LeBron's Time To Shine

 

At RealGM, a look at why LeBron and the Miami Heat are about to roll the NBA:

In a match-up of two equally skilled players, individual defense is primarily a function of being longer, stronger and faster than your opponent. There are a small handful of All-NBA caliber players with a skill-set comparable to LeBron; there isn’t a player in the world who can compare with him athletically. 

The Bulls, with three of the best interior defenders in the NBA in Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik and excellent perimeter athletes in Derrick Rose and Ronnie Brewer, became an elite team due to a defense unrivaled in terms of length and intensity. In the first quarter Sunday, LeBron made them look like the Toronto Raptors. 

A year later, the Heat are much improved. They have the same starters, but instead of running out players like Bibby, James Jones, Erick Dampier, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Jamaal Magloire, Juwon Howard and Carlos Arroyo in the regular season, the first four players off their bench are a healthy Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller, free agent acquisition Shane Battier and rookie Norris Cole. Cole, an athletic 6’2 175 guard, gives them someone to match up with players like JJ Barea, whose ability to blow by Miami’s point guards in the Finals made him an unlikely folk hero and an even unlikelier $20 million from Minnesota in the offseason. 

More importantly, the only two teams in the league with better records, Chicago and the Oklahoma City Thunder, are similarly perimeter-oriented. Even the New York Knicks, who were able to sign Chandler in the off-season, effectively eliminating Dallas’ chance to repeat, have to depend on Carmelo Anthony outplaying LeBron over a seven-game series to threaten Miami. Trying to defeat a well-rounded Miami squad built around a prime LeBron James is going to be a Herculean task for any team built around a great perimeter player.

NBA Wagers: 01/30

Memphis (-6) over San Antonio:

Pros: Even with Zach Randolph and Manu Ginobili out of the picture, Memphis still has a clear match-up advantage over San Antonio, as Marc Gasol is better than Tim Duncan at this stage in their careers while the Grizzlies can stick Tony Allen, one of the best perimeter defenders in the NBA, on Tony Parker. The Spurs are playing their seventh game in eleven days, which is just cruel for an old team, and they have no one who can match up with Rudy Gay's athleticism.

Cons: Even though San Antonio played in Dallas Sunday night, their starters were able to rest, as they played the end of their bench for most of the second half and all of OT. Memphis, meanwhile, is playing their first home game after a four-game West Coast road trip, and it's widely accepted league-wide that the first game back after a long absence is always the toughest.

Result: San Antonio 83, Memphis 73



Dallas (-3) at Phoenix:

Pros: Dallas has already beaten a mediocre Phoenix squad twice in the last month. This is the type of game where Jason Kidd's absence will benefit the Mavericks, as Dallas will be able to be much faster along the perimeter with Rodrigue Beaubois, Delonte West and Jason Terry, forcing Steve Nash to play defense against someone.

Cons: The Mavericks are coming off an emotional 101-100 OT victory over the Spurs on Sunday night and had to take a late-night flight to get to Phoenix. Dirk, meanwhile, is still not near 100%, and integrating him on both sides of the floor could have Dallas off their game, especially if they are looking forward to their nationally televised showdown with Oklahoma City on Wednesday.

Results: Dallas 122, Phoenix 99

NBA ATS: 2-3-0

The Mavericks: Better Off Without Jason Kidd

At SB Nation Dallas, a look at why a changing of the guard at the Dallas PG position might be in order:

In 16 games this year, he's averaging career lows in nearly every category: minutes (28.7), points (4.1), rebounds (4.4), assists (5.1) and shooting percentage (28.2%). In the most telling sign of how far his athleticism has slipped, he's taken only 5% of his shots inside the lane this season. 

In the last two games Kidd has been out, home wins over Utah and San Antonio, Dallas has given third-year guard Rodrigue Beaubois the chance to run the show at the point, and he's responded with the best basketball of his career. 

After not playing more than 21 minutes in any of the Mavericks first 19 games, the 6'2 185 combo guard from Guadalupe has averaged 35.5 minutes in the last two without Kidd. He's been a game-changing force on both sides of the floor, averaging 18 points on 51.2% shooting, 7 assists on 1.5 turnovers, 4.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. 

