The NBA free agency period began at 9 p.m. PST and so far things are quiet on the Eastern and Western conference fronts. There are a few facts (Kobe, Boozer, and Okur staying put), and a few rumors like ‘Sheed to the Celtics.

The Houston Rockets have several concerns entering free agency: Yao Ming’s health, Yao Ming’s backup, and Ron Artest. GM Daryl Morey has taken to Twitter to enlist fans to help him sign some help in the middle.

Marcin Gortat made a name for himself in the playoffs by playing hard on the defensive end. He’s a liability on offense, but if you’re bringing him off the bench to spell your starter you’ll be alright.

It’s been almost two weeks since I brought you the news of the Gangsta Grillz mixtape being dropped by Ron Artest of the Houston Rockets. You can listen to a Ron-Ron freestyle from the mixtape below.

It’s not good but it’s not worst I’ve ever heard either. David Stern could probably make an issue out of a few of the lyrics if he tried, but he’s probably too busy scouting European arenas or contemplating a rubber basketball.

There’s more of Ron rapping here, including freestyles over Flashing Lights and Soulja Boy.

Ron Artest is ready to get things rollin’ with the Houston Rockets, and with his latest mixtape. Artest has hooked up with DJ Drama for his own edition of Drama’s popular Gangsta Grillz series. Ron-Ron talks about the free mixtape below.

In this interview Ron Artest covers several different topics and criticizes the state of Hip Hop.

Hip hop has been heavily watered down and knocked off course by the big money makers. There are many artists who are scared to make music for themselves and they cater to the boss with grey hair or light skin who never ever been caught in a cross fire, or been racially profiled, or cut in the face, or been face to face with multiple crack heads. The hip hop I’m accustomed to is Rakim. Rakim should be able to say what’s hip hop and what’s not. And give the other good music a different genre. Hip hop is also influenced by God, meaning artists like Run DMC and positive hip hop. I think gangster rap is a fake. I think it should be labeled pain music.

It is not hard to sell music. I think people who buy music are not stupid. When 50 put out “Curtis” he tried to fool people and his fans wanted that real 50. Same with Nas and “Nastradomus” and Jay with the “One” album he had that was unsuccessful. The A&R these days are not that good, with the exception of a few. People don’t want to hear lies, they want pure hearted music.

Ron makes some good points, and contradicts himself a little but that’s Ron. Enough of the talking, it’s time to hear what Artest is spittin’.

Ron Artest featuring Coldplay-Lost

Ron Artest, DJ Drama, Foul Monday and Ruc-It’s Too Easy

Well.. At least Ron will have no ring to go with no Grammy.

Here’s Ron Artest performing in Germany back in ‘06:

Pictures of Ron Artest and crew from this MySpace page:

David Stern is on a mission to make the NBA a global league, and he gave us a glimpse of his European expansion plans earlier this year. In 2007 the league appointed Timothy Chen, the former head of Microsoft’s China division, to oversee NBA China. Although the Chinese market represents the fastest growing group of NBA fans, the broadcast of playoff games have been suspended.

The official word is that the games are being put on hold while the country is mourning the earthquake victims. Of course, this is the NBA, so conspiracy theories can’t be far behind. From Danwei:

Neither the newspaper nor SARFT’s media administrator has offered an explanation for the suspension. The only official explanation came from Jiang Heping, director of CCTV’s Olympic Channel, who said that the NBA was “too entertaining” for this special time when the country is mourning for the victims of the earthquake.

It seems that many have found Mr Jiang’s explanation unconvincing; people tend to believe that there has been a ban issued on broadcasting NBA games. There are a number of alternate theories on the internet, all highly speculative: Some people are arguing the ban is politically-motivated ?some NBA players have been protesting the role the Chinese government plays in Darfur?while the others think politics is unlikely the issue. After all, the last time NBA was banned in China was in 1999, after an American missile hit China’s embassy in Yugoslavia, and relations with the US are not nearly as tense as they were then.

The Beijing News also ran an article today about the NBA ban. In the article, an insider from CCTV is quoted as saying that NBA broadcasts will resume on June 6, though no official orders have been announced to the public. The article also refers to NBA’s announcement on May 28 of a 14 million-yuan donation to China’s earthquake relief.

I don’t know why the NBA game broadcasts have been suspended. To me, a little entertainment might be a good to help ease the pain of such a tragic event. And I’m willing to bet everything I’ve got that if Yao Ming and the Rockets were playing not only would the games be shown, they’d probably be on a continuous loop.

NBA broadcasting suspended in China. Courtesy of Danwei

NBA, China, playoffs, broadcast

Now that one of the greatest regular seasons in NBA history is finished it’s time for the 2007-08 playoffs to take us to the next level. Other than Celtics/Hawks, the match-ups should give us entertaining basketball. All of the series won’t go seven games, but the level of competition will be at an all-time high.

