With most of the nation under World Series fever, I figure that I would dig up this clip of the New Jersey Nets playing a softball game at the new Yankee Stadium.
The coaches faced off against the players and Nets head coach Lawrence Frank was more pumped for this game that any NBA game I have ever seen him coach.
To ruin the video for some, The Nets coaches beat the players. I wonder if that karma translated to opening day.
Ah, All Hallow's Eve. The one time of the year where you will not get snitched on for eating candy or staying up way past your bed time. If your a college kid, you get enjoy the spoils of the Halloween party where you can get wasted and every female costume can be considered slutty.
Even the NBA gets into the act and shows off for this once pagan time, but for the NBA players, coaches, general managers and owners, the real question is, who do I dress up as?
We here at TNLP had a suggestion box placed outside the office and here are some of the better ones.
Kobe Bryant -> Black Mamba
Stan Van Gundy -> Not Ron Jeremy
Danny Ferry -> R.C. Buford
Kevin Durant -> Durantula
Shaquille O'Neal -> Younger Shaquille O'Neal
Jerry Sloan -> Doc Rivers, Mike Dunleavy, Mike Brown, Sam Mitchell, Mike D'Antoni, Avery Johnson, Hubie Brown, Rick Carlisle, Pat Riley, Lenny Wilkens, Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson, Larry Bird, Byron Scott, Cotton Fitzsimmons, Don Nelson, and Don Chaney.
Donald Sterling -> The Devil
Mark Cuban -> Scrooge McDuck
Brandon Roy -> Rick James, "I'm Brandon Roy, Bitch"
Chris Anderson -> Amy Winehouse
Chris Anderson's Back-Up-> Dr. Drew
Glen Davis -> Mike Tyson
Stephen Jackson -> Captain Hook
Blake Griffin -> 2010 NBA Draft First Overall Pick
With the NBA season underway, that signals the triumphant return of our favorite NBA related cable show, "Inside the NBA."
During Ernie's Neat-O Stat of the Night, they decided to test Charles Barkley's NBA knowledge by asking him about five players and where they currently played. If Barkley is going to be an NBA GM, he'll have to brush you on these players eventually.
For those of you that care, I got 3 out of 5. To be honest, I agree with Charles on one thing, Jason Hart plays for a different team every damn year.
One of my favorite players in the NBA is Toronto Raptors forward Chris Bosh and I will say that he is a man of the people in Canada.
Recently, he put a up a trailer for his documentary called "First Ink" which is a documentary following his off-season away from the NBA which he calls the "most important of his career." (For Now.....)
It looks like an entertaining documentary and will be different from a typical NBA produced documentary about a player. Hell, we might even get to delve into the pysche of Chris Bosh if we are lucky enough.
To order it from his website, check out this link.
On Monday's edition of the "Late Show with David Letterman", Dave had Charles Barkley on as one of his guests.
One of the topics of conversation was Barkley's futility at the game of golf and his show on the Golf Channel.
Barkley is one of the few sports figure that I listen to when he speaks his mind and I respect his opinions. I will agree with him that he is terrible at the game of golf but to be honest, 90% of us, suck at the game as well.
Recently on That NBA Lottery Pick, we presented a video by Ron Artest called "Georgetown Girl." Well, that's not the only music video that Ron Artest has been working on recently.
He has this new track called "Afghan Girl", and well, I think the video is pretty self-explanatory.
Yesterday marked a milestone in NBA history, it was the anniversary of Michael Jordan's first NBA game against the Washington Bullets back on October 26th, 1984.
The game ended in a Bulls victory by the score of 109-93 and Jordan's stat-line was rather low but balanced.
I think many of us at that time could not conceive of how great Jordan could become but that is the greatness of the NBA's Opening Night, we get to see future Hall of Famers play in the present and NBA rookies begin to write their own NBA legacy.
The only difference for Mike is, he already wrote his.
The regular season of the NBA will tip-off tomorrow and the onslaught of predictions have already been given by most of the elite analyst and the blogosphere. Everything from the MVP to the NBA Champion.
We here at TNLP like to harken back to the olden days when predictions were not made so willy-nilly. Mainly though, here are some our predictions that will not make any sense at all....until they come true.
