solution for a big-fish customer, I was all over the obvious Italian connection right from the beginning and began a systematic campaign to convert her into a Raptors fan. Today, she’s not as big a fan as I am, but she’s always interested in how ‘her boy’ is doing and actually squeals with delight on occasion when she happens to be watching and Andrea does something (even a little bit) spectacular … but, more importantly, she no longer begrudges me watching every game … on the HD big screen. So, yes, the effort paid off, handsomely.

Year one was exciting, but he was still obviously a rookie. Year two was near-disastrous – turned out he had a bad sinus infection for most of that year though, so I gave him a pass – and year three looked good for a game or so, but then … it started to look even worse than the previous year.

For myself, on the pro-side of the number one pick thing, that he showed in flashes that he had the goods, made it all the harder to see him looking like he wasn’t going to get there. And I began to lose faith. Until … last January 2nd.

I had the Friday evening all to my little old self, and decided to go down to the ACC to get a scalpers ticket. Got there, checked out who was selling what, shared a fat one with a selected street entrepreneur, and got a good deal on a not-bad ticket on a night that was sold out. Yao was in town with the Rockets, so the local Asian community (especially) was out in force.

Bargnani was fantastic that night … and I just knew that he had turned a corner. Maybe not THE corner, I didn’t know about that yet, but I knew I could never be on the increasingly noisy side (back right then) that wanted to trade him, which I’d been almost contemplating sliding over to, up to that day.

From that game on, in my mind, he’s been money. So I wasn’t at all surprised by how good he played the other night, not at all. Like all players, he’s bound to have an off one, now and again, but as far as I’m concerned, his awakening began for real, against Houston on that Friday night, last January. And I don’t think he’s ever going to look back.

*Note – I don’t mean to hog the space here, but I felt a little writing jag creeping up while reading the National Post article I clicked from here, so while I await my cardiologist appointment later this morning (I had stents recently installed into my chest, lucky me), I let it flow … and where else would I post it? If it’s a bit much, I do apologize.

Go Raps!

Tired, excited, did what could happen to anyone. Screw up the thing he does best the first time he got the chance.

Maybe his legs were tired…. but we have all seen him hit late game FTs while dripping buckets of sweat. Maybe the law of averages catches up to everyone… even Joses FTs.