• in the first quarter, they started joking about not being able to see what happened in a close out of bounds call, because they didn’t have their normal seats (the Sixers, remember, stick opposing media members up in a corner of the lower bowl, around where the DJ booth is at Raptors games, so they can sell more courtside seats). Then the play-by-play guy starts saying how, way up there, Matt Bullard can get away with taking off his headset and yelling at the refs, which he starts doing.  Then they start joking about how the refs could hear anyway because the arena is so empty (and they’re surrounded by Philly fans).  This is guaranteed to be on Deadspin tomorrow.
• they called Chase Budinger “Bud” repeatedly.
• on an Aaron Brooks floater that seemed like it was going in, then popped out at the last second: “It went in, took a peek, and came out”

Love these guys.  They’re kind of like Jack Armstrong, if he could put together coherent sentences.

Other thoughts on the game:

• Willie Green is a fringe NBA player at this point, yet he was mystifyingly on the court in crunch time instead of Thaddeus Young.  Willie took a couple awful jumpshots that helped Houston win it.
• AI made a sick outlet pass to Iguodala for a dunk.  I hope these guys get along now, because they have the potential to be a very entertaining duo.
• Aaron Brooks, despite his “just the tip” layup attempt, ended up sealing the game on a difficult jumper.  I think they like him in Clutch City.

John Wall lays it up against Sam Houston

Derek Rose, Brandon Jennings, and coming next year: John Wall.

This kid is a stud. Now this isn’t a Brandon Jennings-style out of nowhere surprise; absolutely everyone knew that Wall’s game was serious before his freshman season even started. Predictable or not, however, watching him tear up the college game has been an awful lot of fun.

Now, enthusiasm for John Wall’s skills has to be tempered by the fact that UK hasn’t faced any stiff competition yet. Really, it doesn’t matter though, the tools at John Wall’s disposal are just stunning. He gets blocks, he’s a monster in passing-lanes, he has an extra gear (or two), he’s got ludicrous hops and the most ridiculous cross over since young Baron Davis. He also has a pretty nice mid-range game, a sick variety of Euro scoop finishes, and can definitely make plays and run an offense. Oh, and he’s got a menacing ass swagger. He cackles when he makes big plays; he seems to not even blink at big shots; and you can just tell he’s a fierce competitor and a straight up showman…. Talk about NBA material.

On Monday night, despite playing only 26 minutes, he had 14 assists, 6 steals and 12 points with only 1 turnover. Granted the game was against yet another cupcake opponent, but any good basketball fan has to be thrilled by the prospect of John Wall adding to the explosive young point guard dog-fight that we’re sure to witness in the decade ahead.

Think about all these names: Wall, Rondo,  Jennings, Rose, Deron, Brooks, CP, Ty Lawson and, hopefully, Rubio at some point. Plus a lower tier of Stuckey, Chalmers, Flynn, Curry and Tyreke Evans (only in a lower tier because he’s obviously a two guard, so long as your head isn’t lodged up your ass). Wow, right?

The early evidence from the post-handcheck era strongly suggests that defenses have more issues stopping the pick and roll and one-on-one dribble penetration. These changes are hugely beneficial to small-guards. Add this to the mix with the current plethora of jaw-dropping young talent at point guard, and there’s no telling how dominant some of these names could become over the next decade. At the least, some really competitive and fun match-ups, and hopefully some CP3-Rondo style professional grudge-fests, should unfold at the 1 spot over the next 10-12 years.

Indeed, the prevalence of quality small guards could change the way a standard NBA starting five is conceived of. There is a trend emerging early in this NBA season of playing 2 small guards – even two pure point-guards – at the same time. This trend may represent more than a passing fad, at a minimum we should expect to see a lot more of these sorts of lineups in the months ahead. And if just one team that subscribes to this two point-guards/small-guards style can make some noise in the playoffs this year, this trend could become a transformation.

A quick, totally worthwhile digression; the dream scenario for a dominant two guard lineup is the Jazz getting the number one pick (by way of the 3-14 Knicks and coincidentally the prototypical small guard – Isaiah Thomas) and teaming Wall and Deron Williams in the same lightning quick backcourt…

Some John Wall highlights and more gushing about Kentucky after the jump…

This video is a couple of weeks old but it’s still worth watching. John Wall hits a game winning shot in his debut game with the University of Kentucky Wildcats:

Calipari’s rebuilt Kentucky outfit is looking pretty stellar so far this season. With Wall, fellow freak freshman DeMarcus Cousins and relative vet Patrick Patterson leading the way, this ridiculously athletic UK team has the makings of a serious threat come March. Yet another worthwhile digression: how great would a Bill Self(KU)-Calipari(UK) rematch be? If recent history is any indication it would be absolutely unreal, especially if Calipari’s side struggles to make their free-throws in crunch time again.

