A Summer of False Promise

Break out the Hall of Fame ballot, Blake Griffin had 27 and 12 in last night’s summer league game.  I know that’s what you are thinking Clipper fan but hold your horses.  Adam Morrison is averaging 22 and 5 and Robin Lopez had 24 and 16 in his first game. If that isn’t enough to crush your dreams, check out the leading summer league scorers from last year’s summer league (with their regular season averages in points and minutes in parentheses):

2009 Summer League All-Star Adam Morrison

1. Jerryd Bayless (POR) – 29.8 (3.0 ppg, 5.5 mpg)
2. Donte Greene (then HOU) – 22.6 (3.8 ppg, 13.2 mpg)
3. Quincy Douby (then SAC) – 22.3 (4.4 ppg, 11.1 mpg)
4. Alando Tucker (PHX) – 21.6 (4.6 ppg, 9.4 mpg)

Great.  Two of the four top scorers were traded and Alando Tucker…yes, that Alando Tucker….was the leading scorer of the bunch during the 2008-2009 regular season.  Don’t get me wrong, 27 and 12 is nice (especially when compared with Greg Oden’s 9.5 and 3.5 in two games followed by microfracture surgery).   But, when that performance is equal to that of Sideshow Bob Lopez it tends to put things in perspective.

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Falling in Love with Earl Clark

Consider Scott Howard Firmly in the Earl Clark Camp

Now that I’m a Suns season ticket holder for the first time I feel a bit of extra investment in the team and their moves – basically I don’t want them to completely suck this year.  The Shaq move was good, and I’m hoping they don’t deal Amare but to be completely serious,  I don’t expect title contention, but 48 wins and a 6 seed wouldn’t be a ridiculous request.

In Thursday’s NBA Draft the Suns added Louisville SF/PF Earl Clark.  For those of you unfamilar with Clark he’s apparently a mercurial talent who can be every bit as good as he is allegedly apathetic about the game.  The book on Clark is that he’s a 6’9 tweener who handles the ball like a guard, can rebound, and is extremely athletic.  The bad news is he doesn’t appear to have the greatest “motor” (which is white-speak for “he isn’t Tyler Hansborough), lacks consistency, focus, and mental toughness.  Admittedly those aren’t the prime qualities you’re looking for in a lottery pick – but from most reports Clark was a top-5 talent in this draft.  He averaged 14 points and 9 rebounds for a very tough Lousville team. 

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The Two Jakes

On the eve of the NBA Draft, I wanted to take a look back at one of the more hilarious post-draft press conferences in recent Suns history.  I am speaking of the one-and-only Jake Tsakalidis, who responded to ESPN’s draft day questions with two words:  “Free” and “Strong.”  The “free” related to his ability to extricate himself from his then-current contract overseas.  The “strong” related to his ability to be a successful big man in the NBA.  I guess one out of two isn’t bad.

Oh, Jake was free alright but he certainly wasn't strong.

Through the magic of that thing they call the “world wide web,” I actually found a transcript of Jake’s first press conference with the Suns.  Below are the best excerpts with my comments in italics.  Enjoy.

BRYAN COLANGELO (Former Suns’ GM): Well, I’d like to thank everyone for coming today. Obviously, we are here to introduce the newest and the largest member of the Phoenix Suns Jake Tsakalidis. We’re happy to have Jake as a member of this team.

Remember the Colangelo family?  They used to run the team.  You know, back when it was financially and competitively successful.

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Shaq Traded to Cavs OR How to Go From 1st in the West to the Lottery in 16 Months

The Suns Will Now Be the Only Team Shaq Didn't Reach The Finals With

I come to you tonight as SoD’s first international writer.  With times being tough in the blogosphere we’ve decided to expand our little Mom and Pop operation on a global basis – either that or I’m here on business for my real job…I’ll let you decide.  A lot has apparently changed since I last set foot on American soil – first of all the United States is now apparently a soccer power (bring back the title boys – an apathetic public awaits you).  Oh, and the Suns traded Shaquille O’Neal for cap space.