I’m only gonna post my first round predictions right now, but my entire NBA Playoffs bracket will be over at Ball Hype. They’re having an NBA Playoffs Pick ‘Em Contest that’s free to enter, and the top prize is an iPod touch. I have the Eastern Conference sticking to the script for the most part, but deciding the Western Conference was painful..

Here are my first round picks:

Eastern Conference:

(1)Boston 4 (8)Atlanta 0: The Hawks can hang their hat on the fact that they made the playoffs. After getting swept out, they should fire Mike Woodson and start getting ready for next season. The Cs will wanna handle their biz and rest for..

(4)Cleveland 4 (5)Washington 3: The best series in the EC’s first round and you know how it goes.. Same two teams, same result. Gilbert trash talking King James isn’t helping the Wizards’ chances. I was probably leaning towards Washington until Gilbert went off.. But if anybody was gonna back it up, it’s Agent Zero.
(2)Detroit 4 (7)Philadelphia 1: I’m a diehard Sixers fan and I’m pulling for the upset but I gotta be real. This squad is too young to do anything but steal a game from the Pistons.. I might pop bottles if they take two games.

Looking to the future, what’s the front office gonna do about beefing up the lineup? They need to add more firepower and size to build on the gains made this season. Andre Iguodala, Andre Miller, Samuel Dalembert, and Thaddeus Young make a good nucleus. Willie Green, Louis Williams, and Reggie Evans should contribute to a nice bench. Even though the Eastern Conference is regarded as weak, things are getting a lot tougher and the Sixers need to plan accordingly.

LeBron’s always in contention, the Bulls will eventually figure it out, the Celtics and Pistons have cores they can count on for a few more years, Washington’s group looks like they’ll be staying together, Miami has D-Wade and Marion as a foundation, Dwight Howard is a force to be reckoned with, the Raptors have better young talent, Indiana should be better next year, and the Hawks look like they’re headed in the right direction. Unless the franchise is content with squeaking in the playoffs and making a first round exit, they need to get aggressive in the offseason.. Elton Brand aggressive.

(3)Orlando 4 (6)Toronto 2: Who is this? Oh yeah, the Orlando Magic.. They haven’t been talked about since Dwight Howard did the Superman dunk, but they quietly won 52 games. Howard, Hedo Turkoglu (should be the Most Improved Player), and Rashard Lewis give the Magic one of the best frontcourts in basketball. They should cruise past the Raptors.

Western Conference:

(1)Los Angeles 4 (8)Denver 3 : Can the Nuggets do what the Warriors did last year and eliminate the number one seed? It would be called an upset, but shouldn’t we expect a team that has two number one overall picks, a second overall pick, and a third (shoulda been second) overall pick in the starting lineup to go deep into the playoffs? I see some 130-121 games and Denver’s inability to get key stops hurting them more than the Lakers inability to get key stops.

(4)Utah 4 (5)Houston 3: Man… If there’s ever a pick I wanted to be wrong about. I think the Jazz are the better team, but for T-Mac’s sanity I wouldn’t mind if the Rockets won the series. Last year, I tried to use The Secret to help Houston and it obviously didn’t work. This year, the Rockets should get Benedict XVI to swing through H-Town and hit ‘em with some Pope Juice.

(6)Phoenix 4 (3)San Antonio 3: Either Shaq or Tim Duncan have appeared in every NBA finals since the Bulls sixth championship in 1998, and 10 of the last 14. They’ve both picked up four rings along the way, but with all of that said, Amare Stoudemire will dominate this series. He’s always a beast against the Spurs in the playoffs and with Shaq giving him more freedom on offense I see Phoenix riding Stat to the second round.

(7)Dallas 4 (2)New Orleans 2: The Mavericks get a chance to play the underdog upset role this postseason. It’s not gonna erase what happened last year, and with the competitiveness of the Western Conference this year, it shouldn’t be surprise if the team with the reigning MVP and Jason Kidd beats a team with no playoff experience.

Follow The NBA Playoffs On The Sphere:
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I tried. I really did. I was as positive as I could be. There’s not too much that can be said. I’m not gonna sit here and rip the Rockets, even though if I was a real Rockets fan I could find plenty to complain about. Houston was down most of the game, by as much as 16 in the first half, but they battled back to a 88-83 lead with 6 minutes left in the game. It seemed like the Rockets had taken control of the game and would pull away down the stretch. Wrong and wrong.

The question now is where does the team go from here? JVG has already called it quits, and Tracy said after the game that the team needs to get more athletic. This team would be perfect for a coach like Phil Jackson circa 2000. The current sit there and do nothing version of Phil Jackson couldn’t do anything more than Van Gundy did. Adding a player like Chauncey Billups or Rashard Lewis (Houston native) to McGrady and Yao would automatically boost Houston’s status. A high energy guy like Gerald Wallace would be a good fit with Houston too if he doesn’t mind being the 3rd guy.