-> Allen Iverson will play for twenty minutes in his home debut for the Grizzlies but mainly the story of the night will be a Jeopardy answer, "What is Practice?"
-> The Los Angeles Clippers will make the playoffs......in 2020.
-> The leading rookie scorer will be Oklahoma City guard James Harden. Harden will owe his success for that one time he saw Patrick Swayze in "Ghost."
-> Rasheed Wallace will receive five technical fouls for the entire NBA season. However, the NBA will tack on another five due to the bad performance of Tom Delay on "Dancing with the Stars"
-> The term "A Ring for the King" will be the cat-call for the Cleveland Cavaliers. However, Shaquille O'Neal mistakenly decided to call it this due to Shaunie's increasing bill at Zales.
-> The Indiana Pacers will lead the league in scoring.....by white players.
-> The leaders in attendance for this season will be the Minnesota Timberwolves. The reason why is there is nothing else to do in Minnesota.
-> The most improved player for this season is Quentin Richardson. He'll be more improved then the version that got traded to Minnesota, Los Angeles and Memphis.
-> The NBA coach of the year will be Milwaukee Bucks head coach Scott Skiles. He will be given the award for having to deal with Brandon Jennings.
-> The NBA champions will celebrate with ginger ale due to the increasing price and rarity of champagne. A move that is approved by new deputy comissioner Barney Stinson.
For some reason, people have this fascination with Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West. I never got the reason why but in the end, why should I ask? He seems like a pretty chill dude.
Although, this clip is a couple years old it is still pretty funny. Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard way back in the year of 2006 was riding the grand opening of Expedition Everest at Disney Animal Kingdom.
Pretty much, this clip is an excuse to show Dwight Howard saying, "WOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
Let's be honest, unless you are a media member or an NBA groupie, you never really get a chance to hang out with the players for more than thirty seconds.
Well, the enterprising people over in New Jersey have found a way to get a New Jersey Net to hang out with you for at least one hour.
For $25,000, you can watch the New Jersey Nets from courtside -- and have a player stop by your son's birthday party.
In a tough economy, it's the Nets' latest marketing effort to sell its pricey courtside seats. It's called 'Your Ticket to a Player.'
For $25,000, the Nets are offering four courtside tickets for 10 games, parking, access to a private lounge at the Izod Center with free food and beverages and something more -- a one-hour appearance by a Nets player of your choice at your home, office, school or party.
"It will be interesting to have an NBA player come to your birthday party or come to your Bar Mitzvah or even just coming to your house for dinner for an hour when your friends are over," Nets chief executive Brett Yormark said. "That's a terrific thing and it's tough to put a price tag on it."
Well, you can defintely say one thing, The New Jersey Nets are at least creative with their ticket packages.
The major issue with this ticket package thought is that you do not get to choose the player that you want. I figure that most people are clamoring for Brook Lopez or Devin Harris.
However, you'll probably get stuck with Trenton Hassell or Eduardo Najera. In the end, I would love to see that kids face who has Jarvis Hayes at his Barmitzvah.
It's been a while since we have heard from TNLP's favorite NBA player, Ron Artest but he's actually been very busy.
Recently, I stumbled across this video he did with rapper Kyleon called, "Georgetown Girl"
Yep, it's another classic Ron Artest rap video. However, someone in the comments is going to have to explain to me what a "Georgetown Girl" is. I have always been partial to "Villanova Girls."
The best line of this video is, "Artest like to poppin bottles. You don't have to be the next top model."
It sounds like the beginning of a bad joke but one of the strangest delays that I have seen in an NBA game occured over the weekend.
The New York Knicks played host to Maccabi Tel Aviv at Madison Square Garden for a preseason goodwill game. During the third quarter, Maccabi coach Pini Gershon was given two technicals and ejected from the game.
The only problem was that he would not leave quietly and then a Rabbi had to step in
The New York Knicks' 106-91 victory over the Euroleague team featured a bizarre delay in the third quarter when the visiting coach refused to leave after he was ejected.
The game was halted about 8 minutes when Pini Gershon continued to linger near Maccabi's bench -- a delay that included a rabbi trying to intervene by asking the NBA's replacement referees calling the game to allow Gershon to stay.
