Links, Trolling (and the festive joy it brings for all), other craptastic thoughts, and Robert Horry belongs in the Hall?

Try talking to you While you do, while you do I swap places with you Just to see things through Just sing me the tune And you'll see I'll keep it here for you I'll wait for your cue You wrote down all the words Black and white On a wall Just keepin' it so Yeah you know how it goes No plans for a change, nothing strange No not today no way Now sing me the tune

Cash it in and throw it all away Never needed any of it anyway So you twist and you turn Uncomfortable fool, you'll never learn But you can take a stand Forget all about the plans California rose

Side one track two On a record of you I've even stuck on a groove That I don't wanna lose Just play it again, as a friend It's your favorite worn-in shoes Now sing me the tune Cash it in and throw it all away, yeah Never needed any of it anywaya

So you crash, and you burn Sometimes the road will twist and turn Some of this, less of that Forget all about the map California road Cash it in and throw it all away Never needed any of it anyway.....

I have many things to say today, as I've spent a lot of time in different places. But BlueJohn asked me to spend a minute on trolls, and I thought I would spend a moment on the King Bonehead himself, Stinky. So before the Jump, I'll discuss my feeling about Trolls, and Stinky. After the jump the real talk will commence.

I rank Stinky somewhere in between Hitler and Satan. If I had a choice to kill both, I would bring an uzi, and 4 or 5 banana clips. I'm pretty sure 1 clip would do it, but emptying all 4 or 5 would make me feel good. (Or if you prefer the 2 bullets and choose to kill Stinky, Satan and Hitler, I'd probably settle for choosing to shoot Stinky twice.) The other stupid Blazer fans who've come in here, who are not to be confused with the intelligent Blazer fans, or the idiot who posted the Monta Ellis is better than Kevin Martin craptastic crapfest/fanpost, are just what they are. Stupid bandwagon fans. Onto Stinky.

Stinky really offended me last night with his (I'm just assuming it's a guy on the assumption woman can't be that worthless, but I suppose it's possible) "Bring Bobby Hurley Back" name. First off, if there is any subject that is taboo, to me, Bobby Hurley and Ricky Berry head that list. Berry for obvious reasons, and even though I didn't follow the team in 1989, I feel his ghost still hangs a bit around Arco. Even though Celtics fans love to whine about Len Bias (deservingly so), I've always wondered what Danny Ainge's take would be in all of that. He knew Ricky (played with him), and might have known Len. Certainly he knew the effect that not having Len had on the Celtics post 1986.

Still, the reason I'm offended with Stinky's S/N was that the fans boo'd Bobby after he came back, due to the fact he couldn't play the way "the fans" expected. Jerry Reynolds pointed it out in Reynolds Remembers that Jay Williams, who got hurt riding a motorcycle, had lesser injuries and still hasn't come back to this day. Bobby came back within 6 months of nearly dying, and having his brain splattered on the back roads behind Arco. When you're saying you want Bobby to come back, in effect you're saying you want to have a guy who had to have his brain re-attached to his head to live, and then made a courageous, and under-appreciated comeback, to play 5 more years in the NBA. That isn't just wrong or cruel. It's desperate pithy crap is what it is. Frankly, Bobby's comeback never got the attention it's deserved, and because Bobby isn't a me-first type of guy, I'm sure most people aren't aware he took over the HS team his father coached since leaving the NBA. Bobby has a special place in Kings lore for me, even higher than any of the glory Kings including Vlade, simply because of the courage it took to return to the NBA, and give all he had. In a "me-first" "how do I look now" league, even in the 90's, Bobby was quite the opposite. I'm still proud he played the majority of his career here. I, also, think it's a major feat that Garry St. Jean accomplished with getting 39 wins with Spud Webb/Bobby Hurley/Tyus Edney as the PG's. In the current NBA it couldn't be done. I'm convinced of that.

Stinky is a loser/troll with no life. People have said the same of me, which is true, but the difference is, I get no pleasure out of making anyone miserable. I come here to get relief off my chest by expressing it here. What better place? StR is where many intelligent Kings fans preside, and I've learned a great deal more about the Kings than I ever could over any other medium. For that I'm always appreciative. And Stinky is jealous of that. He's jealous that people can have an honest and reasonable opinion without being stupid biased dipshit's. There is no other reason to flame a game thread like he did last night. I thought Blue got it right, in a comment today, when he mentioned the yeoman effort Kfan expended commenting on the game. Moving on!

