MVN: Most Valuable Network

Before I leave you for the Fourth of July celebration weekend, I wanted to make sure that everybody checks out the Hoops Vine interview with Jay Bilas about the NBA Draft.

The Hoops Vine brand name has been around for a while but the new and improved Hoops Vine social basketball network is a growing entity powered by the genius and hard work of Lang Greene.

Lang is a friend of Talkhoops and has even let me be so kind as to let me answer a mailbag for his readers (last April).


Lang is a really smart basketball mind and great at covering the sport and furthering the discussion.

I highly recommend this interview with Jay Bilas and Hoops Vine in general. It should definitely be a part of your daily internet rounds.

Lang: I wanted to get your thoughts on the draft. What were your initial feelings when the T-Wolves selected Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn back-to-back? I thought there was a trade looming, but David Kahn has stuck with that he believes they can play together. Are you buying that? Can it work?

Jay Bilas: I would be surprised if Minnesota drafted two point guards to play together. I believe that they were just acquiring assets with the greatest value. Rubio has star potential, and I still believe that Minnesota has more moves to make. I would not roast David Kahn just yet, as so many seem to be doing. Every draft takes time to properly evaluate.

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There is a joint venture going on through some people who I met at Blogs With Balls back in June. It involves a pretty great crew of people -- eight people in fact. Here's the crew: - The Incomparable Jared Wade from Both Teams Played Hard- The Impossibly Tall John Karalis from Red's Army- The Blogs With Balls Project Spurs-Chronicles of Crotty Hybrid Drinking Contest Champion Michael De Leon of Project Spurs- The Man who will assuredly represent us when we get sued for liable because of this podcast Jeff Garcia from Project Spurs- The Ladies Man of Twitter Rey Moralde from The No Look Pass- The Man I Want to Be when I grow up Adam Best from Fansided- The Man with the fastest growing internet show Glenn Moore from Dugout Sports ShowThose men plus myself make up the 8th Seed. A clusterf*&k of opinions about the NBA and... Read more

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Other than Andy Eisner and Brandon Gallawa trying to foolishly convince me that Summer Catch isn't the best baseball movie of all time (it SOOOOO is) and Andy trying to single-handedly offend every race, credo, and orientation, I really can't even figure out what this episode was about. I mean, I love Summer Catch. Free Agency is starting. Andy might have a story for us. Bell's Palsy can be entertaining. That about sums up the history of our podcast. Listen at your own risk. And if you are offended by anything in this episode, get over it. Musical Break: Death of Autotune by Jay-ZAny comments, concerns, or criticisms can be directed to zharper@talkhoops.netDon't forget that we're still looking for more iTunes reviews and more subscriptions. We don't care if you listen off of iTunes. Just download and Support the Habit.... Read more

"What do you think a career-ending injury for Yao Ming means for the NBA?" - Zach Harper"It puts us back in the Stone Age for centers." - Matt Moore from Hardwood Paroxysm This news that Yao Ming could not only miss most of next season but could possibly be done playing in the NBA forever isn't just bad for the Houston Rockets or the gigantic Chinese center; it's bad for the NBA altogether. It's not the death of the center but it's definitely putting the center position into a coma. Here's the list of competent, reliable centers in the NBA right now: Yao MingDwight HowardTim DuncanAl JeffersonThat's pretty much it. There are potentially competent centers like Andris Biedrins, Andrew Bogut, Spencer Hawes, Nene Hilario, Greg Oden, Brook Lopez, Chris Kaman, Emeka Okafor, Kendrick Perkins, and Joakim Noah. And of course you have your guaranteed busts like Hilton Armstrong and Andrew... Read more

A lot of people have been emailing me (zharper[at]talkhoops[dot]net) and asking if I've given up on Talkhoops as I get Cowbell Kingdom off the ground. I appreciate the concern but I'm definitely not giving up on Talkhoops. I'm working on a couple of big projects and maybe an acquisition or two to get this site even more prominent than it already is (you know...like more than my parents reading it when I remind them I have a site). Not to mention, I don't feel like there is a lot of newsworthy stuff going on in the week leading up to free agent negotiations starting on July 1st. With that said, here are two things I found today to help get you through your Monday. First off, here is the return of Stephen A. Smith Heckling Society of Gentlemen for the 2009 NBA Draft (via Rockin' Steady). Second, here is a... Read more

You may have already read 7,635,425 blogs and articles answering the pressing question of: Will the Shaq for Cracker Jacks trade work for the Cavaliers. The short answer: No. And that's all you're getting out of me on that one. I'm here to answer a more interesting question: Is Shaq the luckiest big man of all time - or are we the lucky ones?With Shaq moving to Cleveland, he is paired up with Lebron James, the fifth time the Big Something or Other (© Celia Kelly) has been paired up with a great parameter player. It started in Orlando with Penny Hardaway, he moved to Los Angeles to play with Kobe Bryant, moved back to Florida to play with Dwyane Wade, shifted his weight to Arizona and played with Steve Nash and is now with one of the most freakish athletes we've ever seen? Again, I ask, who has been... Read more

Let's recapulate the draft and figure out who came out on top and who needs some more work. The scoring system is based on a scale of 1 to 10. Atlanta Hawks  Players Acquired Score:  8/10  Jeff Teague - PG (19th pick), Sergiy Gladyr - SG (49th pick), Jamal Crawford The trade for Jamal Crawford was definitely a bit of a risk because he isn't the traditional point guard that people hoped he'd become when he was first drafted into the NBA. The Hawks picked up a more traditional point guard in the draft with Jeff Teague who could end up being a 10-year starter in this league. It allows them to let Mike Bibby walk and have a better option off the bench with Crawford than Flip Murray. Boston Celtics  Players Acquired Score:  6/10  Lester Hudson - SG (58th pick) Not much the Celtics could do here to add... Read more

This was easily one of the top moments in NBA Draft History. Kind of reminded me of a little Oops Pow Surprise!... Read more

<a href="http://www.coveritlive.com/mobile.php?option=com_mobile&task=viewaltcast&altcast_code=c107dde33d" >TrueHoop Network NBA Draft Liveblog-O-Rama-Rama</a>... Read more