#IDon'tHeartSkipBayless

Those of you who have watched ESPN First Take are quite familiar with Skip Bayless. For those of you who don't know, ESPN First Take is a sports debate show that features Skip Bayless vs. various opponents ranging from reporters/analysts to current athletes. I watch this show on a regular basis and each time I do I find myself more and more frustrated with Bayless, as he seems more and more willing to say just about anything to stir up a response. Now I understand it's part of his job to make the show interesting and entertaining, but as a "journalist" he's just taking it too far.

The biggest problem I have with Skip Bayless is his inconsistency when judging athletes. On what seems to be a daily basis he finds a way to bring Lebron James into the conversation in order to criticize him, primarily focusing on his late game struggles. This is fair criticism seeing as it's no secret that Lebron has had his share of issues dealing with late game pressure. Skip also absolutely loves Tim Tebow, because even though he generally plays quite poorly for three quarters, he then steps up in the fourth to win a lot of games. So based on this criteria it is safe to assume that Skip's criteria for being a great player relies predominantly on their play at the end of games, and on winning, which is fair.

The problem then is that he doesn't always use this aspect of a player's game to evaluate him. Bayless continues to promote Tony Romo as an elite QB, claiming that he does in fact have a "major clutch gene". To see if Romo really is clutch I did a bit of research. Since becoming a starter he has had a problem leading his team to victories late in seasons (or in other words when the pressure is at its highest), resulting in a regular season record of 9-13 in the months of December and January. In addition to this record Romo has amased himself only one playoff win in all these years. So while following the criteria Skip uses when evaluating the likes of Lebron and Tebow, I fail to see how Romo lives up to that "elite" rating. Could it be that he is biased due to his history as a columnist for the Dallas Cowboys? Maybe. But something certainly doesn't add up.

Skip's new favorite victim is Russell Westbrook, point guard for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Despite having a career year (24.3 ppg, 5.4 apg, 4.5 rpg, 46.6 FG%) and helping to lead the Thunder to the top seed in the Western Conference, Westbrook finds himself being constantly labeled as a problem. Bayless focuses solely on the decreased number of assists Westbrook has this year, ignoring the fact that it is mostly the result of increased playmaking ability of teammates Kevin Durant and James Harden. I don't know about you, but to me it seems ludicrous to ridicule a guy who's playing as well as Westbrook is.

I could put up with all of Skip's nonsense if it stopped at poor evaluation of talent. After all, everyone is entitled to their own opinion. The last straw that makes this man completely insufferable as a sports journalist is how often he resorts to personal attacks and other unprofessional behaviors. If he wants to criticize Chris Bosh for not being aggressive enough or Lebron for not being clutch enough, that's perfectly fine. I'm a diehard Heat fan and I acknowledge both of those problems. But he then degrades his own argument by resorting to school yard bullying, often referring to Bosh and James as Bosh Spice (referencing a member of the Spice Girls) and Queen James respectively. He doesn't reserve personal attacks for athletes only, but even goes after fellow members of the media. A stand out example was last summer when Skip claimed that NBA analyst Chris Broussard "sold his journalistic soul" and let his feelings get in the way of his work. This may seem rather mundane but to a journalist that is the highest of insults.

All in all I understand that everyone is entitled to their opinion and that at the end of the day Bayless needs to keep the show entertaining since it is a business after all. But there is a line and Skip Bayless has crossed it far too many times. He criticizes just for the sake of it, and he often resorts to personal attacks that make him seem like a petty child. As I stated before I watch First Take on a regular basis, but I can say with 100% certainty it is not because I enjoy listening to Skip. He is an insult to sports journalism as he often displays his lack of knowledge regarding the topics he is debating. ESPN should be ashamed that they allow someone such as Skip Bayless to have a show on their network and need to seriously consider going in a new direction for that show. #TakeSkipOffTheAir

Age Eligibility for the NBA Draft

NBA Commissioner David Stern has started to discuss the possibility of increasing the minimum eligibility age for the NBA draft, which leads to the question of how long, if at all, a kid should have to stay in college. I never thought that I would utter the following statement, but I agree with Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. I too believe that one of the very few things college football has done right is their rule that players must stay in college at least three years.

