Work blows. My blog...not so much.

It seems like I’ve been endlessly searching for topics that stoke my creative fires enough to warrant a column for this space. A large part of the problem is that I’ve had an inordinate amount of work to do as of late. With all the time that I’ve been spending doing whatever it is the higher ups deem as necessary around here, I haven’t had nearly enough time to waste on the internet. As a result of this I have a lot less useless and entertaining thoughts running through the smoked filled cavern that passes as my brain these days. So if you have any complaints about the lack of provocative prose in this space than you (a) clearly haven’t read this blog for very long and (b) can take your complaints elsewhere. I don’t care…at least I’m willing to admit it.

However, I DO have some thoughts on the brand, spanking new NBA season. Some are predictions while others are merely just random ruminations that are more than likely a by product of all those nights spent doing knifers with my friends Jeff and Kurt. Either way, this is what’s got me thinking lately:

- How the hell is Smush Parker starting for the Lakers? He’s relatively talented but supposedly had an attitude problem at Fordham where he left after his sophomore year and subsequently went undrafted. Since then he’s bounced around the NBA and NBDL with mixed results (at best). When I was watching a Lakers pre-season game last week and saw him I was surprised, to say the least. Mind you, I was surprised that he was even on the roster that late in training camp. You can only imagine my shock when I found out that he was not only going to make the team but was also slated to start. He can shoot it pretty well which I guess works well for the Lakers considering that they run the triangle and their two primary ball handlers are Kobe and Lamar Odom. Even with that, I can't shake the feeling that he must have pictures of Phil and Tex winter in a four way with Andy Dick and a 12 year old Cambodian boy.

In case you were wondering, their has never been more written about Smush Parker in his entire career. I have a feeling this gonna end up in his scrapbook.

- How long until Fabricio Oberto gets an endorsement deal with Oberto Beef Jerky. They’re already “America’s #1 beef jerky”, why not Argentina?

- Do you think that Nick Van Exel signed with the Spurs so he wouldn’t look ugly when he was standing next to Greg Poppovich? Or was it the other way around?

- I’m not buying the feeling that the Wizards will be better without Larry Hughes. Caron Butler can barely guard small forwards, much less shooting guards and there isn’t a more erratic player in the league than Antonio Daniels. Don’t get me wrong, I think Daniels is a solid player but he’s about twice as good coming off the bench as he is as a starter. He’s a little out of control to be the kind of guy you rely on for 30-35 minutes a night.

- If you’re Terry Porter, don’t you want to kill somebody with a nail gun right now. This guy made the Bucks into a playoff team two years ago with little to no established talent only to be fired a year later. If that wasn’t bad enough, the team that fired you turns around and has probably the best off-season of any team in the league and hands the new bunch of guy over to, Terry Stotts? Are you kidding me? If you don’t think the Bucks had a great off-season just look at who they added this year: Jamaal Magloire, Andrew Bogut, Bobby Simmons, TJ Ford and they resigned Michael Redd. That’s pretty damn good if you ask me. Oh, and for the record, I called them as a playoff team over a week ago. Just wanted to put that out there.

- I love how Sports Guy is shocked that Shaun Livingston has had this rash of injuries so early in his career. Give me a break, the kid was 6’7” and 195 lbs. when he got drafted. He couldn’t even bench 185 lbs. once. Shouldn’t it have at least occurred to people that maybe he wouldn’t be able to handle the physical grind of the NBA at 18? Am I the only person who thinks about this?

- I’m convinced that there isn’t a single player in the NBA who could frustrate Larry Brown more than Jamal Crawford. Even Ricky Davis takes better shots than Crawford.

- Converse’s new slogan for the upcoming Dwyane Wade shoe is “Get yours while they last.” Ummmm, but you’re Converse? I’m pretty sure that I’m not going to need to pre-order those or anything like that.

- Is there a player in the league who is going to take more big shots for his team this year than Sam Cassell? Seriously, this guy was the clutch performer on the same team as the MVP two years ago. If he had been healthy at the end of the Western Conference Finals then that team makes the NBA Finals, I’m convinced of that.

It’s pretty unlikely that Mike Dunleavy is going to take the ball out of his hands so that he can get Corey Maggette a last second look. Well, it’s Mike Dunleavy so anything is possible but I wouldn’t bet on it. In case you were wondering, Cassell had 15 of 35
points in the fourth last night.

-The Nene for Antonio McDyess trade of a few years back doesn’t look nearly as lopsided these days does it? Sure, the Knicks got nothing from McDyess before they gave him away but at least he’s somewhat healthy and producing. Nene, on the other hand, has never developed any semblance of post game and has had an awful rash of injuries in the last year or two. It still could’ve worked out great for Denver if they had been able to trade him for a shooter this summer, but now they’re pretty much screwed.

-The Utah Jazz will be at top 6 seed in the West. Just the difference of having a point who can run Jerry Slaon’s system as well as a healthy Andrei Kirelenko virtually guarantee that.

-Chris Duhon had a triple-double last night? Wow. I haven’t been this wrong on a guy’s ability to play in the NBA since Randolph Childress.

- I guarantee that Marvin Williams will get at least 5 DNP CD’s before the All-Star break. Mark my words.

- Did you hear that Chris Paul has been practicing with the University of Oklahoma’s basketball team? Why? Shouldn’t you be practicing against guys who are better and more experienced than you (admittedly hard to do when you play on the Hornets), not against the guys whom you were clearly superior to last year.

- Damon Jones will win the Sixth Man of the Year. He’ll come off the bench because of Eric Snow but he should get most of the crunch time minutes, and with all of the open looks he’ll get from LeBron, Hughes and Ilgauskas, he should be in line to average 12-15 a game.

- If Chris Bosh isn’t careful he’s going to become Shareef Addur Rahim 2.0. In my opinion, he’s a far better player than Shareef but he’s stuck on a team going nowhere with no real teammates to teach him or make him better. If he doesn’t get out of Toronto soon (not likely) then he’s almost guaranteed to become the new quintessential good player/bad team kind of guy.

- Best West coast late night team (strictly for entertainment value): Golden State with Portland running a close second.

-Fantasy Sleeper: Chris Anderson. Now that Magloire is gone somebody’s gonna have to get the inside touches on that team. Who do you think will do more with his opportunities, the Birdman or PJ Brown?

Alright, I’m completely over this whole work thing so I’m going home.