FIVE QUICK NBA THOUGHTS 1. STEVE NASH and STEVE BLAKE (Lakers): Both players are back in the lineup Tuesday against the Timberwolves. Blake had played quite well before he went down and, fingers crossed, Nash (who turns 40 on Friday - Happy Birthday!) tries to see if he can play through Back pain and finish the season. This Lakers season has not gone well with the loss of Dwight Howard, the injury to Kobe Bryant, and of course injuries to Blake and Nash. At the end of the day, this is a franchise that doesnt deal well with losing seasons yet it might be a time to re-invent themselves for the long haul. How these two guys hold up will give them better insight into where things are headed, at least short term, in their backcourt. 2. PAUL GASOL (Lakers): Speaking of this franchise, I think this ship has sailed here. If you can get cap space, luxury tax relief and/or a draft pick, you move him. He still has value, yet I see it diminishing despite him averaging close to 20 points and 12 rebounds a game in January. There is a lot of chatter about the Phoenix Suns making a run at him. Itll be interesting to watch it unfold but bottom line, it would be best for Gasol and the Lakers for him to have a change of scenery. 3. GREG MONROE (Pistons): There are rumblings from the Motor City that they need to look long and hard at what to do with this guy. I really like his game. When given the proper system and supporting players, I feel he has the attributes to help you win. Is he a franchise guy? No, but a very good player? Yes. Hes a positive building piece. I dont see how he can co-exist long-term with Josh Smith and Andre Drummond. Im not a huge Smith fan, nor am I big on the Brandon Jennings bandwagon. These are guys that will get you numbers but Im not sure if they understand what it takes to win on a nightly basis. Monroe can score in the post and has a solid face up game, he can really pass it and his rebounding and lane presence is sound. The Pistons need to figure out what their identity is because right now I see a team with a lot of parts yet with no semblance of the whole in mind. This is a team sport and when I watch them they dont look like one. Monroe is one of the few guys that gets how to play the team game. 4. RAPTORS at KINGS: Youll hear all the coach and player speak about it being ‘just another game. I dont buy it for one minute. Any time someone trades you, to some degree theyve given up on you and think they can do better with someone else, thats the reality of sports. The Raptors have benefited greatly with the acquisition of the Sacramento Four while Rudy Gay has played quite well for the Kings. Good for both sides. I expect a very intense game here tomorrow night in Sac-town. Cant wait. More importantly for the Raptors, its a chance to clinch a winning west coast trip (currently 2-1) with a win here before heading to LA to play the very difficult Clippers on Friday. Take care of business. Wont be easy, a lot of emotion will be present. 5. CONGRATS SEATTLE: I have buddies from Buffalo that hit a Super Bowl city each year. Unfortunately, Ive never been able to attend before. This year it worked. I was in Portland on Saturday night and went over to Seattle on Sunday morning before heading over to Salt Lake City to work the Raptors/Jazz game on Monday. My Super Bowl Sunday in Seattle was a total blast. A few quick observations: First, for the Raptors game in Portland, it was a wonderful turnout of Raptor fans from Vancouver area who made the drive over. Awesome support! And secondly, what a joke that an amazing sports town like Seattle doesnt have an NBA team right now. Everywhere I went I saw not only 12th Man signs for the Seahawks but Bring Back our Sonics signs. I couldnt agree more. And finally, once again, I ran into a ton of folks from Vancouver, this time while I was in Seattle. Fun time watching the football game with them and their passion for hoops as well. Ive said it a thousand times before and Ill say it again, weve got to get a team back in Vancouver as well. I travel all around North America and I feel pretty confident saying this, I have a very good sense for what makes a town a good fit for the NBA and there is NO doubt that Seattle and Vancouver fit my profile a whole lot better than many of the current NBA cities. You can fill in your own blanks. Maybe with a new NBA Commissioner in Adam Silver, this topic can be revisited again. It makes too much sense to me. Likely wishful thinking on my part. Jonathan Ogden Jersey . Top-ranked Rafael Nadal was also taken to three sets but emerged with a 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 win over Tobias Kamke of Germany, while second-seeded David Ferrer joined Murray in making an early exit after a 6-4, 7-5 loss to Daniel Brands of Germany. Custom Baltimore Ravens Jerseys . -- Brady Heslip scored a season-high 20 points to help Baylor beat No. http://www.officialbaltimoreravenspro.com/Lamar-jackson-ravens-jersey/ . His recovery time is expected to be six to eight months. Seidenberg was injured in the third period of Fridays 5-0 victory over the Ottawa Senators, when he got his leg tangled with forward Cory Conacher. Baltimore Ravens Jerseys . Wilson hit Schenn from behind during Tuesday nights game in Philadelphia, earning a five-minute major for charging and a game misconduct. He has a phone hearing with the department of player safety, which limits any potential suspension to five or fewer games. Ray Lewis Jersey . The team sent out a press release on Friday stating Poile was resting and recovering and that he will remain in hospital for further observation. The Predators were preparing for the game against the Wild when Poile was hit by a puck that flew off the ice at him where he was standing in a tunnel behind the bench.Unless youre playing at the highest level, youre probably your own equipment manager. After the game youve got to pack up all of your equipment, haul your bag home, as well as clean your own gear and thats fine. You love the game and heaving around mounds of equipment is just part and parcel of being a hockey player. Whats not fine is not having a proper way to store your equipment. Today, we start off with a piece of furniture that is essentially self-sustaining: A hockey stick rack built out of hockey sticks.Here are the full build instructions as provided by our friends at Hockey Stick Builds.Design Approach The hockey stick rack is not difficult to build. It only involves making some careful measurements and trusting the design. The major components of the hockey stick rack: 1. Base2. Vertical Supports3. Rack Top4. Finishing PiecesTools and hardware for the project: Tools - Miter Saw- Drill- Tape Measure- Bar clamps- Spring clampsHardware 1. Around 15 sticks2. 