"I explained that this is not a regular game and the kids are watching and (it's) important that there will be peace and forgive him," Rabbi Yitchak Dovid Grossman said of his discussions with the officials. "If you forgive him, I can speak to the children and say, 'You also forgive. If you have a fight, you forgive.' But he says this is the law, that you must obey."
Gershon eventually left after a lengthy discussion with the referees, his assistant coaches and NBA security personnel. A security official said Gershon told them he didn't care if the game was stopped before he eventually agreed to leave.
"He likes the crowd, the crowd likes him very much," Maccabi's Yaniv Green said. "They're coming to the game to see him even more than they're coming to see us. He's quite a character, like you saw today."
That's why you never mess with a Rabbi, kids. It seems a little obvious that Gershon was trying to play to the New York crowd and well get a free mention on That NBA Lottery Pick.
If that was his goal, mission accomplished.
UPDATE: Here's the highlights from that game which includes the ejection.
Let's be honest, Celebrity Jeopardy is well pretty damn easy and unless your a complete idiot or Wolf Blitzer, you should be able to answer almost every question.
During last night's Celebrity Jeopardy's Million Dollar Tournament, Lakers legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was playing and was answering a $400 dollar question about UCLA.
The answer was former UCLA Bruin Bill Walton but Kareem jumped the gun and decided to go with himself. All I have to say is, Bill Walton is so super-pissed at Kareem right now.
"That was the worst answer in the history of civilization."
For some reason, people in Cleveland, Ohio think that their professional sports teams are cursed for some reason. Well, if you believe in curses, this story might provide you with some fuel.
Lebron James tested positive for Influenza A which possibly means he could have the H1N1 virus or more commonly known as the Swine Flu.
LeBron James has tested positive for Influenza A and is being treated as if he has the swine flu.
James has yet to receive the results of a test for the H1N1 virus, which is a strain of Influenza A.
Despite the illness, James returned to practice on Thursday and will travel to Texas with the team.
Six Cavaliers are currently experiencing flu-like symptoms.
So, my real question is, how did Lebron James catch Influenza A? There are many possiblities of how Lebron was infected with the virus from one of his peeps or being contact with some fan who had the disease. Unless Lebron is chilling on the Cuyahoga countryside, I doubt he has contacted it from any farm animals. Lebron actual thought that he might have acquired the disease from the flu shot that he was given. Six other Cavaliers had flu-like symptoms as well, except for Shaq since Shaq is probably made out of carbonite or steel.
However, it is nice to see that Lebron appears to be okay and he did travel with the team. For now, it has not been proven that he has a case of swine flu.
Oh by the way, Cavalier fans if he does have the Swine Flu feel free to divulge into any talk of curses, hexes, and even possibly going on a witch-hunt but I would save that only for extreme circumstances.
No one likes a witch-hunt that is not done properly.
UPDATE: David Alridge of NBA.com is reporting that Lebron does not have H1N1. Cavalier fans, you can call off the witch hunt.
Another intriguing offer to buy the Warriors has emerged, sources have told Yahoo! Sports.
There has been an offer from Oracle CEO Larry Ellison to buy the franchise.
According to the sources, there is a wealthy and politically-connected group from the Bay Area that has approached owner Chris Cohan about purchasing the Warriors and building a privately funded arena in downtown San Francisco.
In addition, the group has reportedly gone as far as to call several well-respected NBA front-office executives about running the team.
So who is the leader for this mystery group? Well, I'm not too sure of who it is but here are some names that could be in the running.
10,000,000 to 1: Dr Frasier Crane
For those of you that remember, Frasier moves to San Francisco at the end of the final season. Frasier has many rich friends who had pull in Seattle and it would behove me to believe that he could not pull off in SFO.
However, this is not the Syndey Opera House. So I doubt it's him.
1,000,000 to 1: Scrooge McDuck
It's clear that Scrooge has enough money to burn and well, what is a big show of power than owning your own professional basketball team.
However, there are rumors that he is not alive so I doubt it's him.
100,000 to 1: Rush Limbaugh
Just Kidding. Or am I?
10,000 to 1: Gary Payton
This would not be too surprising since Payton grew up in Oakland and probably has enough friends to place a bid for the team.
