Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is the recent Mayor of New York City, and the 10th richest person in the United States, having net worth of US$18 billion in 2010. He is the founder and 88% owner of Bloomberg L.P., a financial news and information services media business. A lifelong Democrat before seeking elective office, Bloomberg switches his registration in 2001 and ran for mayor as a Republican, winning the voting that year and a second term in 2005.
He was repeatedly mentioned as a possible independent candidate for the 2008 presidential election and fueled that speculation when he left the Republican Party in June 2007 to become an independent. There was also speculation that he would run as a vice presidentialcontestant. Bloomberg did not, however, seek the presidency nor was he chosen as a running mate by any of the presidential candidates. In the fall of 2008, Bloomberg successfully campaign for an amendment to New York City's term restrictions law, in order to allow him to run for a third term in 2009. Bloomberg is won the election on November 3, 2009.
Take a good look at that folks. Let it soak in for a minute. We've finally accomplished something not many sport franchises get to do. We are the worst team in a basketball video game.
Remember all those unrealistic trades you pulled off? What about the even more unlikely trip to the NBA finals that took place in last year's installment of NBA 2K10 (but only because the online servers were down)? Well now you have the exciting privilege of taking the 30th overall Raptors and turning them into NBA champions. A true rags to riches story.
Ignoring the fact that a 29th defense and a 28th offense somehow equals a 30th overall, let's take a look at the entire Raptors lineup in what is expected to be one of the most bought sports games this year.
75 - Leandro Barbosa (SG) 74 - Andrea Bargnani (C) 72 - Jose Calderon (PG) 69 - Jarrett Jack (PG) 67 - Ed Davis (PF) 64 - Julian Wright (SF) 64 - DeMar DeRozan (SG) 63 - Joey Dorsey (PF) 63 - Reggie Evans (PF) 63 - Amir Johnson (PF) 62 - Marcus Banks (PG) 60 - Sonny Weems (SG) 57 - David Andersen (C) 55 - Linas Kleiza (SF)
I know. It's a bit underwhelming. And you know what? I usually don't care about ratings when it comes to sports game, because more often than not, they don't matter. DeMar DeRozan was one of the best players in NBA 2K10 because of his speed, dunk, and layup rating. Once you were able to learn how to shoot with him, he became one of the most unstoppable forces in the game.
But since you're here, allow me to point out a few things:
- Linas Kleiza - our most significant pickup this off-season - was given a rating of 55. Fifty-five? We're talking about one of the more prolific scorers at this year's FIBA World Championships. The Lithuanian averaged 19 points and 7 rebounds during the entire tournament, and was the focal point of an intense American defense in the semi finals game. Kleiza rates lower than Nuggets' Coby Karl (56), Sixers' Tony Battie (57), and is only 1 point higher than Lakers' mustache man Adam Morrison. Expect perhaps the biggest improvement out of any player in 2k history by the time the last roster update comes out. I'll predict a 76.
- Most Raptors fans are looking forward to the growth of the Young Gunz and the excitement they'll bring. Unfortunately, 2K either felt differently, didn't care, or were blind to it. DeMar DeRozan and Sonny Weems clocked in at a low 64 and 60 respectively. During this year's Summer League, both Raptors swingmen tore it up. By the end of their schedule, the consensus from the media was that the duo were two of the most impressive players amongst their peers. I did some digging, and here are the 2k11 ratings of the top 10 guards and swingmen in terms of scoring averages from the 2010 summer league. Yes, it's just summer league. But what else could they possibly base these stats on when you can argue this entire group are unproven in the NBA?
John Wall - 24 pts, 32 min, 38%FG (81 ovr) Reggie Williams - 23 pts, 32 min, 41%FG (67 ovr) DeMar DeRozan - 21 pts, 26 min, 58%FG (64 ovr) Sam Young - 19 pts, 28 min, 54%FG (65 ovr) Marcus Thornton - 19 pts, 32 min, 44%FG (69 ovr) Jermaine Taylor - 18 pts, 29 min, 47%FG (62 ovr) Nick Young - 18 pts, 28 min, 55%FG (66 ovr) Sonny Weems - 18 pts, 27 min, 44%FG (60 ovr) Dominque Jones - 17 pts, 32 min, 42%FG (66 ovr) Jordan Crawford - 16 pts, 31 min, 42%FG (64 ovr)
And as for Amir Johnson - the athletic Young Gun 4 man fresh off his contract extension? A pathetic 63 overall. That's lower than Josh Powell (64) and the overweight Eddy Curry (64). On top of that, they have Amir listed with a 67 dunk...A 67? Clearly they haven't seen this:
BTW - Reggie Evans has a 68 dunk. And no offense whatsoever to Reggie, but all of Raptors Nation knows that Reggie doesn't dunk.
