Quick Hits 12/16

NCAA F

Charles Barkley is right to be ashamed of his Alma Mater and Auburn fans are right to be outraged. Hiring Gene Chizik over Turner Gill is inexcusable. It’s a bad move that will probably blow up in Auburn’s face, just like firing Tommy Tubberville was a bad move in the first place.

However, this may be a blessing in disguise for Gill. With Florida, LSU, Alabama and Georgia seemingly poised to dominate the SEC for the next few years, Auburn would’ve been a bad job for Gill. Anything less than an SEC championship within two or three years would’ve had him on the hot seat by year four.

This is the biggest by product of the black head coach problem in college football: most black coaches are pushed to bad jobs, fail in bad situations and fade in to oblivion. Heck, Buffalo was a bad job, but Gill made it work.

At Auburn, he probably would’ve gotten about the same chance to fix their program as Ty Willingham had at Notre Dame. And while Auburn is a much better program than Mississippi State, Gill would’ve been in a similar position at Auburn as Sylvester Croom was with MSU as the first black coach in the SEC. Croom couldn’t compete with the bigger SEC schools for talent, and therefore his teams couldn’t compete on the field. He just resigned after his first season, even though he’s won the conference’s Coach of the Year award during his tenure.

Gill will definitely get a shot to coach “big time” college football. For his sake, hopefully its at place where he’ll be in a position to really win.

NBA

The reason why the Celtics are even better than they were last year is definitely Rajon Rondo, which should go without saying. While he’s not a pure point guard, he’s developed into the player the Celtics need him to be: a consistent scoring threat, good rebounder, serviceable passer and tenacious defender.

And really, he wasn’t that bad last year and the Celtics had no need to waste the time and money they did on Sam Cassell. Check out what Rondo is doing this year though:

10.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 7.4 apg, 2.3 spg, 51.3 fg%.

Those are solid numbers across the board.

While I’m definitely enjoying the regular season so far, the inevitable Eastern Conference finals between Cleveland and Boston will certainly be something to watch.

NCAA B

Stephen Curry continues to dazzle. In case you missed it, over the weekend Curry dropped 41 pts, 4 rebs, 6 asts and a steal on Chattanooga over the weekend in a 100-95 Davidson victory. Curry hit 11-22 shots, 5-11 from downtown and added another 14 from the line (on 18 attempts).

At the point, with apologies to James Harden from Arizona State, the Wooden Award is a two horse race between Curry and Blake Griffin. Here’s the tale of the tape as of 12/15

Curry – 9 games, 31.9 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 6.8 apg, 2.9 spg, 48% fg, 39% 3p5, 85% ft – remember he had a 0 point game where he was 0-3.
Griffin – 10 games, 23.1 ppg, 15.1 rpg, 2.5 apg, 1.9 spg, 1.1 bpg, 68% fg, 62% ft

** Bonus Seth Curry Watch ** 22 pts, 1 reb on 8-13 shooting (4-8 3pt) and 2-2 from the line in a December 15th victory against Anderson (SC), whoever they are.

NFL

Kudos to ESPN for blowing the T.O/Dallas/Romo/Witten situation out of proportion. You ever notice that whenever Dallas loses, T.O. is mad? Anybody at the Worldwide leader ever think that maybe this guy just wants to win and maybe he thinks the best way for Dallas to win is for him to always have the ball?

The biggest difference between this situation and the Philly and San Fran situations involving Owens and QB’s is that he’s not questioning Romo’s character, ability or physical condition. This time, he was just politicking for the ball more and wondering if there’s a reason why he’s not getting the rock all the time. (Of course, its probably because he’s always among the lead leaders in drops, which he will fail to recognize).

Regardless, the two best teams in the league are Pittsburgh and Carolina, who both have chances to exert themselves as the true top dogs in the conference this week, with games against Tennessee and Carolina.

Charles is Right: Shut Up LeBron

So Charles Barkley and LeBron James have been going at it in the media recently. First, Barkley said LeBron should "Shut the hell up" about the 2010 season, calling the speculation disrespectful.

LeBron responded by calling him stupid.

I agree with Barkley. LeBron, who comes across as one of the most egotistical people alive, is clearly basking in all the media attention about his future. He always stops short of committing to Cleveland or confirming he's leaving; his standard line is he's going to go where he has the best chance to win a championship, opportunity for his family, blah blah blah.

I'm at the point now where I'm convinced there must be a contract clause with Nike to give him more money in a bigger market, i.e. NY or LA.

Otherwise, he'd be better off to stay in Cleveland. In case LeBron hasn't realized it, he's on a championship contending team already in Cleveland. The Cavs are 13-3, 9-0 at home, and look like the third best team in the league behind the Lakers and Celtics.

Cavs GM Danny Ferry has built the perfect team for a player like LeBron. He has a ton of shooters and versatile big men that don't need the ball to be productive and aren't lane cloggers. This gives him freedom to drive, confidence to dish to teammates when defensives key on him and the ability to get extended periods of rest during the regular season, instead of dragging his team through the playoffs like years past.

Additionally, he finally has a viable sidekick in Mo Williams. The Larry Hughes experiment was a bust because he is (to borrow a phrase from Simmons) a derelict's version of O.J. Mayo: an injury-prone slasher with a suspect j and declining athletic ability.

Williams, meanwhile, can transition from spot up shooter to distributer to aggressive scoring option with ease. Why the hell would LeBron want to leave, unless he cares more about partying and his image than winning? This Cavs team is pretty young and are poised to dominate the East now that Detroit is (secretly) rebuilding and the Celtics are getting older. In addition, they're going to have a boatload of cap space in two years as well, with Mo Williams as one of the few players under contract.

Why not chill in Cleveland, contend for a title for two years, then bring one of your boys like Chris Bosh in town for an extended title run? LeBron is already the most famous basketball player and easily one of the 10 most famous athletes in the world. There isn't much LeBron stands to gain from moving to New York besides increased media coverage and scrutiny, which will be coupled with a loss in privacy.

Despite frequently coming off like an a-hole, he's a God in Ohio. Stay in Cleveland, where his private live has remained mostly out of the public eye, and win championships. Or go to New York, have all of your business in the open, be heavily criticized for every mistake and probably not win a championship.

In two years, the choice will be yours. Try not to diss the Chuckster when he's giving you great advice as well.