Back from the head as for Luongo the jury is out

Since the Vancouver Canucks decided to start Cory Schneider for game six (which Chicago still won) does that mean the Avs can trade for Luongo now?

Seriously, the Avs got the cap space and aren't in a position to bench Peter Budaj so Luongo is pretty safe.

We have two first round picks though I'd like to keep them to get a power-forward, a scoring winger or a giant defensemen the Avs need a goalie more than anything.

Yeah trading an awesome goalie within your division probably not going to happen, but the Canucks were stupid enough to bench him in the first place.

Counter-views on Carmelo Anthony

I have never been a big fan of Carmelo Anthony or the NBA within the last ten years for many similar reasons. I will confess that many of these are not entirely rational. The problems with the NBA (and personified by Melo) in my view are rather numerous:

• Too much emphasis on star players
  
• Not enough passing or defense
  
• Fouls being called to frequently
  
• Lack of consistency in player line-ups
  
• Lack of competitive balance

I used to watch NBA game religiously from when I was as old as I can remember to a few years ago. Now, I much rather watch college basketball because the games are more interesting and competitive. I find myself frequently bored with the NBA, while I have never watched a college game that I found boring.

I watch the occasional Nuggets game because I find Chauncey Billups and Chris Anderson interesting players who play fundamentally sound, unselfish basketball. I also find them interesting personalities and Billups is a Denver native.

Unfortunately, these arguments are rather "fan based" and not entirely rational. I'm sure people more knowledgable about basketball have great counter-arguments. Charley Rosen writes in my opinion the best sports columns and one of the reasons why I even watch basketball.

Needless to say, Fivethirtyeight, which I reference a lot in my political blog , wrote an interesting piece on Carmelo Anthony that is well worth the read. In the end, I might like Melo or the NBA in general but basketball is still a great sport.