You obviously have to take a two-game sample with a grain of salt, but at this point in their careers, Beaubois' upside is far higher than Kidd's. Not only is he running the point extremely well, but he's penetrating into the heart of the lane as well as providing a surprising defensive presence on the floor.

NCAA Wagers: 01/28

NC State (-1.5) over Virginia:

Pros: NC State has got two legitimate NBA players in 6'9 PF CJ Leslie and 6'5 PG Lorenzo Brown. Their 15-6 record is a bit deceiving, as they've lost to 4 of the top 10 teams in the country -- UNC, Syracuse, Vanderbilt and Indiana. They'll be looking to rebound after an embarrassing loss to their in-state rivals at Chapel Hill, and home court should be enough to get them past an overrated Virginia squad with only one legitimate win (vs. Michigan).

Cons: Both Leslie and Brown are inconsistent shooters, which can cause the Wolfpack to go on scoring droughts against teams that pack the lane. They've already dropped a home game against a lower-level ACC squad (Georgia Tech) this year.

Result: Virginia 61, NC State 60



Arkansas (+11) at Alabama:

Pros: Arkansas has a future lottery pick in combo guard BJ Young and athletes at every position. They're on about the same level as Alabama, which has been overrated for most of the season. The Crimson Tide's complete inability to shoot from the perimeter negates the low-post offense of PF JaMychal Green.

Cons: The Razorbacks are a young team with a first-year head coach (Mike Anderson) who likes to push the tempo, which is a dangerous recipe for a conference road game. Alabama's an extremely athletic team as well, so if Young has a bad shooting night, Arkansas might have trouble scoring.

Result: Alabama 72, Arkansas 66

NCAA ATS: 2-5-0

NBA Wager: Minnesota/San Antonio

Minnesota (+1.5) over San Antonio

Pros: Tim Duncan is on his last legs and the Spurs front-line doesn't have the athleticism to run with Kevin Love and Derrick Williams, keep them off the offensive glass or defend them out to the three-point line. Minnesota already beat San Antonio 106-96 earlier this season.

Cons: The Timberwolves lack a perimeter stopper or a defensive presence in the lane, which could mean a big game for Tony Parker, who can pretty much get to the rim at will against Luke Ridnour and Ricky Rubio.

Result: Minnesota 87, San Antonio 79

NBA ATS: 1-2-0

Where Minnesota Goes From Here

At RealGM, a look at how Minnesota should build around their young core:

Building through the draft requires not just projecting which 18-21 year olds can handle the transition to the highest level of basketball in the world but also whether their games will “fit” together over time. It has taken seven long years of wandering through the wilderness, but Minnesota has finally assembled a group of lottery picks with complementary skills. 

The combination of Williams and Love spreads the floor for Rubio, while Rubio’s penetration creates open looks for his two forwards. Minnesota has one of the most exciting young offenses in the NBA, with Rubio averaging 8.7 assists on only 3.5 turnovers as a 21-year old-rookie. 

However, the three don’t mesh as well on the other side of the ball, where neither Rubio, Williams or Love have the necessary length and foot-speed to become elite individual defenders at their respective positions. These deficiencies can be game-planned around, but not when none of their teammates average more than a block a contest. 

That’s the most disappointing part of the Timberwolves draft history: despite making seven straight lottery appearances, they didn’t select a defensive-minded big man once.

New Yorker / N+1 On America's Incarceration Crisis

At The New Yorker, Adam Gopnik takes a fascinating, horrifying and complicated look at the current state of the American prison-industrial complex:

For most privileged, professional people, the experience of confinement is a mere brush, encountered after a kid’s arrest, say. For a great many poor people in America, particularly poor black men, prison is a destination that braids through an ordinary life, much as high school and college do for rich white ones. More than half of all black men without a high-school diploma go to prison at some time in their lives. Mass incarceration on a scale almost unexampled in human history is a fundamental fact of our country today—perhaps the fundamental fact, as slavery was the fundamental fact of 1850. In truth, there are more black men in the grip of the criminal-justice system—in prison, on probation, or on parole—than were in slavery then. Over all, there are now more people under “correctional supervision” in America—more than six million—than were in the Gulag Archipelago under Stalin at its height. That city of the confined and the controlled, Lockuptown, is now the second largest in the United States. 

