If I Ruled the Hardwood

Well here it is. My first blog. My first public venue to write down and share my thoughts on important subjects such as Nas, The league I (NBA), the league II (NFL), The Palace that is 25 Gerald Rd., the life that is Boston College, and of course...the System.
Today, in honor of my blog title, I have an interesting challenge for myself and for all of the League I and Nas fans out there. Which NBA baller best represents Nas on the basketball court?
This is an extremely tough question. But the only way to find the answer it is to first define Nas. What has he stood for and what has he accomplished (in AOs opinion).

Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones is a man of the people. He lives to fight the System at every turn. He is Hip Hop, but not in the shit-you-hear-on-the-radio sense. He is the Man--he is real. He has never sold out, contrary to some belief. He has always remembered his roots. QB is where he's from, and I'm damn sure Nasty Nas would rather smoke a blunt with his boys in Queens than win a Grammy.

His occupation is his passion. He raps with an unparalleled poetic style. His rhymes and rhythms range from Illmatic to It Was Written to God's Son. So the question is, who balls like Nas? Who in the Association represents his fire?

When talking about his main characteristics, a few people come to mind.

Loyalty- Carmelo Anthony shares this. #15 from the Nugs never forgets his Baltimore roots. His loyalty certainly holds him from being an all around fan favorite, something Nas can relate to. Marbury and AI are two little guys that share this same fierce sense of their past. Starbury's loyalty to NY has actually helped towards the demise of his basketball game, as evidenced by unpassionate play for the Knicks recently.

Genius Style- Here, you gotta think of the young guns Cp3 and Gil Arenas. Paul has had complete control ever since he stepped on the court as a freshman at Wake Forest. He has the most poise of any young point guard I've ever seen. Gilbert's style is just as genius but in a different way. He has developed a killer instinct that he brings to his team every game. Night in and night out, he's trying to embarass teams. That's why he has dubbed this season "The Takeover." When asked about his desire to dominate, Agent Zero said: "The hibachi is coming to a city near you. I’m cooking chicken and shrimp, but if you want to throw a double team my way, filet mignon gets cooked too." You gotta love anyone as zany as that.

Un-Commercial- Here, two sharpshooters pop out in my mind- Mike Redd and Jesus Shuttlesworth aka Ray Allen. Ray Ray's got the whole movie thing going, like Nas did in Belly, and Mike Redd is scorer with the killer mentality that doesn't get much Pub. But, he hasn't done a thing in the playoffs, so he hasn't gotten to that dominant level that Escobar achieved with Illmatic. So, a nice thought, but they can't quite cut it.

Powerful- The young reverend Dwight Howard is nothing but power. Pure muscle and in your face I'm-gonna-fuck-you-up attitude. But, the problem is Dwight is a preacher's boy. He's too nice. He'll help you up off the ground, after he slams in your face. You could classify Lebron as a pretty powerful player when he drives the lane. But, my personal hatred for "The King" will keep him from being discussed in any positive ways in this blog. Reference last years playoffs and his remarks to Gilbert Arenas if you need to know why.

With all these pop up ideas, I'm going with someone I haven't mentioned. Someone I believe has all these qualities and more. I'm going with the kid from Cypress Creek High--Amare Stoudemire. The way he plays without fear and the way he doesn't hesitate to put it to "the best" reminds me most of Nas. I mean, look back at the Suns-Spurs series from '05. The Suns went down 4-1, but here were Amare's numbers against the best PF in the Association at that time: 41 and 9, 37 and 8, 34 and 11, 31 and 5, 42 and 16. That's averaging 37 and 10 against the best player on the best team that prides itself on defense!!!

This series proved Amare's potential to dominate, much like Illmatic. And what did you hear from STAT (standing tall and talented, his nickname) when he was hurt? "I'll be back" he said to all the doubters. But all the doubters continued to doubt him and they all sold out on him and jumped on the Dwight Howard train. But, don't look now Amare had 28 and 10 the other night in just 28 minutes. He's back, he's beginning to dominate again. Just like It Was Written for Nas, he knows his greatness, and this season will prove it.

Sure parts of Nas' style are in AI, Carmelo, CP3, Arenas, Kobe, or Lebron but Amare's young dominance, period of disappearance, and apparent return to dominance make me think that Amare must have "Hip Hop is Dead" running on his Ipod.

The chorus of Nas' new single says "hip hop is dead this morning". But, this morning I say The Association is alive and well. There are vets striving for rings, youngsters desperate to separate themselves from the rest, and more youngsters coming (there's some tall freshman at Ohio St. is supposed to be really good...I don't know if you have heard of him).

These youngsters have grown up watching Kobe and AI strive to be better than Jordan. #23 isn't the be all and end all of ballers. This attitude is heating up competition in high school and college gyms all around the country. And as my Teammate El Miz would say "if you can't handle the heat, get outta the kitchen." But, let me tell you something--go watch Gilbert Arenas play. Go watch Carmelo, Lebron, Joe Johnson, CP3. But, watch them for 48 minutes. And I think you'll share my feeling that not only do these guys want to stay in the kitchen, they want to be the head Chef.