However, I really doubt that Payton and his NBA TV salary is enough to warrant a purchase of an NBA franchise.
1,000 to 1: Jessica Alba
We did see her attend the Warriors first round upset against Dallas Mavericks a few years ago and it would not surprise me to see another high-profile celebrity owner in the NBA. (Is Mark Cuban a celebrity? I guess so.)
Also it gives me an excuse to post a Jessica Alba picture.
100 to 1: Ronnie Lott
To me, this seems the most likely. Lott has been a huge supporter of Bay Area sports and is currently a season ticket holder for the Warriors.
He obviously has a fair amount of pull in the Bay Area and did a fair amount of money during his playing career.
Let's be honest for a minute, when was the last time you considered former NBA player Chris Morris relevant in any discussion.
Well, the Greek team Olympiakos came to America to play Cleveland Cavaliers and the San Antonio Spurs and I guess the losses are not the worst things that came from the trip.
Olympiakos was on the verge of escaping the U.S. Tuesday with its uniforms and other property amid an allegation of a death threat.
The Greek club has outstanding U.S. court judgments demanding they pay $1.1 million to American player Chris Morris, who played for the club in 1999, and $410,000 to his American agent Tom McLaughlin.
On Monday another American agent, Gary Ebert, who also represents Morris, filed a report with police in Shreveport, La., alleging that he received a death threat from someone who claimed to be associated with Olympiakos president and owner Panagiotis Angelopoulos. Ebert tells SI.com that the threat followed a phone conversation he had earlier Monday with Angelopoloulos. Ebert says he then received a call from a man with a Greek accent.
"I got a phone call from a Greek cell phone number," says Ebert. "The guy was going off on me to leave Angelopolous alone. I told him I'm going to get the money [owed to Morris]. The guy said, 'Leave him alone, do this through the court.' I said I have the right to call him. He said, 'Look, (expletive), leave Angelopoulos alone or I'll kill you."
Yep, essentially this a death threat over the contract of Chris Morris. There are many things that I expected to write in this blog but nothing as strange as this.
I think eventually Ebert needs to remember that it will take time to get his money mainly because most European teams still owe money to many American players that previously has played for them. This we learned from NBA journeyman Paul Shirley in his book, "Can I Keep my Jersey?" However, a death threat is pretty sketchy to say the least.
Is there a Greek Mafia? Someone might need to inform me in the comments.
During last night's preaseason game against Olympiakos, Cleveland Cavaliers center Shaquille O'Neal decided to give the fans behind the basket something to watch for.
In this situation, it was him. Late in the second quarter, Shaq on a fastbreak went up for a slam and was pushed out of bounds by Sofoklis Schortsanitis AKA "Baby Shaq."
He then went airborne into the crowd and nearly ended the life of an unfortunate cameraman.
Cavs fans be warned if your in the goods seats, your on a SHAQ warning.
For those of you that have forgotten, former NBA player Josh Childress is currently playing for Olympiacos Piraeus in Greece.
The one thing that he does not miss is playing against Lebron James. In the highlight above, Lebron swipes away a lay-up attempt by Childress which ends in a dunk by Anthony Parker.
Usually, I have a witty remark but honestly, "it's all Greek to me."
Recently on TNLP, we had a clip of New Orleans Hornets guard Darren Collison breaking out the pipes and singing Beyonce's "Single Ladies."
Well, that had to be a moment of rookie hazing at it's finest. However, the Houston Rockets like to take it one step further by having a rookie dance contest.
In the above video were the highlights and pretty much mainly the low-lights in a competition that still burns my retinas.
The contest was hosted by Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier and was eventually won by rookie guard Garrett Temple.
I wonder what Cat Deeley would have thought of this. (Video NSFW)
No, this post is not about German trousers but it is the celebration of That NBA Lottery Pick's 200th post.
If you have just joined us for the first time, well you missed a total of 199 different posts before this one. Well, if we count those that did have not with Lebron James, Charles Barkley, or Ginnifer Goodwin it's more along the lines of 175.
For the 200th post, here are some highlights of Raptors rookie Demar Derozen deciding to throw down a couple of wicked slams against the Washington Wiz-Kids over the weekend.
