G.R.I.N.D.

(Source: spiritualinspiration, via eugenebarkerjr)

fuckyeanba:

More Jeremy Lin News!* Because we don’t yet know enough about the guy; except, Mike Tyson follows him on Twitter!

• Mike D’Antoni finally has the point guard he craves. [New York Times]
• Wesley Yang in New York Magazine writes another piece about being Asian-American, and what Jeremy Lin means for Asian-Americans. For the record, this is an excellent piece, I’m just numb to Lin pieces right now (see asterisk below). [New York Mag]
• Danny Chau of Hardwood Paroxysm tells us what he sees in Jeremy Lin (aside from a slightly above-average point guard from an Ivy League school with a high basketball IQ and solid skills in the pick & roll). [Hardwood Paroxysm]
• Redundant Jeremy Lin rap [YouTube]
• Dennis Yang in GQ talks about the similarities between Jeremy Lin (very religious) and another religious, although more overtly so, athlete that became the talk of the town this year: Tim Tebow [GQ]
• Buzz Bissinger uses my favorite past participle, engorged, as an intransitive verb, to explain the hype surrounding Jeremy Lin for the Daily Beast. “In the increasing engorgement of the celebrity culture in which we are stuffing ourselves to death, enter Jeremy Lin, the New York Knicks’ 6-foot-3 point guard who, on the basis of his performance in four games, has become the National Basketball Association’s best player in history.” Yes, the Daily Beast still publishes Buzz essays that use hyperbole in the opening paragraphs to try and prove a point, I’ve already discussed—albeit with less fanfare. [The Daily Beast]
• And Newark Star-Ledger columnist, Dave D’Alessandro, wants us to remember the NBA’s “shoe-horned season” is more insane than Jeremy Lin. Agreed! [Star-Ledger]

*the exclamation point is meant ironically. I am sick of Jeremy Lin, not as a player, but as a brand that’s exploding across the world and tricking Knicks fans into thinking he’s the returning prodigal Son.

PHOTOS: Via & Via

fuckyeanba:

Steve Nash just keeps on truckin.’

He’s 38 years-old, and has single-handedly kept the Suns from falling into the losing vortex they might actually need to get a good draft pick in what many observers are calling the best draft in years. But can you blame him? He just wants to win, and he’ll take his Channing Frye’s and arthritic Grant Hill’s and get some wins every now and then. Right now they’re 12-16 and 4th in the loaded Pacific Division, but they could be in much worse shape like Toronto, Washington, Sacramento or Charlotte.

Sports Illustated’s Sam Amick hasn’t missed Nash’s perseverance and performance in a season where Nash says he’s “‘still shaking the rust off.”’

“Lost in the endless chatter about Nash and whether he’ll remain in Phoenix beyond the March 15 trade deadline is the fact that the 38-year-old is having a historically efficient season. He ranks an astounding third in shooting at 56.3 percent, trailing big men Tyson Chandler of New York and Tiago Splitter of San Antonio; the next-highest guard, Miami’s Mario Chalmers, is 20th at 50.7 percent. No point guard has shot better than 55 percent since a 25-year-old John Stockton did it for Utah in 1987-88, and no point guard older than 30 has exceeded that threshold.

Nash has assisted on 58.1 percent of the Suns’ baskets while on the floor, which puts him on pace to break the record of 57.5 percent set by Stockton in 1990-1991, when the league’s all-time assists leader was a decade younger than Phoenix’s future Hall of Famer. With 10.3 assists per game, Nash is also on track to join Stockton as the only players to lead the league in that category six times (Stockton did it nine times).”

The question of whether Nash gets traded before March 15th trade deadline certainly has analysts sweating out the trade machine, but his competitive fire has not subsided even as Robert Sarver continues to saddle him with a shitty team by way of dumb contracts under a guise of supposed frugality.

Lets hope Nash gets one last shot at a title, either after the trade deadline with another team, or after this season is up and his contract is done; Phoenix is a lost cause. There will be a host of suitors for his services, even with the defensive liabilities. That’s because Steve Nash is always getting ready; always itching to compete. Now if only he can get something of substance to compete with. 

[Sports Illustrated; Pic(s) Via & SI Photo Vault]

My God Son G’d up.