Here’s a solid 5 minute video of UK shit-kicking some pauvre cupcake… Predictably Wall, Patterson and Cousins only dominate the first part – after which they were taken off the court to make room for the scrubs.

John Wall highlights from another cupcake blowout, love the blocks in this one though, and his vast array of scoop finishes. Also from this video you really get an idea of Wall’s menacing jokester on court act.

As a Raptors fan I’m just praying that Wall goes to the Western Conference. After all the only thing that could stop me from gushing about John Wall would be watching him repeatedly torch Calderon… or seeing him beat KU in the tournament.

I know we’re coming perilously close to running a personal tribute blog to Ron-Ron, but this couldn’t be ignored. He continues to be the best interview in sports, maybe the world.  In the first part, he clears up the controversy about taking the Rockets’ team bus to a playoff game wearing only his boxers (they have pockets, so they’re not really underpants).  In the second part, he tells the story about confronting Kobe in the showers following game 6 of the Boston series and somehow makes it sound even more gay.  Enjoy.

Jesus.  I was all caught up in the shoegate banalities and somehow missed this.  I’m surprised it didn’t come crashing through the wall of my apartment like a meteor. Is it possible to come up with a weirder combination of tracks than this and Afghan Women?  Especially when you consider that both music videos were almost certainly shot in Ron-Ron’s backyard.  I’m calling it right now: his next song will feature Tyson and Howard Hughes’ ghost and will be about aliens attacking the G8 summit.

In last night’s game against the Rockets, Ron Artest made the heads-up play to keep the court safe and clear of debris.  I’d say that this happened out of jealousy over the crowd’s warm reception of Ariza when he collected his ring pre-game (after Artest was mysteriously booed by Rockets fans a couple weeks ago) but I think we all know that Ron-Ron’s consciousness has evolved way past that point.  For the record, if Robert Horry had done this everyone would have been all, “Oooh, Robert Horry, doing the little things! He’s so savvy!” but with Artest it’ll be more like, “Oh my God, what if he had killed someone?!”

A handful of non-competitive ‘cupcake’ games highlighted the beginning of College Basketball season on Thursday evening. Many of the top prospects were in action; and a few potential top picks put up marquee performances on opening night…

Kansas freshman shooting guard Xavier Henry looked as dominant as advertised as he hit 5-8 from 3, and 8-12 overall for 27 points in his regular season debut. The game itself unsurprisingly turned out to be a cakewalk as number one KU blew-out Hofstra. Henry’s size and shooting accuracy is expected to put the Jayhawks over the top this year – so even if his 66% shooting night came against weak competition on Thursday, it represents a damn promising start for the number 1 seed.

Georgetown Centre Greg Monroe who would have likely been a top 10 pick had he entered the 09 Draft (and not taken the ‘Blake Griffin stay in school and try to compete for a top 5 slot’ route)  had a good start to his sophomore year – the 18-11 he dropped on Tulane will do nothing to diminish his buzz. The Hoya’s are ranked 21 and will need continued output from their young star centre if they are going to avoid the bubblicious fate they suffered last season.

Also, an odd study in possible lottery-pick contrasts: Kalin Lucas, a junior combo guard for the second ranked Spartans had 21 points in 25 minutes on 9-11 shooting from the line, whereas Duke’s Kyle Singler hit 20 points in true Dukey/Christian Laettner fashion – i.e without even attempting a free throw!

Sadly, perhaps the most anticipated debut, that of Kentucky’s John Wall, was delayed one more game because of a two game suspension. I hadn’t realized when I first turned on the Kentucky game, that Calipari’s new prize, the highly touted, potential #1 pick, who bears expectations of becoming Baron Davis 2.0 (or Tim Hardaway 3.0 if you prefer) was going to be sidelined! So color me as disappointed as Jay Triano after the 1st quarter of tonight’s Raptors-Clippers romp.

More to come on Monday when UNC makes their debut – I’m particularly interested to see John Henson lank about the floor in his debut for the defending champion Tarheels.

Also, Dwayne Wade took Anderson Varejao so hard to the hole on Thursday that half  the transvestite hookers in Rio were limping all evening on Friday… Here Marv has an unintentionally hilarious call as well, “OOOOO! A Facial!!”