I’ve gotten a couple of emails that say something like “see, that Secret stuff is bullshit”. I can’t write The Secret off because Houston didn’t win. Getting Tracy McGrady to the second round is obviously gonna take a whole lot more than me saying nice things about the Rockets. It starting to look like T-Mac’s gonna need some bonafide miracles.

I wanna thank everybody that took part in the leave a number post, and all of the people that followed me following the Rockets. Shout out to the RR’s too… Hold your heads up people. Peace..

How I started following the Houston Rockets. YBB April 19th

Jeff Van Gundy to say good-bye to the Rockets. China Daily

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I’ve said everything I can (want to) about this series. Everybody knows what’s on the line.. A trip to round 2 vs. the Warriors, and Tracy McGrady’s legacy. I’m not trying to put any extras on it, I’m just speaking the real. It doesn’t matter how important Tracy thinks this game is or isn’t. The media and general NBA viewing public will label him a failure.. T-Mac, trust me, ”Blirk” or  “McWitzki” are not the nicknames you wanna go into the summer with.

Tracy, Yao, the rest of the Rockets, and the fans need to have the arena turned up today. Take a page out of the Golden State book. The Warriors handled their biz on the court, but the atmosphere was suffocating for Dallas too. Utah isn’t under the kind of pressure that the Mavs were, but that doesn’t mean the crowd can’t have an impact on the game. I’m expecting the Red to be Rowdier than ever tonight. Don’t they do everything bigger in Texas? I want the 18,300 at the Toyota Center to sound like Reliant Stadium would have if the Texans had drafted Reggie Bush.

ROCKETS POSITIVITY. THANKS TO ME

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I’m not even a real Rockets fan and my stomach is in knots. Houston had the perfect opportunity to shutdown this series and they let it slip right through their hands.. Literally.. Turnover after turnover.. Bad shot after bad shot. It was like they said “hey we could win now, but let’s wait till we get home and share this with the fans”. At least that’s what I’m hoping they were thinking.

I tried to be as positive as possible about game 6 and I thought it was working… 75-74, Utah in the lead, Houston has the ball with 8:15 left in the game.. Things were looking really good. Then Kirilenko decided to wake up. Andrei blocked a Juwan Howard gimme layup, forced a T-Mac turnover, and blocked a McGrady drive to the basket. Even with all of that, the Rockets were still in good position down 77-76, 4:45 left in the game… Little did I know, Utah would go on a 17-6 run to close the game. So close. So frustrating.

Game 7. I don’t care what Tracy says, this is the biggest game of his career. This is his latest attempt to move on to the 2nd round so this has to be the most important game for him. Before this series started McGrady said it’s all on him. I’m gonna stick with that. Tracy, do this for you. Do it for Houston… And positively do it for my blog. A game 7 at home with the chance to shake off your playoff demons is all the motivation you need.

Rockets and Jazz game 6 play by play. Thank you ESPN.com

The Law of Attraction and the Houston Rockets. Thank me

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Really good conversation with Scoop Jackson. Courtesy of The Starting Five

Keyshawn Johnson would like to take back everything he said about Dwayne Jarrett. Courtesy of DeadSpin

Common rapping and Ari (Jeremy Piven) on the congas. Courtesy of I Fux is Hip Hop…

Your complete Golden State Warriors coverage. Courtesy of Golden State of Mind

Did Scott Van Pelt say “shit” on SportsCenter? Courtesy of Larry Brown Sports

Some positivity and beauty for the Houston Rockets. Courtesy of With Leather

Josh Howard, chillin tough. Courtesy of Drunk Athlete

Tommy Hilfiger went on Oprah to kill all those “I don’t make clothes for blacks” rumors. Courtesy of TMZ

Wig owners and wig brushers in the 2007 NBA playoffs. Courtesy of Dallas Penn

Why Mayweather has to win on Saturday. Courtesy of MaxBoxing.com

Piston’s fans hate Ben Wallace. Courtesy of Need 4 Sheed

Breaking down Brady Quinn’s girlfriend. Courtesy of Kissing Suzy Kolber

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvOhLiIktI8]

THE HOUSTON ROCKETS WILL DOMINATE THEIR COMPETITION

Let’s Go Rockets!! Tonight’s the night Tracy and Yao will finally advance to the second round of the playoffs. I know the game’s in Utah and the Rockets have struggled there, but it’s going down tonight. At this point I can’t tell if I’m being positive or delusional. I just watched San Antonio and Phoenix close out their series (at home but so what), and now it’s time for Houston to do the same. Utah, thanks for the memories.. We’ll see you next year. The Houston Rockets are moving on to the second round.

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