The scale and the brutality of our prisons are the moral scandal of American life. Every day, at least fifty thousand men—a full house at Yankee Stadium—wake in solitary confinement, often in “supermax” prisons or prison wings, in which men are locked in small cells, where they see no one, cannot freely read and write, and are allowed out just once a day for an hour’s solo “exercise.” (Lock yourself in your bathroom and then imagine you have to stay there for the next ten years, and you will have some sense of the experience.) Prison rape is so endemic—more than seventy thousand prisoners are raped each year—that it is routinely held out as a threat, part of the punishment to be expected. The subject is standard fodder for comedy, and an uncoöperative suspect being threatened with rape in prison is now represented, every night on television, as an ordinary and rather lovable bit of policing. The normalization of prison rape—like eighteenth-century japery about watching men struggle as they die on the gallows—will surely strike our descendants as chillingly sadistic, incomprehensible on the part of people who thought themselves civilized. Though we avoid looking directly at prisons, they seep obliquely into our fashions and manners. Wealthy white teen-agers in baggy jeans and laceless shoes and multiple tattoos show, unconsciously, the reality of incarceration that acts as a hidden foundation for the country. 

Social trends deeper and less visible to us may appear as future historians analyze what went on. Something other than policing may explain things—just as the coming of cheap credit cards and state lotteries probably did as much to weaken the Mafia’s Five Families in New York, who had depended on loan sharking and numbers running, as the F.B.I. could. It is at least possible, for instance, that the coming of the mobile phone helped drive drug dealing indoors, in ways that helped drive down crime. It may be that the real value of hot spot and stop-and-frisk was that it provided a single game plan that the police believed in; as military history reveals, a bad plan is often better than no plan, especially if the people on the other side think it’s a good plan. But one thing is sure: social epidemics, of crime or of punishment, can be cured more quickly than we might hope with simpler and more superficial mechanisms than we imagine. Throwing a Band-Aid over a bad wound is actually a decent strategy, if the Band-Aid helps the wound to heal itself.

At N+1, Christopher Glazek raises the bar with a searing indictment of the entire American incarceration system, with an eye-opening call to accept a higher crime rate in order to get the prison-industrial complex under control.

NBA Wager: Clippers/Lakers

LA Clippers (+3.5) over LA Lakers:

Pros: Even without Chris Paul, the Clippers have a huge advantage at the point guard position with Chauncey Billups and Mo Williams. Paul's absence is the only plausible reason for why the Clippers, who have been at home all week and haven't played since Sunday, are the underdogs against an aging and bickering Lakers team.

Cons: Caron Butler isn't as athletic as the ideal Kobe defender, and Bryant will have the ability to hoist fade-away jumpers all night long. That won't work over a full season, but it might work for one night. The length of LA's front-line could give Blake Griffin, whose perimeter jumper is shaky, trouble in the half-court.

Result: Lakers 96, Clippers 91

NBA ATS: 0-2-0

The Knicks Will Not Regret The Carmelo Trade

At RealGM, a look at why people are writing off the Carmelo Anthony led Knicks far too prematurely:

Since Carmelo Anthony was traded to New York, the Knicks are 20-24 in the regular season while the Nuggets are 30-12. To make matters worse, Anthony was outplayed by Danilo Gallinari in Denver’s 119-114 2OT victory over New York at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. 

Given both the acrimony surrounding how Carmelo forced himself out of Denver and the shortened attention span of modern culture, it’s no surprise that many are ready to crown the Nuggets as the trade’s clear winner. 

New York had to sacrifice most of their depth to bring in a perimeter player capable of being a primary offensive option (Carmelo) and an All-Defensive team 7’0 capable of anchoring a defense (Tyson Chandler).

Denver, on the other hand, doesn’t have either. They’ve been winning games by playing at the league’s fastest pace and relying on their depth at nearly every position.

