Draft week! As bad as the long drawn-out playoff schedule has been for the overall quality of the league, it sure is easier to find NBA-related topics and do my job. So here we are. No megablockbuster has taken place yet, although Steve Kerr seems to be looking forward to making a Big Ticket splash.
It’s also looking like the Nets are going to give Vince Carter his money. Interesting decision. This was not a vintage contract year performance for Vince. He carried the team at times, weighed them down at times, and ultimately proved that he’s just not that guy. It’s really that simple. So of course he will get franchise player money. I like this new trend developing. Instead of dogging it for years and then playing hard in their contract years, NBA players can just stay consistent through that contract year and just say “Look, this is who I am. Pay me.”
But enough about those old men. The future is now. Oden and Durant are touring all over the pacific northwest, working out for this guy, not working out for that guy… when all the over-thinking is said and done and creative dream scenarios are put forth and retracted, the Blazers will take the franchise big man and the Sonics will take the other guy, who might be the better player, but you can’t justify “might be” against someone like Oden. Even if Durant fits the Blazers immediate needs better and he goes on to have a more prolific career than Oden, you can’t blame the Blazers for taking the franchise center. When the Spurs took Duncan, they already had David Robinson there. It was overkill, man. Worked out pretty well for them. (Of course, Keith Van Horn was the #2 pick that year and the next guy in the draft you could even put in the franchise player category was T-Mac, so the decision was made for them already.)
It’s almost like there are two separate draft events coming up. First, there’s the one and two decisions. Big exhale, and then let the madness begin. The more I read about who’s rumored to be taking whom, the more my head begins to spin. We’ll have to sort this all out. It’s Monday. Long week to go until draft night.
And now, changing gears… as I was leaving work on Friday there was a lot of “Hey Sam, what’s with the Latino versus white boy war on the Mets?” Lang was laughing it up, and Khalid has been trying to get me all riled up and predicted the Mets would get swept by Oakland. Thank you Salaam! I can feel your hate. It makes the NY METS strong!!! Senor Omar, give Khalid a playoff share! As for Lang, he’s got his two Braves veteran “leaders” acting like high school girls, sniping at each other through the media, while the Braves version of Vince Carter – Andruw Jones – is celebrating his contract year by struggling to hit .200. Even Delgado isn’t that bad. Yes, this was an enjoyable weekend. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!! I went to the Mets game yesterday and it was Paul LoDuca bobblehead day. They have a policy that only people 12 years old or younger receive those bobbleheads. Luckily, I had a few 12 year olds in my entourage, cause that’s just how I roll. After some tense negotiating, the LoDuca bobblehead is mine. It shall be worshipped.
Another weekend highlight was a trip to Coney Island to watch some of the, um… freaks. It was the mermaid festival, and I saw some bodies sans clothing with paint on them that I cannot un-see. Yeah, back to basketball.
If Steve Kerr is able to swing that deal for KG, even if it means giving up on Amare or Marion, it just strikes me as a “too good to be true” scenario. KG would have to make the Suns the new favorite to win it all next year, at least on paper as they say. Even though we’ve seen Shaq and Iverson traded, and even the T-Mac for Steve Francis blockbuster at the time, this is a rumor that just seems too crazy to happen in reality. And the Nets, well they may have actually found a way to allow other teams in the Atlantic division to surpass them. That isn’t an easy feat to pull off. Nicely done.
Alright, enough about that veteran stuff. Draft week!
