I just read your bio and, much to my pleasant surprise, found out that your favorite teams include the Mets and the Steelers. I grew up 10 miles from Shea Stadium and was born into a Mets family. The Steelers thing comes from fantasy football. Please tell me you write on them as well. Also…I do not have a website. I meant to write: NA. Just a fan.

R. Shelton

Who are you and where did you come from? Up until 15 minutes ago I had no idea what “48 Minutes of Hell” was. Why should I even bother searching for analytical insight and absolute professional journalism anywhere else? 48 Minutes of Hell is, simply put, is THE BEST sports blog I have yet to encounter.

Consider this. I am, like much of your target demographic, a sports fanatic. However, first and foremost, I am a husband, father, professional bread-winner, etc. This means that I get my sports from TV and the Internet. The gluttony of amateur and amateurish sports blogs have tainted my reliability on Internet perspective (Bleacher Report.com comes to mind).

I have not yet read your other articles but I assure you that I now will and am now a permanent customer. Please tell me you make a living from your writing. If so, there is justice in this world. You are a real talent, whoever you are, wherever you came from.

Most Sincerely,

Robert D. Shelton

John Hollinger (3:22 PM)
Ever watched “Being John Malkovich”?
————-

I’m inclined to trust Buford and his boys more than JH when it comes to evaluating overseas players, but that comment is not confidence-inspiring.

At least that’s what Need4Sheed was calling this past year. You know, before it fell to pieces. The only upside of this is that McDyess will be playing in my time zone.

http://need4sheed.com/2009/07/hello-gordon-and-villanueva-goodbye-mcdyess.html

Dallas just made things interesting, but to me this is a similar signing to the Kidd trade. Paying a great price for a mediocre improvement.

But first, to what the Mavericks gained: an explosive player. Marion can defend well on the wing, and the Howard-Nowitski-Marion-Jet-Kidd combo at the end of games can certainly cover up previous backcourt defensive flaws. Marion will even benefit from JJ on offense.

However, the Mavs can sign up for one of the weakest depth charts in the league for years to come. With Marion’s addition, they lost future cap room, their starting shooting guard in Wright, and the chance to keep Bass this year. The loss wont be as obvious as, say, Devin Harris single-handedly destroying the Eastern Conference and the silence during the 1st round of the draft. Still, was a 5 year deal with Marion in a buyer’s market even neccessary? Look for Josh Howard and JJ to expect the same payout, even if it means losing this year’s version of “Wright” or “Bass.”

Manu vs Bynum.

The reason I have more confidence in Bynum returning healthy next year and questions regarding Manu are two fold:

1) Bynum has already returned. He played the last 4 regular season games and the entire playoffs. Although the rust was still there and some of his fitness/mobility was missing, i expect with another 6 months getting healthy, he will return in form. Manu, however, i have not seen healthy yet. Also, his injuries seem to be nagging injuries.

2) The biggest reason is AGE. Bynum is 21 years old. Manu seems to be past his prime. It’s much easier for the young to recover from injuries as opposed to the old recovering from nagging injuries.

San Antonio in my opinion created all this commotion with the Jefferson trade. Now every team wants to catch up, and most have done that. The addition of McDyess might be the most important of all. I love it when the least commented move is the one that ends up being the most important. We get a post player with offensive skills beyond anyone that played besides timmy after The Admiral (even he was not that much of a threath), and it barely made the news. But again, flying under the radar is what we do best, and this season is no different. Last year people expected an odd year championship and we couldn’t deliver, maybe now that they are giving the repeat to the lakers we can make some of our own sweet chin music.

Phil Jackson has a proven track record of managing lots of talent.

I don’t think you can beat Pop at X’s and O’s

Stan van Gundy struggled getting Howard on board with the game plan, something that will only get harder with VC

Mike Brown is a spurs guy but he is unproven.

Doc Rivers may be the least equipped but he also has really solid vets to lean on.