NEW YORK — The dreidel has finally stopped spinning, and so has the room after all that eggnog. Yes, the holidays are winding down, which means it’s time to determine your New Year’s resolutions. Your favorite basketball players are surely doing that, as well, and so, here are our second annual NBA New Year’s resolutions:
“I want to prove to skeptics that I’m not injury-prone like my younger brother, Ralph Sampson.” Greg Oden, Trail Blazers center
“To put some weight on my arms, so opponents stop asking me what sorority I’m in.” Kevin Durant, Thunder forward
“To prove, once and for all, that I should have been the No. 1 pick . . . in the ’08 D-League draft.” Kwame Brown, Pistons center
“I would just like to show all my fans that I have what it takes to elevate my game to the next level and win a championship with the Knicks — I mean Cavs! I’m on the Cavs. Duh, why would I say Knicks?” LeBron James, Cavaliers forward
“I want to be the best Lopez twin in the NBA.” Brook Lopez, Nets center
“Dang it, he took mine. I got nothin’.” Robin Lopez, Suns center
“To win the NBA coach of the year award, follow it up with a playoff- bound season, then start the next season around .500 — and not get fired.” Sam Mitchell, former Raptors coach
“To be the best Yakhouba I can be.” Yakhouba Diawara, Heat guard
“After this week’s trade to the Grizzlies, I’ve decided to finally embrace the town I refused to play for in 1999 and to once and for all call Vancouver home.” Steve Francis, Grizzlies guard
“To make a free throw. During a game.” Ben Wallace, Cavaliers center
“To participate in an NBA game.” Gilbert Arenas, Wizards guard
“My goal is to show the world that, yes, anything is possible, and that I can spend an entire possession without trash-talking.” Kevin Garnett, Celtics forward
“To let my hair down.” Renaldo Balkman, Nuggets forward
“I’ve decided to continue my education. Knowledge is power and there’s more to life than money and . . . psych! Gotcha! Make it rain!!!” Brandon Jennings, future lottery pick who skipped college for pro ball overseas
“I want to be the best coach in Thunder history.” Scott Brooks, Thunder interim coach
“To pull off 33 and nine.” O.J. Mayo, Grizzlies guard
“To pull off nine to 33.” O.J. SimpsonCARTER GETS KUDOS AS BILLUPS’ BACKUP
After logging his best pro season in 2007-08, there were questions about how Anthony Carter, now 33, would respond as a Nuggets reserve this season. So far, his play has been admirable. He entered the weekend with averages of 6.2 points (7.8 last season) and 4.3 assists (5.5) in 24.1 minutes (28.0) per game.
“I think he’s been great,” Denver coach George Karl said. “He’s a backup to Chauncey (Billups), but every game there’s an opening for him to finish the game. He’s my defender. I like having the lead and having him and Chauncey on the court together, because I have the defense and playmaking at the same time.”
We shall see.
The Nuggets are 6-0 in games played on Sunday (4-0) and Monday (2-0). Today they play at New York and Monday they’re at Atlanta. Last season, they lost at both venues in their only games there.
The future is now.
Though this probably doesn’t excite the Nuggets, the Northwest Division is loaded with young stars who will battle for years to come. Utah has Deron Williams, Oklahoma City has Kevin Durant, Minnesota has Al Jefferson and Portland has Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, Rudy Fernandez and LaMarcus Aldridge.
“I think (the Trail Blazers) have very good energy,” said Suns coach Terry Porter, who lost to Portland before defeating Denver last weekend. “They have a lot of things that make them the envy of a lot of teams. And all of them are young. They have tons of things to be excited about there.”
Aldridge, a power forward, proved to be the toughest challenge for Denver, scoring 20 points and grabbing four rebounds Monday, then contributing 22 and eight in Tuesday’s game.
“He’s a 7-footer that has incredible touch from 18, 20 feet,” Karl said. “For most 7-footers, at 20 feet you think you’re OK — but you’re not with him. You got to be closer and you’ve got to make him drive. And you have to concede maybe a penetration or two because of your closeouts because he’s so efficient at making the jump shot. There’s a couple of ways you can do that: You can rotate, you can switch, you can pray.”
SPOTLIGHT ON
Shaquille O’Neal, Suns center
Stuck on 4,999, O’Neal just couldn’t reach the historic mark — he just kept making free throws.
The King of Clank, whose career free-throw average is 52.5 percent, made six straight free throws Thursday afternoon when, yes, he finally missed his 5,000th free throw.
Thus, O’Neal joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only NBA players to miss 5,000 free throws in a career. That’s a lot. ESPN stats guru John Hollinger pointed out that Shaq has missed more free throws than Hall of Fame center Bob Lanier attempted. And here’s another one — Phoenix teammate Steve Nash has missed 253 free throws in his 883 career regular-season games.
If Nash continued that pace, Hollinger said it would take 17,451 games for him to reach 5,000 missed. This would take more than 200 seasons.
Yes, it’s easy to poke fun at these misses, but let’s point out that O’Neal is still kickin’ in this, his 17th NBA season.
Yes, he averages 16.4 points per game, second-lowest of his career, and his 8.6 rebounds are his lowest, but that ain’t bad (consider that the Nuggets’ Nene, playing exceptionally well in his best season yet, averages 14.2 and 7.6).
And last weekend against the Nuggets, O’Neal tallied 19 points, nine rebounds and three assists in the Suns’ clutch victory.
