Born Ready, T-Mac and Ariza.
by Sandy Dover / @SandmanSeven
Sometimes, I have a lot of thoughts and opinions on some happenings that have occurred in the world of the NBA, but many times, I don’t have the conviction to write 700 words on every singular subject of interest — but I may have a bunch of short bits to communicate en masse, on occasion. And so I’ll be Sounding Off on occasion. Holler.
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It’s interesting how after Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, David Robinson, John Stockton, Karl Malone and others were inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2009 and 2010, the quizzical media debates about whether Robert Horry should be inducted into the Hall have literally died out. Not that those discussions actually merited a real conversation. They were asinine to begin with, but I think seeing truly great and transcendent players make their speech with their special evening jackets sort of let everyone know that he’s not Hall material.
(Now if there were NBA teams inducted, he’d certainly go in as a Los Angeles Laker [1999-2002] and San Antonio Spur [2004-2007]. I’m unsure whether the Houston Rockets would get that nod, but this is all hypothetical, anyway. I should note that I was a big Horry fan. He probably could’ve done more as a player, because of his versatility, but he played just fine in the capacities that he served throughout his career.)
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I’m unsure why Tracy McGrady is in Detroit. Not that I don’t understand that he was signed by the Pistons, but I don’t understand 
why he would go there to play. Maybe to show and prove his health is good and that his talent is qualifies him to be a starter? Oh yeah, about that last part, the backcourt is already full. Rodney Stuckey seems not to be the guard that he was thought to become (though it’s still early), Will Bynum is trying to push for those point guard minutes as well, and it appears that Austin Daye could easily fill his time up as an off-guard. Perhaps Joe Dumars will move some people, but regardless of that, T-Mac could’ve just stayed in New York. That seems like it would’ve made more sense, if the Knicks were to have him back. Maybe he’ll play point guard and shooting guard with Stuckey if they get Richard Hamilton out of there (we know he’s a little too fragile to bang with the forwards like he used to). All I know is that this is a lateral move in his quest to win, but maybe they’ve agreed to trade him to a winning team if his stock rises. By then, it would be a step forward for winning and another step forward in showing his full recovery.
All I know is that T-Mac is a Detroit Piston, and sort of sucks.
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The New Orleans Hornets must be desperate to appease Chris Paul, because trading Darren Collison was probably a regretful mistake. He was useful for the team, and could’ve been a real threat in the backcourt when paired with CP3 for stretches of game. Trevor “Ariiiiiiiiiiiiiiiizzzzzzzzzaaaaaaaaaa!” (as my brother calls him) isn’t going to keep anyone happy alone, by any means, but he does fill a need for the Hornets at small forward. Still, essentially, the Hornets traded away someone who could end up being an All-Star point guard for a raw, somewhat skilled wingman who may or may not actually improve to the point of even being worth keeping beyond this season. Ariza is by no means a bad player, as he actually is still a valued player, but he looks dramatically less irreplaceable now, and it was punctuated further by his former championship team, the Los Angeles Lakers, drafting his seeming doppelganger, rookie Devin Ebanks; they have essentially gotten their cake and will be eating healthy helpings of it in ‘10-11. Meanwhile, the Hornets found a replacement for Morris Peterson, James Posey and a barely-there Predrag Stojakovic. F their life.
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I’m wondering how soon it will be before Lance Stephenson gets waived by the Indiana Pacers. If there’s not a greater immature young professional athlete in the world, I’m certain Lance would fill that role. I don’t understand. He stayed clean for a whole year at the University of Cincinnati, and he was a model student and player, from all that we’ve heard last season. And so now, having been inked by the Pacers, he wants to screw up his chances. Indiana is the absolute worst place to screw up because Larry Bird already has been taking names from the front office. In fact, he’ll take names of people who theoretically have nothing to do with the franchise before they join, so Stephenson already had one or two strikes on him just because of those past factors alone. We’ve seen what happened to Shawne Williams, and he had no excuses for his chicanery, and so being that Lance was supposedly “Born Ready,” that leads me to presume that he understood the consequences of his continuously-changing personal situation and the courses of action that the Pacers would take, should he have gotten into any sort of legal or moral predicament. That’s on him, and because of his “birthright,” that’s just something he’s gonna have to deal with.
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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