I could try to make the claim that if players want to be successful in the NBA then it’s better for them to stay in college for longer, but that just isn’t true. There is no way to prove that an extra year or two in college would have made anyone any more successful in the NBA. To be honest, most of the best players in the NBA came out early or skipped college altogether. There have been 38 players drafted since 2000 that went to school in the U.S. and have made it to at least one All-Star game. 29 of them entered the NBA early. Clearly it’s more than just a possibility to enter the league early and go on to success.

Despite the success of a select handful there are many players who do not find success in the NBA, and therein lies the problem. The average NBA career is under 5 years and many players don’t even last that long. So now those who don’t find success in the NBA find themselves out of a job with barely any education. It is these young men that we never hear about and therefore don’t take into consideration.

Not only do these players suffer, but the institution of college basketball suffers as well. It has to deal with losing all of its best players after only one year. This makes it much harder for coaches to build winning programs, because you want to recruit the most talented players, but you don’t want them to leave so quickly.

I may be old fashioned but I still believe that education is the most important thing. Even if a player goes on to have a good NBA career he still has a many years left after he stops playing and should be able to contribute something to society. Some people believe the players need to step up and stay in college despite being allowed to leave early. However, I can’t say I blame anyone for bailing out of college early. When you see the possibility of a multimillion dollar payday, how can you expect someone to pass that up? Especially when you consider that one bad knee injury can end a career before it even begins. So no, I don’t blame players for leaving college early. I believe the NBA needs to require players to stay in college at least three years. This way the young men will only have to make that tough decision once, and get at least three years of legitimate college education. We may never see the rule change, but for the sake of all those players that just don’t cut it in the NBA, I sure hope we do.

Top Five Point Guards This Season

The Point Guard position has become the deepest in the league, which always leads to the debate over who is the best out of all this great talent. Here is my top 5 list of PGs during the 2011-2012 season:

5. Rajon Rondo
The 26 year old Celtic starts off my list. He is second in the league in assists this year at 11 per game as he masterfully orchestrates the Celtics' offense, keeping their aging Big Three looking young. He also has a league leading four triple doubles, including a historical 17 assist, 20 rebound, and 18 point performance in early March. The last two people to have at least 15 in each of those stat categories in one game were Jason Kidd and Magic Johnson. Unfortunately in order for him to move up the list he will need to develop a more expansive offensive game.

4. Steve Nash
The 38 year old is still getting it done, leading the league with 11.2 assists per game. He is the best there is at diagnosing a defense and making everyone around him better. He also can tell when it's best for him to defer to his teammates and when he needs to take over offensively, and when he does he's one of the most efficient in the game: 53.7 FG%, 39 three-point %, and 88 FT%.

3. Tony Parker
In his 11th season Parker is having a career year. He is averaging a career high 8 assists per game while scoring 19.4 points per game. More important than his stats is how well he has the Spurs playing. At 35-14 the Spurs have the second best record in the West despite the declining play of Tim Duncan and the constant injuries of Manu Ginobili.

2. Russell Westbrook
To many this may be my most surprising ranking on this list. But Westbrook is turning in a phenomenal season averaging 24.4 points per game, 5th in the league and 1st among point guards. He also increased his offensive efficiency now shooting 47.5% from the field. His assists are indeed down this season which is what most people focus on, but if you watch him play you realize it's not because of poor point guard skills, but more because of the improvement of both Durant and Harden. They both have become better playmakers, so the ball is in their hands a lot more, making Westbrook play off the ball more and therefore having decreased assists.

1. Chris Paul

My number one point guard this season has taken the Los Angeles Clippers from an irrelevant team to the fourth seed in the West. The All-Star is averaging 19.4 ppg, 8.9 apg, and a league leading 2.5 steals per game. Paul is the ultimate floor general who knows when he needs to set up his teammate and when he needs to score the basketball. Over and over again this season the Clippers have been in close games and Paul just single handedly takes over offensively to win them the game. The most important stat that propels him to the top of my list is that he doesn't turn the ball over and has a league leading assist to turnover ratio of 4.39.

Honorable Mention:
Deron Williams: Although having a great season in many ways, leading your team to wins is an important part of making it to my top five list, and his Nets are a mere 18-35. He also is tied for most turnovers in the league at 4 per game and shoots only 41% from the field.
Derrick Rose: The defending MVP is having a great season...when he plays. Unfortunately he has missed over a third of his team's games. To be having the best season you need to be actually playing, so I couldn't have him in my top five.
Jose Calderon: Quietly fourth in the league in assists and second in assist to turnover ratio. However being on the Raptors his team doesn't have enough wins to make my list.

