I love the NBA off-season, who wouldn’t? It’s the time of year when good players are paid great player salaries, when foreign players who never started for their Euro club get paid NBA starter money, and when, if you’re a diehard fan of a struggling franchise (see The Portland Trailblazers), your team just might make the move that finally ends the death march through the regular season.
It’s the time of year when players like Chucky Atkins are heralded as the long lost piece to the puzzle in 
melo and AI and JR Smith and Kleiza and Nene and Wafer…and did I miss something? Wasn’t their weakness last year on defense? Maybe they should trade away the Camby Man next and see if they can rejuvenate Kevin Willis’ career. Maybe even bring in Paul Westphal to coach, you never know, 300 points may not be out of reach.
See, the off-season is the time of year when a player like Rashard Lewis is paid franchise money to get triple teamed every game because 
up being a poor man’s Kerr, fingers crossed he doesn’t end up being another Joe Crispin, I haven’t seen Rashard look to pass out of the triple team to often on game winning shots. Then again, he did score 50 points in 2003, but then again, Tony Delk scored 53 in 2001.
One more thing about
The summer is the time of the year when we can concentrate on headlines that in previous months may have gone unnoticed, such as: “Former NBA Star Ron Mercer surrenders on assault charges…” (AP, 7.25.07) Excuse me? I must of read that wrong, please tell me I read that wrong, no, I didn’t? Since when is a career 13.6 ppg. scorer considered a Star? Granted, Rick Pitino may have thought he was a Star-caliber player when he drafted him to the Kentucky Celtics, I mean, Boston Celtics in 1997, but really? A star? If big Ron is a Star quality player, let me submit a few names here for further review by the Star-committee: JR Rider, Kerry Kittles, Eddie House, and how bout Vinny Del Negro?
Speaking of the Celtics, how bout trading your whole team, but more importantly, your entire foreseeable future for a 32 yr. old superstar? Five players and two first round draft picks for arguably one of the best players in the league is great for NOW. But what happens tw
o years from now if they haven’t won a championship and Jesus Shuttlesworth is ready to hang ‘em up and resume his Hollywood career, and Garnett loses his immunity to injuries and gravity, and Pierce is still a baller but Kendrick Perkins still isn’t, and Glen “Huge Man” Davis teams up with Shawn Kemp and Oliver Miller as the centerpieces for Dunkin’ Donuts new ad campaign 3 Tons of Fun, and Bill Simmons still hates Doc Rivers? It would just be tragic. On the bright side, the Timberwolves now might be younger than my beloved Trailblazers.
And how ‘bout them Blazers and what should be the biggest news of the summer: we re-signed Steve Blake. Thank god
Of course, there were a few bigger stories than some of the smaller ones I highlighted here, such as
1 comments:
Spot on, Kevin. It's funny how everybody I know was so anxious for the Finals to end so that we could get to what really mattered... for us, anyways. And for me, it's great that the NBA is finding a way to stay in the headlines, and if it takes a referee "controversy" to fan the flames... well, flame on. And you know damn well why I use quotations.
Couple things:
Denver. Re-signing Blake should have been priority #1, and to replace him with Atkins? How many teams has he played with? Ten? That's a Whitsitt move right there... which should come as no surprise, since his old right hand man is running the show up (down?) there...
Speaking of Blake, I think it's great that we signed him, but I can't see the logic in keeping Jack. Rodriguez won't be able to develop as quickly as we'd like, Jack might start to complain that he has to come off the bench, and to make matters worse, our top two PGs have two first names each. I've always thought that a little odd. No offense.
I disagree with you about the Garnett trade though. I think it's great for both teams. Minny's situation reminds me of a problem my friend had not too long ago. He got married, and somehow accumulated $500 in Target gift cards. So he had to use them, right? He didn't want them to go to waste, and so he had to use them, even for things he didn't want or need. So he used them, and then I would consistently see used Target bags at his house, and obviously tease him about shopping at Target so much. But he had to. He didn't have a choice. The Wolves could stick with Garnett and underacheive for the remainder of his contract, or they could trade him and get something. Jefferson, Green, Ratliff's expiring deal, and two picks? Well, it's better than sitting around waiting for something incredible to happen (see: Lakers).
And Boston had to do something. Give me now over later any day. They should be the faves in the East, and if they get to the Finals against, say, the Spurs, and if Stern sends a capable and fair referee crew who don't consistently favor San Antonio on every possession, that means Duncan, for a whole series, has to face KG, probably the only player who has consistently outperformed him throughout his career.
Some suggestions for the Star Committee: Paul Mokeski, Pooh Richardson, and Never Nervous Pervis Ellison.
Unfortunately, I think we're facing a stretch of relatively mild NBA news until training camp, and so you'll probably be resigned to writing about baseball or, God forbid, football. Nevertheless, I still look forward to reading.
-Tyler
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