Baylor's Prospects: Better Than They Seem

At SB Nation, a look at Baylor's NBA prospects:

Perry Jones III -- Lamar Odom (best case) / Anthony Randolph (worst case) 

Quincy Miller -- Tracy McGrady / Mike Dunleavy 

Quincy Acy -- Jason Maxiell / NFL TE 

Down-the-road possibilities: Anthony Jones, Cory Jefferson, Pierre Jackson, J'Mison "Bobo" Morgan

NCAA Wager: Illinois/Wisconsin

Illinois (+1.5) over Wisconsin:

Pros: Wisconsin is a solid team that doesn't beat itself, but Jordan Taylor is their only sure-fire pro, and he's more of a distributor than a scorer. Hard to beat a good team on the road, especially in conference, without one. Meyers Leonard and Brandon Paul will have the clear athletic advantage with whoever they match up with.

Cons: Both Leonard and Paul are still somewhat inconsistent scorers, and with DJ Richardson struggling with an injury, the Illinois offense could be questionable against a tough, disciplined Wisconsin defense that doesn't have many weak links.

Result: Wisconsin 67, Indiana 63

NCAA ATS: 1-4-0

NCAA Wager: Duke/Florida State

Florida State (+10.5) at Duke

Pros: Duke, which prefers to play a skill and finesse-oriented style of basketball, has traditionally struggled against Florida State, a physical, long and athletic defensive team, in ACC play. The Blue Devils guards don't have the type of athleticism to get open against longer defenders and their big men, outside of Miles Plumlee, don't have the bulk to bang with the Seminoles front-line.

Cons: Cameroon Indoor is a tough place to play, especially if the referees are calling a tight game and giving Duke the benefit of the whistle. Florida State doesn't have an elite shot-creator, and the way they attack the rim makes them susceptible to charges.

Result: Florida State 76, Duke 73

NCAA ATS: 1-3-0

Barack Obama And Mitt Romney: More Similar Than Different

 

At PolicyMic, a look at why an election between Obama and Romney will be all sizzle and no steak:

An election between Obama, the half-black son of a single mother who began his career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, and Romney, the scion of a prominent Mormon family who made a quarter-billion dollar fortune working in the private equity markets, will likely be filled with culture-war rhetoric similar to Romney’s speech in New Hampshire.  

However, Obama, a Harvard JD, and Romney, a Harvard JD/MBA, are more similar than they appear. Rather than looking to Europe, Obama’s biggest domestic policy inspiration has been Romney himself, and rather than being a potentially re-aligning election between two competing visions of America’s future, an Obama/Romney contest will be a vicious debate between two competing visions of the status quo.  

Despite coming into office behind a bold wave of campaign rhetoric promising “change,” Obama hasn’t deviated much from the Washington political consensus, governing as a centrist for most of the past four years.

What Is Kobe Trying To Prove?

At RealGM, a look at the insanity of Kobe's ball-hogging this season:

Kobe’s 39.7 is the highest single season number on record, although usage rating statistics only go back to 1977-78. This season, Kobe has had more offense run through him than Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson or Larry Bird ever had. He’s currently on pace to break the 38.7 record he set in the 2005-06 season. 

Kobe is playing with two of the NBA’s most talented seven-footers in Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum. And while his ability to hit shots from impossible release points has wowed fans league-wide, his 45.6% shooting percentage pales in comparison to Gasol’s 53.6% and Bynum’s 52.4%. His high-degree of difficulty shots obscure the fact that his lack of athleticism means those are the only ones he can consistently get; Bynum, in comparison, can use his 285 pound frame to camp five feet from the basket and loft nearly incontestable jump-hooks from a 7’6 release point. 

Is there any rational reason for an injured 33-year-old shooting guard playing with two All-Star caliber post players to take more shots than a prime 26-year-old shooting guard playing with one of the worst supporting casts in recent NBA memory?

NCAA Wager: Washington/California

Washington (+1.5) over California

Pros: The Huskies are one of the most talented teams in the NCAA: Terrence Ross and Tony Wroten could be both be lottery picks this year. Home court has burned me in conference play; here I'm taking the more talented team at home against a middle tier Pac 12 team in California who doesn't have a single victory over a top 25 team this year and lost to Missouri by 40+ points.

Cons: Washington is missing their best outside-shooter, and a likely first-rounder as well, in CJ Wilcox. They've also been incredibly inconsistent this season, including dropping a home game 92-73 to Division II South Dakota State.