Ramon Sessions the Key?

The Los Angeles Lakers have been one of the most difficult teams to figure out in this strange NBA season. After failing to trade for Chris Paul, and then losing both Lamar Odom and Shannon Brown, it was hard to imagine that the team that got swept in the second round last postseason would be a legitimate contender. Despite that, as of March 23rd they are 3rd in the Western Conference but have a mere 10-15 road record and have struggled with inconsistency, losing consecutive games to Washington and Detroit (combined winning percentage of 29.3%) earlier this month. In an attempt to shake things up at the trade deadline the Lakers acquired the 25 year old point guard Ramon Sessions, one of the more underrated players in the NBA, positioning them as what I believe is a serious contender.

The casual NBA fan probably had never even heard of Ramon Sessions, and understandably so. After spending the first two years of his career with the lowly Bucks, he spent one season in Minnesota, before finding himself as the backup on the post-Lebron James Cavaliers. Since the Cavs then took Kyrie Irving with the first overall pick in the offseason Sessions found himself coming off the bench yet again. Even with limited minutes he was able to leave an impact on most games, especially in terms of distributing, with an average of 10.2 assists per 48 minutes. To make this number more understandable, let's compare that number to those of All-Stars Derrick Rose (10.7) and Deron Williams (10.6). As you can see on a per minute basis Sessions can distribute the ball with the best of them. What may be even more telling is Sessions' numbers when given the opportunity to start this season. In four games as a starter this season he is averaging 17.8 points to go along with 11 assists per game. As a part of the Lakers he will not need to score this much but it will be very helpful to have someone beside Kobe in the backcourt who is capable of taking over the game both as a distributor and scorer, seeing as the 37 year old Derek Fisher just wasn't getting it done for them (5.8 points and 3.3 assists per game).

Even more important than Sessions's offensive contributions will be his efforts on the defensive end of the court. Point guards have become the dominating position in the NBA and there has been an influx of young and very athletic PGs the past few years (Russell Westbrook, Derrick Rose, John Wall, Ty Lawson etc.). In his older age Fisher found himself unable to stop these athletes which really gave the Lakers problems, especially in the playoffs. Two years ago, second year point guard Russell Westbrook had his coming out party in the thrilling first round matchup of the 1 seed Lakers against the 8 seed Thunder. In the six game series Westbrook averaged 20.5 points per game while shooting 47.3% from the field, a noticeable increase from this regular season numbers (16.1 ppg and 41.8 FG%). The Lakers were able to survive that series and go on the win the Championship, but there definitely seemed to be some writing on the wall.

Last year in the playoffs is when their inability to defend point guards finally caught up to them. In the first round the Lakers were given a scare being taken to six games by the Hornets who were being carried by the play of Chris Paul after losing their former All-Star David West. Paul lit up the Lakers, getting one triple double (27 points, 15 assists, and 13 rebounds) and averaging 22 ppg, 11.5 apg, and 6.7 rpg, while shooting 54.5% from the field. They were able to survive this offensive onslaught only to get swept in the next round, in large part because of their inability to defend the Mavericks' backup point guard J.J. Barea. In only 18 minutes per game, Barea had 11.5 points and 5.5 assists per game. These numbers seem underwhelming but on a per 48 minute basis these numbers are elite (14.7 assists and 30.7 points per 48 minutes).

After years of getting torched by quick point guards the Lakers finally brought in a guy like Sessions, a young speedy guy who is a solid defender and will be able to prevent them from constantly having their defense torn apart by opposing point guards. Can he stop guys like Westbrook or Rose or Paul? No. But can he contain them much better than Fisher? Without a doubt. When you combine that with two 7-footers in the paint (Andrew Bynum and Pao Gasol) and the iron will to win of Kobe Bryant, it is impossible to count the Lakers out as a legitimate contender for the NBA Championship. This doesn't mean that they all of a sudden jump to my favorite team to win it all or even win the Western Conference, but what is does do is cover up their biggest weakness making them an even more formidable opponent for anyone in the NBA. Once you get Kobe in a 7 game series anything can happen, and with a guy like Ramon Sessions running the point, the Lakers are undeniably a championship contender.