There are many mistakes that NBA rookies can make during their first season but I think New Orleans rookie guard Darren Collison should have rethought this one. Collison decided to sing for his rookie hazing song, Beyonce’s “Single Ladies”
I will say that he did get the crowd into the action but when you cannot sing and do a decent “Single Ladies” dance; you are up the river without a paddle.
I think Chris Paul’s job security is safe at least in the singing and dancing department.
Recently, TNT chose “Office” actor Rainn Wilson to be a main pitchman for their NBA on TNT coverage.
This is the first promo with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard as Wilson plays a cab driver and interestingly sounds like someone from Vancouver. Holy Robin Scherbatsky!
Charlotte Bobcats head coach Larry Brown recently made a rather interesting comment when a reporter from the Charlotte Observer asked him about the trade of former Bobcat Emeka Okafor for Tyson Chandler.
The Bobcats generally have downplayed the financial aspect of the Tyson Chandler-Emeka Okafor trade, but coach Larry Brown was pretty clear when asked about the deal Tuesday.
“You can figure out why it was done – it's not about the players,” Brown said.
Translation: The Bobcats saved tens of millions in the long run by exchanging Okafor's contract for the much shorter Chandler deal.
An NBA team made a deal based on financial considerations, (*shocked and awed*) but this obviously not surprising to most of you out there. It's rather interesting that Brown decided to come out and just say it. Brown has always been a figure in the NBA that is willing to speak his mind when it came to an organization or player.
The Bobcats organization is obviously one that has been circling around the drain financially for the past couple of seasons and this confirmation from Brown makes it look like the Bobcats are more worried about staying out of the red instead of achieving the team's first ever playoff birth.
For those of you who do not know for Chuck Swirsky is, he is the current radio play by play voice for the Chicago Bulls radio network and formerly did play by play for the Toronto Raptors.
The Bulls were overseas in England to play an exhibition game against the Utah Jazz. Nearing the end of the game, Bulls rookie James Johnson hoisted up a shot that went in and well gave Chuck, "The Big O"
I guess he decided to break out the "Salami and Cheese" in jolly old England.
The Los Angeles Clippers have been the chronic day to day laughing-stock of the NBA since they moved to Los Angeles from San Diego. They have had only two playoff appearances and one playoff series win in that period of time. However, lady luck has been shining on the Clippers when the NBA Draft Lottery gave them the opportunity to draft Blake Griffin.
Now, the Clippers look like a force in the Western Conference with Baron Davis, Blake Griffin, Chris Kaman, Marcus Camby, and young guns Eric Gordon and Al Thornton. There is also talk that the Clippers are interested in Allen Iverson for the mid-level exception.
The Clippers also acquired in a trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Sebastian Telfair and Craig Smith who are talented role-players that can add depth to a Clippers bench to go along with Ricky Davis, Kareem Rush, DeAndre Jordan and Mardy Collins.
So all of a sudden, the Los Angeles Clippers have turned the NBA world upside down as they have a team that can compete with some of the elite out in the Western Conference. I’m not going to say that they are going to make it to the Western Conference Finals but it would not surprise me if they do. They have the talent and now a young star to help them deal with the low-post. They could make a serious run in the Western Conference if certain things fall their way.
There have been many tremendous stories in the world of sports of teams that were deemed as “losers” eventually make a run at a championship. Examples include the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL, the Pittsburgh Penguins of the NHL, the Denver Broncos of the NFL and the Dallas Mavericks of the NBA.
The Clippers have been bad for so long that it is almost difficult to comprehend them as winners. If the law of averages can be used, the Clippers eventually have to get a “winner.” However in the world of the NBA, we have proven multiple times that “the law of averages does not exist.”
Rumors have been swirling lately that the NBA might institute a "no hand shakes" policy due to the threat of H1N1 more commonly known as Swine Flu, and instead force players to resort to fist pounds or chest bumps. If only. Instead of Hack-a-Shaq, you could have Hold-a-Shaq's-Hand to stop game play.
