2008 Fantasy Hoops Rankings: Centers

FIO and TalkHoops.net staff writer Zach Harper breaks down the Top 25 centers heading into fantasy basketball drafts this season, including in-depth analysis about the Top 10 and some notes about the remaining players on the list.

Check Out Snow Patrol’s New Video, ‘Take Back The City’

Snow Patrol has just released the video for “Take Back The City,” which is the first single from the album, A Hundred Million Suns, (out Oct 28) on Yahoo! Music today!

Read more!

Shaq’s all-time ranking, as a dominant player

Shaquille O’Neal isn’t in the Top 10.

Pistons’ Dumars to Keep Nucleus Together in ‘08

From the ASSOCIATED PRESS, “the Detroit Pistons expect to start the season next month with the same nucleus they’ve had in recent years. That wasn’t Plan A. Pistons president of basketball operations Joe Dumars told The Associated Press on Thursday he’s keeping the team together because no one offered him a good deal after he publicly put his players on the trading block in June. “We talked to teams this summer, but nothing was presented to me that would make us better than we already are,” Dumars said. ‘This can be one of the elite teams in the league that contends for a championship.’”

Suns’ O’Neal puts timetable on retirement

ORLANDO — Not 732 or 733 or 734 days. No, Phoenix Suns center Shaquille O’Neal knows his life will change in exactly 735 days.”My basketball career will be over in 735 days,” O’Neal told News 13 television in Orlando, Fla. “And being an educated man, I’ve always had things to fall back on. So one of my options is law enforcement.”O’Neal, who was drafted by the Orlando Magic but has since played for the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and Phoenix Suns, still has a house in Central Florida. He spoke of his possible future plans Wednesday with the kids at the Pine Hills Boys and Girls Club.O’Neal has long had an interest in law enforcement and went through the training with the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Reserve Academy before becoming a reserve officer with the L.A. Port Police.A 7-foot future Hall of Famer, O’Neal said he intends to play out the remainder of his contract and retire. He has won four titles in his career — three with the Lakers and one with the Heat.

The 1990’s All Laker Team

The starting lineupG: Magic JohnsonG: Kobe BryantF: James WorthyF: Sam PerkinsC: Shaquille O’NealAnd coming off the bench:Vlade DivacByron ScottNick Van ExelCedric CeballosEddie JonesRick FoxRobert HorryThis is going to be the deepest team in the league at the guard spots. We’ll know after a couple more teams how they stack up overall. They would’ve beaten the 1990’s Warriors team I just concocted, that’s for sure.

Chuck Klosterman on Kobe and Shaq

We think Klosterman’s piece on the Kobe-Shaq feud is one of the most delightful works of sports journalism in recent memory.

Sports hatred is situational and generally metaphorical. Play-by-play announcers remind us that the Raiders hate the Broncos and the Sox hate the Yankees, but those alleged on-field enemies share the same agents and eat in the same restaurants and tip the same exotic dancers. If sports hatred feels real to the hater, it’s a self-styled fiction: hatred for the purpose of play. About 99% of the time, it’s a totally constructed emotion.

But that final 1% is all I need.

…

Every sports fan with a laptop and no life has heard O’Neal’s freestyle rap about Kobe’s inability to win a title on his own, punctuated by Shaq’s relentless (and arguably valid) question, “Kobe, how my ass taste?” And everyone has found this material hilarious. The semi-extemporaneous lyrics also accuse Bryant of destroying Shaq’s marriage (by reportedly telling Colorado police after his arrest for sexual assault that the Big Aristotle paid women for their silence after the ends of affairs), which is slightly less funny (although probably more valid). Now, Shaq is a funny guy and a charming fellow and—most important, at least from a PR perspective—a hyper-jolly goofball who likes to give toys to sick orphans. So as a culture, we tend to take his side.

But his rap was still pretty weird. Go back and watch it again. Its only goal was to humiliate and emasculate Bryant, and it was conducted in a context that left Bryant no recourse. O’Neal knew Kobe couldn’t respond, which is why he seemed to enjoy the performance so much. If Kobe took the situation seriously and called a press conference, he would seem weak and humorless. If he tried to respond with a rap of his own, it would be an inorganic disaster: Kobe would probably try dressing like the 1981 version of Reggie Theus, hire the Neptunes and come across like a chick from Northern State (the Brooklyn hip-hop group, not the D2 Wolves from Aberdeen, S.D.).

Shaq Announces Future Retirement

Shaquille O'Neal, Suns center

According to ESPN.com, Shaquille O’Neal, Phoenix Suns center, reported to News 13 in Orlando, FL that he plans on retiring from basketball in the near future. “My basketball career will be over in 735 days,” reported Shaq. When asked about his future career plans, he responded “being an educated man, I’ve always had things to fall back on. So one of my options is law enforcement.”

Danilo May Be ‘Back’ Soon

In the NEW YORK POST, Dan Martin writes “Danilo Gallinari was courtside at the Garden last night, watching a basketball game. It’s something the New York Knicks hope does not become a common occurrence once their season begins. And even though he hasn’t played since the Knicks shut him down during their summer league in July because of a back injury, their first-round pick echoed his agent’s claim that he will be ready soon. “It’s coming along and improving a lot,” Gallinari said.”

Byron Scott Plans to Monitor Chris Paul’s Practice Time

In the NEW ORLEANS TIMES-PICAYUNE, John Reid reports “New Orleans Hornets Coach Byron Scott said he plans to handle Chris Paul with care throughout training camp and the preseason to avoid overworking him. Paul was a member on the United States Olympic Basketball team that won a gold medal at the Beijing Olympics last month. In preparation for the games, Paul worked extensively for two months. starting this past July. The Hornets are set to begin training camp on Sept. 27. Paul played behind Jason Kidd, but he averaged 21.4 minutes a game. The only game Paul played less than 20 minutes was the gold medal game against Spain in which he played 14 minutes before scoring 13 points.”