5-10 dunker. He can really jump, but those landings look painful.
Even at his introductory press conference at Golden State, Brandan Wright is quoted mainly about the possibility that he'll be shipped on in a Kevin Garnett deal. (Must be possible he'd be part of a Yi Jianlian offer too, right?) My thought: Don Nelson usually seems to play either zero or one non-shooters at any given time, and right now Andris Biedrins is that one. But then again, what if Don Nelson isn't coming back? LOTS of moving pieces in the Bay Area right now.
Stephon Marbury is fired up about his "youthier" new southpaw teammate. And, in another, odder video appearance, Marbury seems to think "dimes" means "steals," talks about how great it would be to be the Dallas Mavericks, how much he loves Kevin Garnett (whom Marbury did not share a bed with -- Marbury clarifies, helpfully), then he gets a cell phone call, and then at one point he muses about taking charge of the education of every child in the world. It gets more bizarre from there. (UPDATE: Really good idea emailed from Slam's Sam Rubenstein: "I think it would be fun to have someone get him to explain what every soundbyte means, kind of like one of those 'classic albums' shows where a songwriter talks about the creative process.")
And, in the strangest of ways, the global warming conversation comes to the NBA. Memo to rookies looking to be in the league's good graces: David Stern has said he is passionate about finding solutions to global warming, which may be a focus of his life if/when he ever retires from the NBA.
The video clip that launched 1,000 streetball exhibitions. Also, Pistol Pete playing NBA H-O-R-S-E against George Gervin and the like. I am in the chorus calling for H-O-R-S-E to return to the NBA, but you know what? It's not that exciting, to be honest.
The chatter about Ron Artest to New York may be real ... I have no idea. But it cracks me up. I have written before how I once asked Joe Dumars what he saw in Richard Hamilton and Chauncey Billups when other teams rejected them. Dumars said he was looking for players who could, among other things, help their team on offense without needing the ball. Those guys sometimes have possessions where they drive the defense batty without touching the ball at all. Or they score after touching the ball for less than a second. Dumars' former teammate Isiah Thomas could be assembling the exact opposite kind of team -- one where no one can do much of anything to help the offense without holding the rock. Zach Randolph, Eddy Curry, Ron Artest, Stephon Marbury ... this is a "my turn, your turn" team, not a "let's keep moving and get each other open" team.
Brian Windhorst of the Akron Beacon-Journal reports that Anderson Varejao has received a big contract offer from somewhere (Brian's speculation: Memphis). The Cavaliers want to keep him, but not at just any price.
Clipperblog on the notion of Steve Francis in red and blue: "Clipperblog loves the idea of a formerly bratty star confronting his NBA mortality and realizing that, unless he cultivates a strain of humility, he'll go down as a cautionary tale. Empowered by his epiphany, said formerly bratty star decides that taking only 11 shots a night on a pretty good team with a very good front line is enough, endears you to your coach and teammates, and generally makes winning basketball games easier. Then people will say nice things like, 'A year ago, Steve Francis was persona non grata in this league. But he's really found himself this season in Los Angeles.'"
UPDATE: Dwight Jaynes of the Portland Tribune: "If [Paul] Allen is willing to buy out that Francis contract, it would make a lot of sense he'd do the same thing with Darius Miles' deal."
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