Result: California 69, Washington 66

NCAA ATS: 0-3-0

The Difference Between The NBA and NCAA Regular Seasons

At RealGM, a look at how the NBA regular season pales in comparison to the NCAA's:

The game was important for both teams: Tennessee desperately needed a signature win to make up for their 7-7 record in non-conference play; one-loss Kentucky was trying to keep pace with two unbeaten teams -- Baylor and Syracuse -- in the race for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. 

And while Calipari’s squad faced a surprisingly tough test Saturday morning, two of his former stars, Tyreke Evans and DeMarcus Cousins, were playing for far different stakes that night. 

The Sacramento Kings game against the Dallas Mavericks was their fourth in five days. It was at the tail end of a road trip that had sent them to the Atlantic seaboard for games at Toronto and Philadelphia before a back-to-back in Texas and another cross-country trip to Minnesota for a game Monday night. 

Look at the delirious way the Hoosiers fans rushed the court at Assembly Hall after Christian Watford’s buzzer-beating three-pointer. Now try to imagine a scenario where anything that happens in the NBA’s regular season could possibly generate a similar level of emotion.

Book Review: Bill Maher's "New New Rules"

At PopMatters, a review of "The New New Rules", Bill Maher's latest book:

The America Maher depicts is lazy, entitled and hypocritical, a country where people eagerly purchase cheaply-manufactured foreign toys made with lead paint, “a country that’s literally being killed by the stuff that makes objects shiny.”  He points out the absurdity of a society of prescription drug users waging a War on Drugs “that has always been about keeping black men from voting by finding out what they’re addicted to and making it illegal—it’s a miracle our government hasn’t outlawed fat white woman yet”. 

However, the essays’ thoughtful nature stands in sharp contrast to the rest of The New New Rules, a list of one paragraph jokes that make Maher seem like a more vulgar version of Jay Leno. 

Leaving no cliché unturned, he makes fun of fortune cookies and noisy children while imagining bumper stickers for parents whose kids aren’t honor students. Many of his one-liners are directed at easy targets like Bristol Palin and hillbillies “too stupid too know better”. The effect is not so much preaching to the choir as it is pandering to its worst prejudices.

NCAA Wagers: 01/16

Baylor (+6.5) at Kansas:

Pros: Baylor is as talented as any team in the nation; they've been slept upon a bit this year. They have a massive athletic advantage over Kansas in the front-court outside of Thomas Robinson, and their zone could cause problems for the Jayhawks guards. The Jayhawks, meanwhile, are just not as good as the teams that won the last seven Big 12 titles.

Cons: The Allen Fieldhouse is one of the toughest places to play in the country, and the Bears guards are prone to playing too aggressively and not getting their front-court involved. By playing so much zone, Baylor lets bad teams stay in games with them because they can hold the ball for 28-30 seconds a possession. Teams use zones to make up for a talent disparity, which is not a problem for Baylor.

Result: Kansas 92, Baylor 74

NCAA ATS: 0-2-0

NCAA Wager: Indiana/Ohio State

Indiana (+13.5) at Ohio State 

Pros: As they proved in their 74-70 defeat of Ohio State at home, Indiana is the more talented team. Cody Zeller, at 6'11 230, has the size to hold position against Sullinger and contest his shots in the low post, while Victor Oladipo's length and athleticism gave Aaron Craft trouble. The Buckeyes don't have an answer for Christian Watford either.

Cons: Like many young teams, the Hoosiers are much better at home than on the road. Sullinger is a really crafty player and if he can get Zeller into foul trouble, Indiana has no one else who can match up with him. Ohio State's offense is built around Sullinger drawing double teams, and they have so many shooters spreading the floor they are nearly unbeatable when their All-American is dominating in the post.

Result: Ohio State 80, Indiana 63

NCAA ATS: 0-1-0

NBA Wagers: 01/14

Portland (-1) at Houston

Pros: LaMarcus Aldridge should be able to dominate his match-up against Luis Scola, while Houston's lack of interior defense should be exploited by Portland's slashers (Gerald Wallace, Jamal Crawford, Ray Felton). The Trail Blazers are going to contend for the Western Conference championship; the Rockets will be lucky to sneak in as the #8 seed.

