The luck of the ‘Irish’ and attractive NBA wives are among us.
by Sandy Dover / @SandmanSeven
If it was good enough for 50 Cent and Nate Dogg, I’m pretty sure it’s exceptionally sufficient for SLAMonline. Regardless of music, 21 Questions with San Dova is taking the task of asking those nebulous questions that seem to revolve around the force of gravity we know to be the NBA. Check for the preguntas at the top of every month or so.
1) Isn’t the joke about Shaquille and Jermaine O’Neal being Irish about 14 years too late, even if they are Boston Celtics now?
2) Isn’t a little peculiar that Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose reportedly was somewhat indifferent in reaching out to current Miami Heat LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh about any of them coming to Chicago? Maybe he was getting a little territorial about his home turf, perhaps?
3) Obviously TJ Ford isn’t the greatest point guard in the world, but he is that bad? After all, he is still very talented…is he that much of a detriment to winning that AJ Price and Lance Stephenson were the more ideal choices before the trade for Darren Collison to the Indiana Pacers?
4) How much money should I put down that Shaq bashe
s the Cleveland Cavaliers in the next year like he’s continued to do every other franchise — with the exception of the Phoenix Suns — that he’s left?
5) Is Denver better off just trading Carmelo Anthony? Has he done anything to make anyone believe that the Nuggets will actually go farther than the second round of the Playoffs in the near future?
6) And doesn’t Melo’s wife La La Vazquez now qualify as the best-looking wife currently in the NBA (since being wed in July), with Vanessa Bryant and Shannon Allen (Kobe and Ray’s wives) coming in at a close second and third place?
7) After signing Rudy Gay to a max contract this summer, doesn’t the Memphis Grizzlies’ silliness with not signing lottery pick Xavier Henry to the suggested salary slot of his draft position (No. 12) seem petty and arbitrary by comparison?
8 ) And wasn’t it surprising to see that Grizzlies guard OJ Mayo, who was known throughout his star prep days as a “big” point guard, was so inadequate at the position during NBA Summer League?
9) For all the strife about LeBron and Bosh leaving their teams and being real “leaders,” who remembers when Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was thisclose to going to Chicago for the same reasons and making actual verbal demands through the press? He likely would’ve been paired with Pau Gasol in a separate trade made by Chicago…would Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan have said anything about that?
10) And isn’t that proposed Kobe trade the best trade that the Bulls didn’t actually make, and therefore one of the worst decisions that Chicago was responsible for? All because the kicker was Chicago’s having to part with a now-mediocre Luol Deng? Sheesh.
11) Is it evil to suggest that the New Orleans Hornets would be great candidates to be bought out of the current ownership, repackaged and transferred to Seattle as the SuperSonics?
12) Isn’t it funny how the last time that the New York Knicks had some actual (moderate) hope was when Stephon Marbury was traded to the team in 2004?
13) Sooooooooo…the New Jersey Nets hoped for LBJ and CB4 and instead, paid $47 million to Travis Outlaw and Jordan Farmar in return? Isn’t that more egregious than the alternative (not overspending for anyone new to come to New Jersey)?
14) How valuable is Oklahoma City Thunder combo forward Jeff Green really? Valuable enough for team chemistry for the Thunder give him a lucrative extension or expendable enough to be traded away for the Thunder to get contract-secure talent and still comfortably extend point guard Russell Westbrook?
15) When you saw Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans speed down the highway, did you get caught up and think that you were watching someone play “Grand Theft Auto” instead, like I did?
16) Does anyone else feel a 
little nervous about how the USA might fare in the World Championships? Kevin Durant reminds me of Luke Skywalker on this team…no one’s sure just how the team is going to do, but he’s the new hope.
17) Will new Houston Rockets swingman Courtney Lee be the new Jimmy Jackson? A player good enough to trade for, but also a team’s necessary lure to bring in someone else via trade?
18) After assessing the USA men’s basketball roster, isn’t Pacers swingman Danny Granger a lesser version of Durant?
19) Are the San Antonio Spurs finally back in the elite crowd after rejuvenating the roster with Tiago Splitter being signed on the cheap and a freshly re-signed, better-acclimated Richard Jefferson?
20) Isn’t it strange how former Celtics forward/center Rasheed Wallace silently retired from the NBA like he did, and humbly so?
21) Won’t it be exciting to see the occasional backcourt of Golden State Warriors guards Jeremy Lin and Stephen Curry on-court in ’10-11?
Sandy Dover is a novelist/writer, artist and fitness enthusiast, as well as an unyielding Prince fan (for real). You can find Sandy frequently here at SLAMonline, as well as at Facebook, Associated Content and Twitter.
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