Frankly there are two schools of thought here:

(1) Good to get rid of Shaq’s $21 million dollars a season because all he did was slow down the offense anyway.

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Arnie Spanier is a Genius

A True Renaissance Man

I assume you’re surprised.  As you may remember I once wrote about my dislike of Spanier due to his pension for yelling in the morning hours – well in the light of a few recent suggestions I’ve changed my tune.  In the last few days Spanier has presented some ideas on his local radio program that can be defined with just one word – brilliance.

First his suggestion for the Phoenix Suns – trade Amare Stoudemire, along with the 14th pick in the draft to the Clippers for the 1st pick, which would turn into Blake Griffin.   How about that?  Stoudemire  is only a 6 foot 10, 4-time All-Star and 2007 All-NBA First Team selection but he plays shitty defense – so trade his ass.   We have no room for 26 year-old offensively gifted power forwards in Phoenix.  Bring on Griffin – a man who according to nbadraft.net is “still not a great shooter”, “needs to improve from the free throw line”, and “still needs work on the defensive end”.  Please give me a 20 year-old project to replace Stoudemire. 

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NBA Nightcap – May 19th Edition

Well, it’s Conference Finals time – this means the Nightcap is about to get even sexier.  Bet you didn’t think that was possible.

Kobe Stuffing Away the Dreams of Denver

Lakers 105 Nuggets 103 – Simply put, the Nuggets gave away a golden opportunity (Puns! -Ed.).  With the chance to take a 1-0 lead in their first conference finals since 1985, Denver blew a 7 point fourth quarter lead and fell to the Lakers.  Kobe put up a 40 spot on the Nuggets, including an astounding 18 points in the 4th quarter and Carmelo Anthony led Denver with 39.  

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Random Running Diary: NBA Draft Lottery Selection Show

The Drama Is Intense.

How could I have possibly been asked to ignore the NBA Draft Lottery solection show? Bad teams + ping pong balls + Suns = running diary time.

The festivities began with NBA Shootaround at 5PM :

:00 minutes – Apparently NBA Shootaround will be a mix of a Nuggets/Lakers preview and a lottery preview. Stu Scott, Jon Barry, Mike Wilbon, and Magic Johnson are the ship captains. I think Stu’s lazy eye just asked me to commit a crime.

:04 – I swore I’d only handle the NBA Draft Lottery portions of the programming, but Magic Johnson talking about the Lakers is too much to take. He’s like a proud parent talking about their kid – except they pay him to be objective. Does nobody see the flaw in this? In the spirit of equal time, I demand NBA Shootaround adds Dan Issel to their cast.

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NBA Nightcap – May 17th Edition

After a two day hiatus the Nightcap returns with love in our hearts.

Apparent Laker Fans David Arquette and George Lopez Enjoy Game 7 and Apparently Think They Are Big Enough Stars to Wear Sunglasses Inside (they aren't)

Lakers 89 Rockets 70 – The good Lakers showed up, or the bad Rockets, honestly I have no idea, either way the Lakers won.  This game was never close as it took Houston over 5 minutes to get their first point and 7 and a half minutes to get their first field goal.  The Rockets were so bad that Kobe only needed to take 12 shots and the Lakers still won by nearly 20 and led from beginning to end.  Anyone hoping for a little more drama in this Game 7 obviously hadn’t watched past Game 1, since each of the last 6 games of this series has been decided by 12 points or more.  The fact that the Rockets rallied together and forced a Game 7 in spite of playing without Yao Ming, Dikembe Mutombo, and Tracy McGrady was pretty impressive so they should be commended for that, but it doesn’t erase the fact that the Lakers are moving on to the conference finals again.

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Humorless NBA Does Not Find Jokes to be Funny

Stern Deciding Whether He'll Allow Titus to Live

On April 10th, Ohio State walk-on benchwarmer and blogger Mark Titus decided to forego his senior season and put his name in the NBA Draft. Perhaps a little strange for a guy with 8 career points in 30 career minutes right? Clearly Titus, who in his blog “Club Trillion” exhibits a pretty hilarious sense of humor, is kidding. As evidenced by the 2nd paragraph of his letter declaring for the draft:

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