Fight club?
Dr. Lawyer Indian Chief, of Free Darko, dropped some wisdom this afternoon on Deadspin that tugged at my heart strings: he wants a fight!
(I was about the flip from George Mason/Notre Dame to the TNT NBA game, when I realized I was listening to Gus Johnson. I could use some excitement.)
First, he’s convinced Joe Smith has just been biding his time for the past 10 years, holding back that break out game for this post-season.
But what caught my eye was this:
Delonte West, Cleveland CavaliersI wouldn’t mind at all if he and Daniel Gibson started a little rivalry trying to outplay each other, especially if either of them is taking clock away from the perpetually annoying Damon Jones. Chances of becoming this year’s X-Factor: 29%.
YES! YES! YES! (And NO! on the Damon Jones point)
Players who play like they have something to prove. Devin Brown is the only guy on the Cavs with that kind of drive, and haven’t we all come to love his game at this point?
So let’s get a little “everything you can do, I can do better” going. Let’s see them push each other minutes. No waiting for Boobie to gel. No playing Delonte because he’s our only point guard. Tell them are 48 minutes to go and the best man will get them.
There’s no need for bad blood, just some one upsmanship. You have to be aggressive to prove yourself, so that solves one of the Cavs biggest problems. Neither guy is a stud, so they have to appreciate they’re not entitled to the minutes, but they both seem pretty confident at times, so I think they’ll be up for the challenge. And I want Lebron to be the guy to kickstart it. I want to him to call them out on proving themselves. I want him to say that he wants to see one of these guys take over, and I want to see him play along, rather that just watch. High basketball IQ? That would be prove it to me.
Scottie Pippen
I was watching USC / Kansas St. from work today (gotta be the closest I’ve been to getting canned on the spot, despite Gmoney’s help).
Did you see that first half?
OJ Mayo is a top 5 pick, right?
You know who’s going to kick his ass every damned time they play? Bill Walker. I’ve written the story in my mind where he has this huge chip on his shoulder after being the #2 to OJ through high school and getting so little recognition compared to Mayo and Beasley this year. He got it in his mind today that he was going to dominate OJ Mayo and that is exactly what he did. Both ends of the floor, he made OJ Mayo his bitch. OJ had a helpless look in his eye. No superstar should ever get dominated. Lebron never would. Kobe? (old) Shaq? Duncan? Chris Paul? Never. It’s why Dirk Nowitzki is a tier below.
So OJ Mayo is a sure thing, right? Multiple all-star, Gilbert Arenas, but with all the hype? Then what does that make Bill Walker?
Draft Express has him dropping into the 2nd round.
Eff that. I want him at 20. Trade Sasha, Wally, DJ, whomever. Just slot him in because he’s Lebron’s Pippen.
(Honestly, I’m not sold on his ballhandling. He might just be another Sasha. Plays the 2 or 3, can pull down 5 boards easy, but never averages more than 3 assists. Of course, if Sasha could decided to just take over every so often, I wouldn’t be writing this.)
(Meanwhile, that same site has us taking Darrell Arthur ahead of Hansbrough and Brandon Rush. Wow, what a deep draft. Can we pick up a couple extra top 20-25 picks?)
Go Cavs!