Truehoop has a nice run down of what exactly Swine Flu is and how it could affect the NBA. Fans may have legitimate concerns that the crowds of thousands of people at games could potentially be intersecting points for H1N1 jumping around the population. Henry Abbott spoke to League Vice President of Basketball Communications Tim Frank, who says there are no specific plans yet, but there is a 300 page planning book looking at all eventualities. My concern is what if Anthony "Pig" Miller wants to make a come-back? I, for one, was always afraid of him.
Apparently China is leading the world in innoculating potential swine flu victims, although the 65 million people they plan to be able to vaccinate only represents about five percent of China's population. There are, however, five separate companies thought to be working on perfecting a vaccine. I wonder if that's the real reason The Unknown went to China this week? I kid, I kid. The vaccination plan started on Monday. It's actually kind of sobering to read this kind of stuff from the blogosphere outside that related to sports. World Focus has been keeping solid tabs on the swine flu developments.
On a lighter note, I gotta think President Obama was on this way before we all were. Wash your hands, people! Wash 'em good!
Y'know how no one knows if it's okay to laugh at old people? Well, I'm not sure if it's funny or in bad taste, but I have two cents, which used to buy me a lollipop but now is pretty much only good for giving somebody else good luck. This post is about the geriatrics of the NBA Ohana, otherwise known as people who wouldn't have retired before their 45 if not for being born over six feet. And I mean that. All NBA players are over six feet when they're born. Why do you think they're so big on mother's day? Pun perhaps-edly intended, if indeed it is a pun. Okay, I'm going to start writing about what I'm going to write about now. Unless you want more schtick? You sure? Okay, moving on.
NBA training camps opened this week, and it's got my head in a bit of a tizzy. All these young whipper-snappers and the stupid gunk that diarrheas out of their mouth! That's right, diarrhea can be a verb! All I can do is resort to bullets (and no, I'm not going to take my own life, start a blog about the Washington Bullets, or...um...start a bullet collection). Here's some of the incredibly smart things said at training camps/media day, paraphrased for your reading convenience:
SVG: "Vince sucks at D!"
Joe Johson: "Look at me! Check out this dirty bird! I might leave Atlanta because this season has all the ear marks of incurring the Steve Nash effect...I guess I'm Nash in this scenario, but still. Preventative measures, man. Preventative measures."
Kenyon Martin: "The Refs are gonna suck. Mark Cuban still sucks. Does anyone care when I open my mouth and sound comes out?"
Dwight Howard: "I got even more hugetastic! It's gonna help with my free throws!"
Monta Ellis: In response to being told he might pair with Stephen Curry in a two small guards backcourt, "They say you can ... but you can't. I just want to win and you're not going to win that way." (And that's an actual quote, folks)
Kobe: "I have a bro-mance with Manny Pacquiao. He reminds me of Machine!"
Beno Udrih: "It's not my fault I can't complete a proper entry pass!" (I felt bad writing, "It's not my fault I suck," or "It's not my fault no one cares." It's not his fault he plays for the Kings...)
The Suns: "We're going to start Channing Frye!"
Gilbert Arenas: "I renounce all nicknames. In fact, call me the Non-Moniker. Or, no, better, call me the Dead Pan! Yeah. The. Dead. Pan."
Chris Bosh: "I'm injured!"
Anyway, all skateboards and rock and roll geetars aside, some real gall dern basketball players did some talking this week too. I'd suggest we hear what they have to say, but I don't want to tax anyone's hearing aids, so let's keep this strictly print. First of all, Craig Ehlo spoke on Wednesday in an NBA Fanhouse interview regarding Bryon Russell's unrequited challenge to Michael Jordan. Ehlo says Russell should "just let it go." This whole thing started with Jordan's HoF acceptance speech, in which he blasted a whole bunch of saps he swept under the rag. He didn't, however, mention Ehlo, over whom he hit his first career dusting shot. Regarding the non-mention, Ehlo said, "He doesn't need to mention me. That shot holds its own water. It's been on a Gatorade commercial and on ESPN Classic. He doesn't need to mention it any more.''