Cons: Portland will be without Marcus Camby, who was predictably injured on the first game of their road trip on Wednesday against San Antonio. The Trail Blazers have also been a different team away from the Rose Garden, while Houston desperately needs a win after starting the season 4-7.

Result: Houston 107, Portland 105 (OT)

NBA ATS Record: 0-1-0

Syracuse's Prospects And The Advantages Of A Contrarian System

At SBNation, a look at Syracuse's NBA prospects:

Fab Melo -- Robin Lopez (best case) / Jarron Collins (worst case) 

Kris Joseph -- Rasual Butler / Reyshawn Terry 

Down-the-road possibilities: Dion Waiters, Michael Carter-Williams, CJ Fair, Baye Moussa-Keita, Rakeem Christmas

Why The Suns Have To Deal Steve Nash

At RealGM, a look at why the Suns no longer have any reason to hold on to Steve Nash:

Even with the New Orleans Hornets out of playoff contention after dealing Chris Paul, the Suns, at 4-5 with a +1.2 point differential, are in an uphill fight against to reach the No. 8 seed. If Nash joins Amare and D’Antoni in New York after the season, all Phoenix will have to show for the 11-12 season could be a #14 pick while the Western Conference teams below them stock up on one of the most talented NBA draft classes in the last decade. 

Even at his advanced age, Nash’s ability to be an efficient shot-creator would make him very attractive for athletic teams like Portland and Chicago who could cover him defensively. In no way would he command the type of haul New Orleans got for Paul, but regardless of whatever the Suns get back for him, dealing Nash is worth at least 8-10 spots in the lottery. That’s the difference between drafting a solid reserve big man like UNC’s Tyler Zeller and a franchise talent like UConn’s Andre Drummond or Kentucky’s Anthony Davis. 

Nash has a strong emotional connection to the Phoenix fan base, but it’s unlikely the Suns methodical brand of mediocre basketball will continue to draw a packed house. Even from a dollars and sense perspective, it no longer makes much sense to keep him in town.

Portland Trail Blazers: The Team Nobody Believed In

At RealGM, an in-depth look at why the Portland Trail Blazers are a legitimate championship contender, even if no one realizes it yet:

However, because LaMarcus Aldridge is their only All-Star caliber player, they aren’t seen as being near the level of title contenders like Oklahoma City, Miami and Chicago. Just last year, the New Orleans Hornets started 9-1 before regressing to their actual talent level and finishing with a 46-36 record and a first-round loss. 

But like the 10-11 Dallas Mavericks, what the Trail Blazers lack in star power they make up for in size, skill and athleticism in the frontcourt, the hallmarks of a championship team. They have elite or near-elite individual defenders at every position, and they surround Aldridge with three players who can create their own shot as well as a wealth of perimeter shooting. 

They are the proverbial “team no one believed in”, as every member of their eight-man rotation, with the exception of 6’8 perimeter stopper Nicolas Batum, has been overshadowed and under appreciated throughout their careers. Most importantly, their games complement each other, making them better than the sum of their parts.

Indiana's Prospects And The Younger Brother Advantage

At SBNation, a look at Indiana's NBA prospects, including Cody Zeller, the youngest of three NCAA post players in his family:

Christian Watford -- Al Harrington (best case) / Jeff Green (worst case) 

Victor Oladipo -- Gerald Henderson / Sam Young 

Verdell Jones III -- Keith Bogans / DJ Strawberry 

Down-the-road possibilities: Cody Zeller, Will Sheehey

The Shortage Of Backup Big Men And QB's

 

At RealGM, a look at the league-wide shortage of quality reserve big men, a problem similar to the NFL's lack of adequate backup QB's:

Just as there aren’t many athletic 6’10+ basketball players in the world, there aren’t many quarterbacks with the footwork to keep plays alive in the pocket, the arm strength to fit balls into tight coverage and the decision-making ability to master the complexities of running an NFL offense. 

A team can find a replacement-level guard in the D-League or a quality WR (Laurent Robinson) off the street, but quality big men, like good QB’s, are rare. 

