Opening Of The Flood Gates, Part III

Around this time last year, I affectionately dubbed A Pack To Be Named Later the "Best Blog Ever." I've come to realize this proclamation was a bit hasty. In the last year, I've come across many blogs I would consider better. So in the spirit of highlighting a really great blog -- and jacking their idea a second time -- I'd like to crown "A Pack..." as the "Best Blog You've Probably Never Heard Of." Their mission is simple: purchase a pack of sports cards, open said pack of sports cards, the scan and post the cards for their readers to see. Anyone who loved cards as a kid (or still does) could easily lose themselves for an hour on this site.

I bought two packs of the 2009/10 Upper Deck Greats of the Game series -- a set dedicated to the greats of the college game. I bought them at a Dollar Store. Don't laugh. The Dollar Store is an untapped gold mine for card collecting. Firstly, there is no purchasing competition because no one knows they can buy basketball cards at the Dollar Store. Second, $1 for a pack of relatively new cards is cheaper than anywhere else. The big drawback, of course, is selection. What's there is there and sometimes what's there sucks.

Not the case this time, as the Greats of the Game set is a pretty good one. I looked up the set's details when I got home and am kicking myself now. The retail price for a box of these cards is $65 and contains 16 packs of 8 cards (128 cards). Each box contains TWO AUTOGRAPHS and ONE MEMORABILIA card (jersey swatches, etc). Each pack at the Dollar Store contained only five cards, so I could have bought 26 packs (130 cards) and ended up with the equivalent of a box. It would have been $39!!! cheaper and the odds say I would have driven home with three (sentimentally) valuable cards. Oh well. Here were the ten cards I pulled. No autographs, no memorabilia, just some damn good basketball players.

   

We'll never even see a middling NBA player from the Naval Academy in today's game, let alone a player as talented as Robinson.

Here's something fun to do in college: drunkenly argue with your roommate about whether Magic Johnson or Oscar Robertson is the greatest NBA point guard. You both will inevitably agree on one of them -- then some one at the party neither of you know will throw John Stockton's name into the ring.

Pulling a Michael Jordan from the pack is and always will be a big deal to me. He is incapable of taking a bad action photo.

And to follow Jordan up with Rose, almost too good to be true! Not much to say except I still can't believe he plays for the Bulls, I still can't believe he's one of the League's best players, and I still can't believe he's going to get better. Rose's career thus far is like going from 0 to 60 mph in 0.7 seconds.

George Gervin was listed at 6'7 and 180 lbs. in his playing days. He looks even skinnier than that in every picture I've seen of him. Think Kevin Durant but two inches shorter, 30 pounds lighter and less range. I would love to see if he could score on today's bigger, stronger players. Also: the American flag in the background is the stuff of legends. What a shot!


For Part II of the 2009/10 Upper Deck Greats of the Game pack opening, click here.

Rondo's Record Setting Pace

I'm not one to overreact this early into a season, unless of course its football season, but the way Rajon Rondo has been playing is incredible. We've all seen the stat. He has the most assists, 67, in NBA history after four NBA games, eclipsing Magic and Stockton's previously shared record of 65. That's a made up stat, but here's a few that aren't.
John Stockton currently holds the NBA record for most assists in a season, 1,164 in 1990-91. In order to tie this record, Rondo needs to average 14.1 assists a game for the remaining 78 games. Rondo is currently averaging 16.8 assists a game.
Odds if not common sense would certainly suggest Stockton's record is untouchable. Stockton himself, in the 1994-95 season, was the last player to record over 1,000 assists in a single season. Since Stockton, Mark Jackson in 1996-97 and Chris Paul in 2007-08 are the only two players to record over 900 assists in a year.
In a game that is increasingly trending toward one-on-one play, or so the stereotype goes, assists in the NBA are down from where they were in the 1990s. Since the 1999-00 season, the league leading average for assists in a year is 822, compared to 964 in the 1990s. Or only about 19 fifteen plus assist games away from the record.
Rondo certainly will eclipse the 822 average and most likely will break 900.
The tricky thing about assists is a player like Rondo can only do so much. Assists are of course dependent upon your teammates making their shots. Boston currently posts a .486 FG percentage, third in the NBA.

Assuming he can stay healthy for a full 82 games, Rondo is in the perfect situation to at least challenge the assist record. He's operating within a system he's familiar with and the same teammates he's played with almost his entire career. He has proven outside shooters in Pierce and Allen, as well as a rejuvenated KG that can score inside and out. The Celtic bench looks increasingly comfortable with their roles and defenses are giving Rondo all the space in the world to work with.
Rondo's jumper, or lack thereof, is perhaps a blessing in disguise. Teams are backing off of Rondo, almost daring him to shoot. This strategy is nothing new, but Rondo is utilizing the extra space on the floor this year, wiggling into different spots and letting the offense run its course. A more offensive minded point guard like Nash or Paul may look to force a shot, where Rondo will wait out an assist opportunity.
While many have commented about how miraculous it is that Rondo can average so many assists without the threat of an offensive game, I think it's just the opposite. Looking to shoot would only hinder Rondo's patience and court vision - the two most important aspects of his game, and quickness too, I guess.
And to think, Rondo only needs 15 assists tonight to hold the NBA record for most assists after five games. Let's see if he can make, for the lack of a better term, "made-up history."