4 #6, 1.5" sheet metal screws3. 40 #6, 1.25" sheet metal screws4. 5/8" x 1 wooden dowel rodBuild - BaseWell start by building the base. The base shown here is 46" in length, however you can change this to fit your desired size. Ive found that 46" is right around the sweet spot for guaranteed good length of sticks. Your choice of this length is important since youll need 8 sticks that are that length or longer.Begin by cutting 4 sticks to a length of 46" and 2 to 17.25". For those two sticks 46"in length that you want to be on the bottom, drill a 17/64" hole through only ONE side of the stick, about 9/16" from the outer corner and midway in both dimensions of the long side at each end and at the shown locations. These ones in the middle will be used to attach the extra stiffening pieces later. These are clearance holes for the screw head since we want the stick rack to actually sit on the stick and not on the hardware.Drill in #6 1.25" sheet metal screws into the four corners, through the 3 sticks that make up the base as shown in the picture. Dont touch the 4 holes in the middle; we will use them to add support pieces later. If you know how many and the pitch of bottom support sticks, you can add those screw head clearance holes now as well. Vertical Supports Cut two more lengths of 37.35" and 18". Attach each 37.25" stick vertically to the base by using four #6 1.25" sheet metal screws into the two base pieces as shown. Ensure that the sticks are nice and orthogonal to the base or there will be a lot of twisting in the overall frame. The other option is to screw one screw into the base at this time and the remaining 3 once the top is attached at the end of assembly.Fix the 18" length stick to the rack using one #6 1.25" sheet metal screw to the vertical support as shown and one #6 1.5" sheet metal screw directly into the base.Rack Top To make the top rack, we will start with the small side pieces and the large angle piece that makes the triangle with the base. Cut one piece of stick to a length of 4.5". Next, cut a stick to have a bevel of 22 degrees on either side and a length of 38 9/16" on each side as shown in the image below. Note, the overall length is not 38 9/16". Rather, each side is that specific length. Attach the two pieces by offsetting the beveled stick by 2 7/64" from the front and attaching with a #6 1.25" sheet metal screw at aan angle.dddddddddddd Repeat for the other side of the stick rack.Now youll need to cut more sticks to length: two to 46", one to 1.75", and two to 1 3/16". At this point, also cut six 1.5" lengths of the dowel rod. These will be used as the dividers for the stick and keep them from sliding along the top stick. Attach the small 1 3/16" stick pieces to the front cross beam stick about 1 5/32" from the end, the width of a standard stick. Use two #6 1.25" sheet metal screws for each piece to prevent them from rotating.Now attach each of the dowel rod pieces by drilling a small hole in the back and fixing to the cross beam stick from behind using a #6 1.25" sheet metal screw just like the small pieces before. Each dowel rod is located 6" from the small stick pieces on the outside you just attached and from each other as you go from outside to inside. Ensure the dowel rod is centered nicely in the vertical direction on the stick.Take this cross beam pieces and attach it to either side/angle pieces with two #6 1.25" sheet metal screws each as shown below. This cross piece should be 0.5" from the front of the side pieces. Note that the front is the direction that the angle piece is pointed toward. Now take the second 46" cross piece and use four of the same sheet metals screws to attach that into place ensuring it is 0.75" from the back of the side pieces so the vertical support sticks can fit into this spot. To finish off, you can simply glue a 1.75" piece into the midsection (23" from the edge) between the two cross pieces. It is not necessary, but will add some additional support for the sticks. Highly recommended. Fix the top with angle pieces to the two vertical sticks and base as shown in the image with #6 1.25" hardware. The vertical stick should fit nicely behind the side pieces and can be attached with two #6 1.25" sheet metal screws on each side as shown with red tops here. Be careful not to drill them too high; they could hit the two screws coming in from the top used to attach the cross beam to the side piece.The overall top will look similar to this when complete: Attach the angle pieces to the base using a single #6 1.5" sheet metal screw into the side as shown which will really add a lot of rigidity to the entire rack. Finishing PiecesThe stick rack is completed by adding spacers and additional base sticks. Take two 3" length of stick and insert them between the two longer sticks in the rack front and back. Youve already drilled the screw head clearance holes earlier so all you need to do is center them and screw them in with two more #6 1.25" sheet metal screws each. These add strength to the bottom pieces which are likely to be stepped on the most frequently. Finally, you can add at 1 or more additional base cross pieces on which the sticks will rest on the base. The model has two spaced to be the width of the short side of the stick here in the model. My actual pictures show a wider gap (the width of a stick) made using only one stick. These final configuration depends on how many sticks you have and how you want it took look. Regardless, youll need at least one to ensure a nice flat surface. Once the glue dries from 1.75" support piece at the cross beams at the top, youre all done!For a full model of the stick rack and even more great designs, visit the guys over at Hockey Stick Builds. 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