And after a lockout shortened offseason, the seasons of several NFL teams came down to how prepared they were at the backup QB position. Similarly, in a compressed 66-game regular season that magnifies the importance of depth, several NBA teams may be undone by a lack of even replacement-level big men coming off their bench.

Tim Tebow And America's Flawed View Of The World

At PolicyMic, a look at the sketchy history of American missionary work overseas, one ignored by the favorable portrayal of Tebow's work in the Philippines:

But for most Americans, the history of imperialism and “the White Man’s Burden” mentality that supported it have nothing to do with Tebow’s work overseas. After all, how can you knock a man for helping build a children’s hospital? 

But the real question is why can’t he do that in the United States? Are there not American children who could use better medical care? Why not work with an orphanage in Denver’s inner city or volunteer with social services in Gainesville, Florida? 

It’s this same mentality that lets Americans believe our military adventures in the Middle East are about “promoting democracy.” Never mind that the U.S. has consistently aided military dictatorships throughout the Arab World over the last generation, from Turkey to Egypt and Pakistan, in an effort to prevent Islamic fundamentalists from taking control. If people elect Islamic parties, those elections become inherently illegitimate, as Hamas found out in Palestine.

The Mavericks Will Be OK

At RealGM, a look at why the Dallas Mavericks' early-season struggles will not last:

At 7’1, 260 with a 7’6 wingspan, Haywood is still a valuable post defender, but he’s a bad fit for a team that allows so much dribble penetration. The Mavericks have significantly lower team defensive ratings with his two younger and more athletic back-ups -- Ian Mahinmi (26) and Sean Williams (25) -- in the game. 

The Mavericks can rotate three players at center to provide interior defense behind a three-man forward rotation of Nowitzki, Marion and Odom. And with such a compressed schedule, there should be ample minutes on the perimeter for West and Beaubois next to Terry, Carter and Kidd, three of the oldest guards in the NBA. 

It’s a rotation with a lot of moving parts that won’t become cohesive over night, one probably not good enough to defend their 2011 championship. But it’s a lot better than the group that was embarrassed on Christmas Day and it should be enough to keep Dallas competitive among the large group of teams in the West jockeying for playoff positioning behind the Oklahoma City Thunder.

A West Point Speech On Solitude And Leadership

A lecture given to the entering class at West Point on the value of being alone with your thoughts:

Multitasking, in short, is not only not thinking, it impairs your ability to think. Thinking means concentrating on one thing long enough to develop an idea about it. Not learning other people’s ideas, or memorizing a body of information, however much those may sometimes be useful. Developing your own ideas. In short, thinking for yourself. You simply cannot do that in bursts of 20 seconds at a time, constantly interrupted by Facebook messages or Twitter tweets, or fiddling with your iPod, or watching something on YouTube. 

Concentrating, focusing. You can just as easily consider this lecture to be about concentration as about solitude. Think about what the word means. It means gathering yourself together into a single point rather than letting yourself be dispersed everywhere into a cloud of electronic and social input. It seems to me that Facebook and Twitter and YouTube—and just so you don’t think this is a generational thing, TV and radio and magazines and even newspapers, too—are all ultimately just an elaborate excuse to run away from yourself. To avoid the difficult and troubling questions that being human throws in your way. Am I doing the right thing with my life? Do I believe the things I was taught as a child? What do the words I live by—words like duty, honor, and country—really mean? Am I happy? 

“Your own reality—for yourself, not for others.” Thinking for yourself means finding yourself, finding your own reality. Here’s the other problem with Facebook and Twitter and even The New York Times. When you expose yourself to those things, especially in the constant way that people do now—older people as well as younger people—you are continuously bombarding yourself with a stream of other people’s thoughts. You are marinating yourself in the conventional wisdom. In other people’s reality: for others, not for yourself. You are creating a cacophony in which it is impossible to hear your own voice, whether it’s yourself you’re thinking about or anything else. That’s what Emerson meant when he said that “he who should inspire and lead his race must be defended from travelling with the souls of other men, from living, breathing, reading, and writing in the daily, time-worn yoke of their opinions.” Notice that he uses the word lead. Leadership means finding a new direction, not simply putting yourself at the front of the herd that’s heading toward the cliff.