NBA, You Sly Fox

The NBA pisses me right off. I try to ignore. I try to avoid her. Yet she tantalizes me just enough to keep me paying attention to her. She sometimes does this with a Spaniard or sometimes with a 300 plus pound man who refers to himself as the Big Aristotle. Yes, the NBA kept me interested lately despite the fact that I only watch the playoffs now and they stole my friend Sonics and changed his name to Thunder (apparently he is a stripper now).

With this said, here are the stories that kept me intrigued and my thoughts on them.

1. Shaq to the Cavs
Anytime Shaq is involved it is hard to ignore the story. He might be the only professional athlete that actually likes the media (or at least tolerates them) as he provides jokes and jokes and jokes (thanks Dave Chapelle). He said he wants to win a ring for the King and said that his kids like LeBron more than him. Does he have enough? Maybe.

If the Cavs played LeBron’s natural style (think up tempo Suns under D’Antoni) then Shaq would hurt them. Fortunately the Cavs play pretty slow and Shaq will help especially in comparison to the all-of-a-sudden horrific Big Z, the crazy Brazilian, and anyone else they throw out there. Yet the Cavs will still struggle to win it all with guys like Delonte West surrouding LeBron. He needs a good shooter and a lock down defender to win it all.

2. VC and Richard Jefferson
Apparently the Nets don’t like to keep athletic 3 men. They prefer to watch Stanford twin centers run up and down the court looking like idiots. Jefferson went from the Bucks to the Spurs, which is good on paper, but not sure about it in reality. Losing Bruce Bowen seems like a big deal. How many teams do we see with too much offense and not enough defense? Maybe it doesn’t matter in the NBA. Same thing goes for Orlando, although I am not sure how much better Vince Carter is than Hedo Turkoglu. He certainly is better looking. Dear God Hedo is awkward to look at. Now Hedo will be frequenting the many gentlemen’s clubs in Toronto.

3. Ron Artest to the Lakers
Awesome. Ron Artest looked like he was going to stab Kobe in the playoffs. Now he gets to have bunk beds with him. They need to make this a reality show.

4. Ricky Rubio
Blake Griffin is awesome. I really was amazed by him last year in college and I think he will be pretty good in the pros. Yet I think Ricky Rubio will be the steal of the draft. I know a lot of people are saying this, but I loved watching Rubio in the Olympics. He was awesome and I think he will be great in the NBA. The only thing that will hold him back will be Minnesota. Who succeeds there really?

5. Patty Mills
I am convinced the steal of the draft is Patty Mills from St. Mary’s. I just don’t understand how he could be a second round pick. He tore up Davidson and Stephen Curry in the NIT. He plays a better point guard than Curry in my opinion and can get to the hoop better than the Cur. He isn’t as pure of a shooter obviously, but I think Portland should be very happy. And so should Mills really. Who does he have to beat out? Stephen Blake? Jerryd Bayless? He also thrived in the Olympics drawing the praise of Chris Paul in the process. Patty Mills will start in this league and soon.