Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Saturday, there are 73 days remaining.Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
In this exclusive video we talk to NBA Champion PJ Brown about his 15-year career in the NBA. Among other things PJ tells us the player he most admires is Hall of Famer Julius Erving. Around 1:05 into the video we catch up with Dr. J himself and ask him which NBA team he would want to play for these days -- his answer may surprise you.
AOL Video link.Youtube link.
Barack Obama appeared on WIP 610 AM (you can hear the audio at the 700 Level) in Pennsylvania today and after talking about what a "terrible" bowler he is, he got into a discussion with some of the hosts -- including Angelo Cataldi, Al Morganti, Rhea Hughes and Mitch "Wild Thing" Williams -- about the good Dr. Julius Erving. That's when Cataldi threw him a pretty hot little curveball.After Obama spoke about former Sixers legend Julius Erving - Dr. J - being a boyhood idol, Cataldi asked whether Obama would rather be the president or Dr. J in his prime.Really? Mitch Williams has a radio show? I kid, I kid. I actually really dig Barack's answer; as awesome as it would be to run the country, would it really be any less cool to be the most famous dunker of all time (sorry, Mike) in the middle of his prime?
'The Doctor,' Obama, immediately drawing laughs. 'I think any kid growing up, if you got a chance to throw down the ball from the free throw line, that's better than just about anything.'
Later, Williams, a former Phillies pitcher, said that remark stood out for him, and summed it up this way:
'If given the choice to live in the White House or jump over it, he'd rather jump over it.'
If a player gets a lot of blocks and steals, there's a good chance he's in my personal top ten (e.g. Gerald Wallace, Kevin Garnett, Ben Wallace before the ring). Which is why I was positively delighted by David Friedman's article on the 100-100 club."I don't think it (going for steals or blocks) is selfish at all. I think that it's good. You have to put pressure on the offense because shooters are so good. The offense has such an advantage because it can initiate what takes place, so as a defender you have got to try to instigate something to throw them off and make them do something they don't want to do. The old term, 'pressure will bust the pipe,' is very true. It will make people change what they want to do."Again, I don't think this goes for players only after steals or blocks; that becomes easy to predict. But in the rare case of a talent who can do both, it keeps the offense on its heels for a change. If a team were to have multiple 100-100 players--as the Sixers did with Jones and Julius Erving--they could change the entire complexion of a defensive possession. By inverting the usual relationship between offense and defense, they could have their opponents on the defensive even as they supposedly played offense.
In the wake of last year's playoffs, there were thoughts that the league office's mechanisms for parity had finally started to kick in. From the salary cap and the luxury tax threshold, to changing the rules to benefit teams without a traditional center, to creating the draft lottery, the NBA has been making an effort to create parity. Last year, for the first time in a number of years a team outside of the usual Lakers, Spurs, Rockets, Pistons, Bulls group won the NBA title. As well, the Mavs and Suns, two teams without traditional centers, were two of the best teams in the league. 
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