Watched most of the Cavs v. Pistons game on League Pass tonight and guess who had a great game? Why, Leon Powe, that’s who. It doesn’t bother me as much as I thought it would seeing him in a Cavs jersey. Maybe I’m just used to it by now, but I think mainly it doesn’t bother me because I realize that he’s lucky to be wearing any jersey. It is amazing to me that it was once possible that he would fall out of the league for good. That’s what could have happened if nobody had believed in him. As much as I hate the Cavs, I will always appreciate that they took a chance on Leon when nobody else would. I think it’s ironic that Danny told Leon basically, “Sorry kid, we’ve only got a year or two to win championships with the Big 3. We can’t risk wasting a roster spot on you.”
A lot of people think the Celtics are done. Not just done — done, done. I don’t believe it. I think they’re just bored with the regular season, don’t get up for bad teams and let bad offense become piss-poor defense — all, by definition, attitude problems that exist between the ears. Doc needs to kick them in the ass one by one, starting with Rasheed. He won’t though. Doc is the quintessential benign authority figure who threatens to lay down the law (“Don’t make me come back there!”) and never does.
Oh well, at the very least he should make them watch this YouTube video to remind them of what winning feels like:
Source: celtsfanjay/YouTube
Yes, if you’re counting, this would be the third time I’ve posted this video on my blog. I’m sure it won’t be the last either. If I could burn it into my brain stems to play on a continual loop for the rest of my life, I would. Don’t judge.
Oh and by the way, Leon Powe is starting tonight for the Cavs. Yeah, still hate you, Danny Ainge.
Did Sheed bring the “flip the switch” disease with him from Detroit?
Did Kryptonate bring the “defense, what’s that?” stink with him from New York?
Why the hell doesn’t Doc Rivers play Shelden Williams more — at least for rebounding? He’s the landlord for christsake!
AND WHY THE HELL DON’T THE CELTICS PLAY DEFENSE ANYMORE?
Red rover, red rover, send Leon Powe back over.
Holy crap, am I clairvoyant? (I was kidding, basketball Gods… I didn’t really want you to send Nate. What’s your return policy?)
What’s up with the Cleveland Cavaliers bench yucking it up and rolling onto the court like a bunch of jesters on King James’ court? Did they learn nothing from last season? I mean really. It’s like groundhog day. All this frivolity is going to make them look pretty stupid if they can’t get past Orlando again.
What’s sweeter than UNC having a complete dogshit basketball team this season? Duke alum, Gerald Henderson beating UNC alum, Michael Jordan, at H.O.R.S.E. Bahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Leon is back. In a Cavs uniform. And according to A. Sherrod Blakely, he’s not bitter about how things ended with the Celtics. Maybe he’s not, but I still am. Anyway, it’s a great article. The last two paragraphs kill me slowly with a rusty fork:
And regardless of whether he plays five minutes or even five seconds tonight, Powe being able to even return to the court is a victory in itself.
“To me, it’ll be a success story in a lot of ways because a lot of people didn’t think he could ever play again,” Rivers said. “When he got hurt, I heard that the first time. I said, ‘You clearly don’t know who Leon Powe is. That kid will always be a success story.’” [CSNNE.com: Powe OK with being passed on by the C's]
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
* You know that time in high school when your ivy league bound boyfriend broke up with you and ignored you until you started dating the captain of the football team? Then he called you at the eleventh hour and asked you to prom? Evans Clinchy of NESN.com breaks it down in: Powe’s Departure Not About Years or Money
Some of my best friends are… dancers
* Brendan Haywood’s recent homophobic comments about Stephon Marbury bring to mind the semi-recent caveman squawkings of Shavlik Randolph. You know, the whole “Don’t drop the soap around this guy” kind of nonsense. I will tell Haywood what I told Randolph… Don’t flatter yourself. Anyway, Bethlehem Shoals discusses new media’s double-edged sword for The Baseline in: Is Brendan Haywood Really Worried About Starbury’s Sexuality or Something Else?. UPDATE: Kelly Dwyer also adds his insightful two cents for Ball Don’t Lie in: Brendan Haywood isn’t fully informed
Brett Favre is like a fart in church. You want to ignore him, but you can’t
What’s more old and tired than Brett Favre? Bitching about Brett Favre every time he faux retires and then makes a triumphant comeback. Yet still, every single time, I cannot help but throw my hands up in disgust when he un-retires again. If returning to football was a sick child, I would accuse Favre of suffering from Munchausen by Proxy Syndrome. He’s addicted to the attention (now primarily negative) and nothing short of a full body cast is going to keep him from returning to football. Again. (And again, and again, and again…) Mike Florio reports for Pro Football Talk that: Favre is on a plane to Minnesota
He said, she said
* Out of the corner of my ear last night while I was playing another rousing round of Cake Mania 2 on the computer, I heard the following coming out of my television set: “Rick Pitino has admitted to having sex with the woman in a restaurant and paying for her abortion.” Wow. Now that my friends, is class. Before you come down too hard on poor Rick, just remember that, “All the negativity that’s in this town sucks!” More on this sordid tale can be gleaned here: Boston Globe: Pitino had liaison and paid for abortion