One thing I'm thankful for is TZ. Many (almost all) blogs have quality authors, but TZ is a rare bird even among those. Few people even have anything to say, and among them, few hold such high esteem that make so many believe their value is inherent. Not to belabor the point, but TZ is one of those. A great example of this is his points today about the Kings loss in Portland. I'll admit I'm not a big SNL fan, and find "verklempt" to be a bit off how I would feel about the Kings situation, and had to look up on Wikipedia to figure out what he meant, but that's a perfect reason why I read TZ. I always learn something. A word I've never heard of, or some small detail he gets that I could never figure out, or in general some link or thought process from some other part of the basketblogosphere that comes to him via the, somewhere in the near certainty, about 25-35 links via email he gets every day filled with that stuff. Few fanbases are as lucky as we are. So, again, thanks TZ.

Dave, of Blazers Edge, had a great point, in his game recap of the Kings/Blazers, about the use of +/- stat's. The thing is that when you use them for short term (i.e 5 games), you get very little out of them. They're mostly a long term stat (50 games was his minimum cutoff), and frankly, I agree with it. I love 82games.com as much as the next non-stats guy, but if you don't apply the metric to the number, it's not going to do very good. Too many people mis-apply the +/- stat too often.

Ben, the significant other of Bedge, had an interesting blurb on Kevin Martin, whom he had observed working, with whom I presume was Pete Youngman, before the game at the Rose Garden:

Fun pregame exchange between Martell and Kevin Martin -- two talented wings currently beset with injuries. Martell came over to the Kings side of the court while Martin was doing the high jog (pictured below, basically you lift your knee to your chest and throw an arm in the air with each step). Martell said what's up to Martin but the Kings trainer that was working Martin out said quickly, "Martell is not your concern!" Haha. Martell just smiled at that as Martin finished his reps. Then Martin came over for some daps but, eying the trainer, quickly retreated back to his workout. Martell looked at the trainer and said, "It's his left ankle isn't it?" The trainer said yes. Martell was like, "I knew it. I could tell." Martin was favoring the ankle but, prior to Martell pointing it out, I hadn't been able to tell just by looking which ankle it was. If this professional basketball thing doesn't work out for him, maybe Martell can become a rehab specialist.

The most important news is two-fold on this:

•  Martin can fly and be with the team
  
•  His ankle, which had to be pretty severe to have kept him out this long, will get better because he will work his ass off to make sure it does

But, Amick, being the genius he is, also wrote a story about this. Reggie Theus had this to say:

He even asked me (on Monday) when we were at our meeting, he said, 'Coach, I'm going to skip the (team) meeting because I'm going to go get some treatment and double up my treatments,' " Theus said. "It's getting better. "When a player starts to say that, then you have to start thinking he's not that far out."

I agree with Reggie it looks good. Just in another week or so. And it couldn't come any sooner. Now, Amick please make Cisco come back too.

Martell Webster on Spencer Hawes:

That tells you that he's committed to playing defense and helping his teammates out," Webster said. "I mean, if you're blocking shots, and you never were really capable of doing that (before)? Man, that's an honor (for Hawes) right there."

But the thing that really caught my eye was what some random person posted on the forum that ended up being highlighted in the right corner of the article Amick wrote:

Hawes has made more progress on D in a year than Miller has in his career.

That makes me laugh, because, if for nothing else, it provides the great paradox the Kings will be in with Brad Miller.

Speaking of segueways, Otis had several strong points on Miller that are often over-looked when determining how the Kings should look at the veteran C when figuring out what kind of trade the team should accept if they do decide to move him by the trade deadline in February:

And pookey is right, Miller’s value to this team is exponentially higher than to most other franchises. Although anyone running a high post offense with a decent low post defender opposite Miller to cover his weaknesses would be perfect.

The bold part of this statement is something people need to understand. The 2nd part of the statement is equally true, and in fact the 3 points he's made in this string of comments are all top quality, but he is exponentially more important to the Kings, because of the style employed is the most important lesson here, of the multiple lesson's, I suppose, offered to you.

For those aren't aware, there have been a lot of things talked about on this topic, but Eddie Jordan was fired yesterday, among other things, for not getting his team to play defense. I would suggest heading to Bullets forever, (if you don't do anything else, watch the youtube clip of him buying a Benz--it's a true classic) and reading this FanHouse post by some guy on the subject. After reading this, closely no less, I agree with TZ that Tom Thibodeau would be an excellent candidate for the Bullets given their problems, and his abilities.

Finally, to wrap this up, today on the Dream Shake, GrungeDave posted an interesting premise: Robert Horry in the HOF. I would suggest reading his provided link, to the actual blog where the whole argument is had, with Kurt of Forum Blue & Gold, and then if you need to, and I did, post a comment on the Dream Shake. He probably won't agree with you, though, to warn you in advance.

Last, but not least, with Thanksgiving in 2 days, I hope everyone has a great Turkey day.

via www.wildlife.state.nh.us (Would it be insulting to the turkey to say Stinky dervied from this?)