While that's true, my hip young friends tell me it smacks of Iggy Pop defending his selling out by saying his songs aren't limp-something'd like a certain Michael Stipe led Athens, Georgia band. Sure Iggy, your songs are bad like mothers shutting their mouths (or not), but you're still left pimping Royal Caribbean Cruises. Okay, if I'm completely honest, I actually love Iggy for saying that and love how he makes the cruise company look like idiots for...well, being idiots. And, continuing such a trend of frankness, I totally support Ehlo's comments.*
Ehlo cracked that his historic encounter with MJ "is probably a lot more memorable because mine started the run. You always remember the first one more than the last one.'' He went on to take a swipe at MJ's weight, and Fanhouse notes Ehlo's a "svelte" 202, but the main gist is of course respectful. Subtle gamesmanship, unlike the bad place Russell's apparently gone to. Ehlo spoke to Jordan at one point and said he could've contested the shot if he'd made a slight adjustment, and of course his Airness said he would've made it anyway. Ehlo also blocked Jordan Jr.'s shot at a camp. So there's that.
In his day, Ehlo was actually quite the defender. He also got a reputation for beating the Jazz long before Jordan ever did it in championship style. Peep the highlights. Ehlo or "Eggs" had some pretty sick game. He even had 24 points on a sprained ankle that fateful night if...um...something called Wikipedia is to be trusted. The Cleveland team Jordan bested as his first step towards complete and total ascension was actually a fairly potent team. They went 57-25, which was a full 5 games up on the Bulls that year. The roster included solids like Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, Larry Nance, and Hot Rod Williams.
It also included a 25 year old Ron Harper (in his 3rd season in the league...where do you see that anymore, except in Al Horford?), who was scoring at a clip of nearly 19 ppg at that point. Seems like Harper learned the most from the Bulls quashing of Cleveland's hopes that year. The next season, he went to Lala Land to get his yayas out, mull it all over, and slum it a bit with the Clips. He was actually there for two of the other LA team's four playoff appearances in the last thirty plus years. And then he chucked pride to the side and went to go play alongside the world beater Michael Jordan.
Check that. Harper went to Chicago whilst MJ was playing the other b-ball. However, even with MJ only suiting up for 17 games that season, Harper only started 53 times, only played 20 minutes a game, and only scored 7 points a game after being a 20 point scorerer the year before. And then he got relegated to fourth fiddle or so, which if you've ever been in an orchestra means you have to turn the pages of the music for the third fiddle, which would be not smelly, not hard to be seen from behind Toni Kukoc. Bummer. Still, Harper got to start alongside MJ for 3 championship runs, and he positioned himself for that Phil call in '99 to usher in a new 3peat team. So he must be pretty happy with his career, right?
Apparently not. Last week, after LeBron James apparently told a Cleveland fan he wasn't going anywhere, Gregory Dole, a blogger for The National, reflected on an interview he did with Harper. Dole asked if Harper ever regretted being traded from Cleveland. Ron's answer was a definitive and unequivocal yes. Dole goes on to speculate that Harper runs in similar circles to LeBron, and as they're both Ohio native sons, perhaps Harper has planted the seed of staying in LeBron's something-consciousness. Oh, and he says Harp knows James's mom. So what exactly is this article about, Mr. Dole?
What's going on up there in Ohio? What's bringing all these ex-Cavs out of the interwebformation woodwork? There must be something in the water. Or at least the electrical system, since for all we know Ehlo's back in Lubbock, Texas, partying with Buddy Holly. Wait...they actually put people in them tin cans I see whooshing around up in the sky? Crazy. I might be a little sick. But you gotta embrace your faults, people. You got to. A hui hou!
Rumors have been swirling lately that the NBA might institute a "no hand shakes" policy due to the threat of H1N1 more commonly known as Swine Flu, and instead force players to resort to fist pounds or chest bumps. If only. Instead of Hack-a-Shaq, you could have Hold-a-Shaq's-Hand to stop game play.
Apparently China is leading the world in innoculating potential swine flu victims, although the 65 million people they plan to be able to vaccinate only represents about five percent of China's population. There are, however, five separate companies thought to be working on perfecting a vaccine. I wonder if that's the real reason The Unknown went to China this week? I kid, I kid. The vaccination plan started on Monday. It's actually kind of sobering to read this kind of stuff from the blogosphere outside that related to sports. World Focus has been keeping solid tabs on the swine flu developments.