Sounds like an episode of The Hills… * This story has been baking a few days, but apparently Reggie Miller and Diana Von Furstenberg’s son, Alex are having some sort of public tiff over a babe. News and gossip sites report that Von Furstenberg hired a sky writer to call out Miller for texting his fiance. The banner read, “Reggie Miller stop pursuing married women.” A sky writer? Really? That’s so archaic. Everyone knows the only modern way to get back at someone flirting with your girl is to open a faux Twitter account impersonating them and then write things like, “I flrt w/other ppls chix cuz im a d-bag. Whuts gud?” So come on Alex, crawl out of the 16th century and get with the times. More on this soap opera: TMZ: Reggie Miller — I’m No Homewrecker, Just a Flirt
The ghost of old man Zimmer
* I didn’t watch last night’s Red Sox/Tigers game, but I knew something happened when I briefly perused my Twitter stream and people were squawking about Youk getting ejected. Then this morning, the radio honks were making fun of him, so I had to check it out for myself on YouTube. Upon watching it, I immediately had flashbacks of Pedro “gently guiding” Don Zimmer to the turf back in the good ole days. Aw, now those were some seriously good times. In this case though, come on now Youk… you’re three times that kid’s size, you look like the Incredible Hulk and you’ll be getting suspended anyway, you couldn’t have just laid him out? Tsk tsk tsk.
ps. It’s official. Leon has joined the Cavs. I will not belabor this any longer with yet another whiny post. Farewell, my love…
If this happens, then I’m happy for Leon. He deserves a job and I’ll be glad that he has one. I will just never get over the Celtics not offering him at least the minimum like the Cavs are apparently willing to do. It was already bad enough that I had to hate the Cavs a little less because of my love for Delonte… Now they’re going to have Leon too? That makes things so complicated. LeBron is easier to hate than ever and don’t even getting me started on that flopper Varejao. It would have been really great to just be able to wish the entire Cavs team would rot in hell. Kinda like the Yankees. Now, two of my favorite players in the league will be playing for my team’s arch rival.
Crap.
Update: I decided to rip off the band-aid and replace the Powe square on my Twitter background to a Perk square. It was painful, but had to be done.
Get your rent checks ready!
* Well, he probably won’t get that much playing time… But still, it’s pretty cool that the landlord is coming to town. Being the diehard J.J. Redick fan that I am, I’ve seen lots and lots of Shelden Williams on the college level. He was like the Robin to J.J.’s Batman back then. Well, maybe Greg Paulus was the Robin… Bad analogy. Anyway, I’m excited that Shelden is getting another chance to do something at the NBA level. This would appear though, to perhaps be his last chance to show what he can do. He’s bounced around since being drafted 5th (crazy weak ass draft that saw Adam Morrison and Shelden Williams both go in the top 5) by the Atlanta Hawks. It was funny today trying to explain to a coworker who Shelden Williams is. This is how it went: 1.) He went to Duke! 2.) He’s married to Candace Parker! 3.) Ummm, I can’t remember who he played for last. He’s played for at least 3 or 4 teams, I think! His name never did ring a bell with her. Guess it’s not that surprising. Anyway, as much as I love Shelden, I don’t understand picking him up over extending Leon a qualifying offer.
Speaking of the backup love of my life * Slam reported this morning that the Cavs have offered a deal to Leon Powe. Then on Ball Don’t Lie, Skeets posted an example of what a future article might read like if that deal does come to fruition. Just stab me in the heart and twist it around why don’t you? Seriously. That “article” made me want to vomit chunks. Mostly because it’s so accurate. I want another team to pick up Leon if the Celtics aren’t going to, but I really didn’t want it to be the Cavs or Lakers. When they let James Posey go to NOLA, I was totally ok with that because the Hornets aren’t in the conference. I hoped that Powe would end up with Sacramento or if it had to be in the conference, then on some innocuous team like the Miami Heat. This sucks monkeychunks. It really frosts my cupcakes that Danny Ainge doesn’t call me at home and run all moves by me.
24/7 just ain’t happenin’
* I’m noticing more and more when I go to check on Steph on his Starbury TV 24/7 channel that he’s not there. By and large, that has to be a good thing. On the other hand, when he does show up he immediately goes back to the usual script and soundtrack. Occasionally though, he goes on some interesting off-script diatribes. Last night, he went off on Yao Ming of all people. I was trying to remember exactly what he said, but as luck would have it, someone posted it to YouTube. My favorite part is where he compares himself to a bowling ball. Please to enjoy:
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before
Some of my best friends are… dancers
Brett Favre is like a fart in church. You want to ignore him, but you can’t
He said, she said
Sounds like an episode of The Hills…
The ghost of old man Zimmer
Get your rent checks ready!