And what about our prized draft pick Mr. Ed Davis? A 67 isn't that bad at all, but let's compare him to the rest of his draft class.
John Wall - 81 Evan Turner - 76 Derrick Favors - 73 Wesley Johnson - 73 DeMarcus Cousins - 70 Ekpe Udoh - 68 Greg Monroe - 67 Al Farouq-Aminu - 68 Gordon Hayward - 64 Paul George - 71 Cole Aldrich - 64 Ed Davis - 67 Pattrick Patterson - 72
As you can see, the one thing Raps fans can be pleased with the most is 2K's assessment of Ed Davis. Rookies are always overrated in the game, but at least 2K had the presence of mind of clocking Ed in at where many draft experts expected him to go in the draft (7-10)
Lastly, note how the Raps' best player comes in at 75 overall - Leandro Barbosa. Toronto is one of 5 teams (along with Cleveland, LA, Detroit, Minnesota) to not have a player rated over 80. The only player with a legit shot at cracking that by the end of the year is Andrea Bargnani. I'd throw in Kleiza in there as well, but I don't see 2K Sports allowing a 26 point rating increase to happen.
And in case you guys were interested, here are the ratings of a few Ex-Raptors:
Antoine Wright - 64 Marco Belinelli - 66 (Apparently we traded away our two best swings) Kris Humphries - 62 Chris Bosh - 87
To wrap it up, let's take a quick glimpse (courtesy of Youtube) at how the worst team in the game will play on consoles all over the world.
Avatar is a 2009 American epic science fiction film written with directed by James Cameron and starring Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, Michelle Rodriguez, Sigourney Weaver, and Joel David Moore. The film is set in 2154, when humans are mining a costly mineral called unobtanium on Pandora, a lush moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. The growth of the mining colony threatens the continued existence of a local people of Na'vi—a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora. The film's title refers to the heritably engineered Na'vi-human hybrid bodies use by a team of researchers to interact with the natives of Pandora.
Development on Avatar began in 1994, when Cameron writes an 80-page scriptment for the film. Filming was theoretical to take place after the completion of Cameron's 1997 film Titanic, for a planned release in 1999, but according to Cameron, the essential technology was not yet available to achieve his vision of the film. Work on the language for the film's space beings began in summer 2005, and Cameron began increasing the screenplay and fictional universe in early 2006.
Avatar was authoritatively budgeted at $237 million. Other estimates put the cost between $280 million and $310 million for production and at $150 million for endorsement. The film was released for traditional 2-D viewing, 3-D viewing, and "4-D" viewing. The stereoscopics filmmaking was touting as a breakthrough in cinematic technology. Avatar premiered in London on December 10, 2009, and was released abroad on December 16 and in the United States and Canada on December 18, to critical acclaim and commercial success.
JPMorgan Chase & Co. has process in 60 countries. It is a major supplier of financial serviceswith assets of $2 trillion, and the biggest market capitalization and third largest deposit base U.S. banking institution behind Wells Fargo and Bank of America. The hedge fund unit of JPMorgan Chase is the biggest hedge fund in the United States with $53.5 billion in assets as of the end of 2009. Formed in 2000, when Chase Manhattan Corporation combined with J.P. Morgan & Co., the firm serves millions of consumers in the United States. The JP Morgan brand is used by the Investment Bank as well as the Asset Management, Private Banking, Private Wealth Management, and Treasury & Securities Services separation.
Fiduciary action within Private Banking and Private Wealth Management is completed under the aegis of JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A.the actual trustee. The CHASE brand is used for credit card services in the United States and Canada, the bank's retail banking actions in the United States, and commercial banking. The corporate head offices are in New York City and the retail and commercial bank is headquartered in Chicago. JP Morgan Chase is one of the large four banks of the United States with Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo.
