Summer League in Vegas

After my legendary 21st birthday weekend in Vegas last month, my cousin decided that we needed to return in July for his own birthday weekend. While I have been to Vegas tons of times as a kid, this recent double dip in Vegas as an adult has allowed us to since accumulate loads of epic stories that are indeed Hangover-esque. Vegas has certain places that all men must simply shell out and experience for themselves. Words cannot express how amazing clubs like Tao, Moon, and Playboy are. For the purposes of this rant though, let's focus on the fact that our last Vegas trip happened to overlap with the NBA Summer League:

• We choose to stay at Palms Casino which is run by the Maloof brothers, owners of the NBA's Sacramento Kings. Palms is off the Strip, making it affordable for the younger crowd and a hotspot for ballers and celebrities.

• Just for kicks, I am going to randomly sprinkle in names of just some of the many notable people we happened to run into or interact with while walking around the casino in between my random thoughts...

• Jamario Moon, Devean George, Greg Anthony
  

• The life of an NBA player is lonely. Granted, majority of the Summer League participants are 18-20 year olds who are far removed from their comfort zones, are too young to really do anything in Vegas, and have yet to cash in on the NBA riches so consequently are not rolling with entourages. That being said, it still sort of surprised me to see so many players wandering around alone, grabbing McDonald's after a Saturday night game, and seemingly having a lot less fun than we were.

• Jermaine O'Neal
  

• The crowd at Summer League is something else. Instead of having some 19,000 random people, say at Staples Center, who happen to be either rich enough to afford those overpriced tickets or stumbled into them by some chance, the couple thousand people at Cox Pavilion and the Thomas & Mack at UNLV all want to be there. For just $20, you get an all day pass to both arenas. If you know anything about Vegas, there is absolutely nothing else of value that you can do for just a cool $20 bill. So now, these games are affordable enough and yet far enough so that you get a crowd of fellow basketball enthusiasts who can easily afford it and all want to be there. The conversations you hear in front and behind you are exactly the ones we fellow geeks have and love so much. Everyone knows their stuff, everyone knows everything about their teams, and so everyone learns from each other. Hell, there was even one attractive woman who knew more about the Clippers Summer League roster than I did.

• Kenyon Martin
  

• Shaun Livingston may have been the best player on the young and promising Stolen Sonics. He looks good and seems to always be calm and in control, consistently making smart plays and good passes. If he keeps improving at this pace, the Thunder got yet another brilliant steal...get it?

• Kevin Durant
  

• Vegas was True Clipper Fan Central. There were loads of longtime and diehard Clipper fans who made the drive to Vegas. The Summer League was essentially a bunch of Clipper home games, fully equipped with Clipper Darrell's trademark chants and waves. Obviously number one overall pick Blake Griffin was the main attraction, but future centerpieces DeAndre Jordan and Eric Gordon made the Clippers the one summer league team that had the most significant overlap with their real roster.

• Baron Davis and Corey Maggette. Go figure.
  

• Blake Griffin. Take this all with a grain of salt, because it is Summer League and the number one pick is supposed to tear it up there. That being said, Griffin could not have looked better. Normally big rookies are still coming into their own and learning how to control their large bodies. Griffin has mastered his, knows his abilities, and has great balance and control of his body. We even caught him coaching up DeAndre Jordan, who has a full year of NBA experience under his belt that Blake does not. Blake is a beast on the boards and has the athleticism to run and handle the ball. Knowing that he was the star of the summer league, opposing players were playing dirty with him and we even witnessed him getting thrown to the ground and suffering the shoulder injury. Give him credit for shrugging it all off and toughing it out. When teams started loading the box on him and double teaming him, he made many smart passes that will pay off when you have the likes of Baron Davis and Eric Gordon running around the perimeter. Hats off to the Summer League MVP, and here's hoping that the Clippers don't screw up this soon to be All-Star.

• DeAndre Jordan may benefit the most from being exposed to Blake's solid fundamentals. Jordan has the habit of chasing blocks instead of boxing out and rebounding. But from watching him all season long and this summer in person, he has already improved in a variety of ways. Of course, DeAndre got a a bunch of impressive alley-oop throwdowns, and had a fun entourage in the crowd to react to and with immediately afterward. Ready for a bold statement? DeAndre Jordan has the athleticism of a very raw Dwight Howard or...wait for it...Shawn Kemp.

• Baron Davis entered the building to a round of applause and waves. He sat down with Mike Dunleavy and was actually talking and smiling (!?) with him throughout the game. This caused Clipper Darrell to not only Tweet about it immediately, but run over during a timeout and give them both a giant bear hug.

• That was not even the funniest moment of the day. That honor goes to seeing and hearing the head coach of the Washington Wizards summer league team, Sam Cassell. When he gets an NBA head coaching job, there needs to be a reality show that just follows a mike'd up Sam Cassell. The great thing about the summer league is that with free seating and no loud in game music or arena effects, we can listen in on the players, coaches, and referees. Cassell was by far the most hilarious and interesting coach I have ever witnessed. During a pair of free throws, he walked on the court just to chat with his old buddy Kim Hughes. During a timeout he wandered off to crack some jokes with Clipper Darrell. The best though, was when he was screaming defensive assignments to the Wizards: "Get up on him! Get up on him! Get up! Get up!" And as the Clippers rotate the ball and hit a three, he screams loudly enough for everyone in the building to finally hear, "F@#%!"

• Some rich and flashy front office executive who got pissed at me for hitting at the Blackjack table and stealing his card.

• Twitter is changing the world, and this is very evident in Vegas. It was cool to follow bloggers like Kevin Arnovitz and Marc Stein who are sitting right by you writing about the events that are happening write in front of you. By following the players and celebrities themselves, we were able to find out who was were at any given time, and it just a surreal feeling to find out who is hanging out at the same places we were.

• Buffet. Ballers. Blackjack. Enough said.

• Tracy McGrady...who never stood up from the poker table.

• Paul Pierce...wearing a green polo of course.
  

• Hugh Heffner and that one popular Playmate
  

• And finally...wait for it...Mike Tyson!
  

• One last thought about Vegas in general. Drinking is fun. Gambling is fun, perhaps even occasionally profitable. We all agree sports is fun in every manner. Clubbing can be fun. And girls are fun. But throw all these elements together...in Vegas!? Oh my.

Bitter and Sad

Still.

My Life is Desi

I may be a little delusional after so many long hours of working and driving, but I literally shed tears while laughing at these hilarious Desi Jokes.

A Christian Nation

I could easily spew out a passionate rant about our flawed country, but I implore you to give this video a chance to do so instead.

We were once a Christian Nation. And an amazingly blessed one at that. Count your blessings, folks

Cheesecake

A Love Story...

...about the Cheesecake Factory

Fortunate 50

Sports Illustrated details the 50 top earning athletes in America

Crazy

Yours truly is in the midst of the most ridiculous and eventful one month period of his life. While I continue to adjust to a completely different life on personal and professional levels, I assure you that I will chime in on the crazy madness lately:

• The Lakers won the title and deservedly so. Let us keep in mind that they did so without ever meeting or beating a healthy Houston Rockets team, a healthy San Antonio Spurs team, a healthy Boston Celtics team, and the Cleveland Cavaliers. So before we declare them to be the best team of the year, remember how the cards fell for them to when the title.
• We have not seen Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson peak.
  
• We have seen Shaq peak.
  
• We have not seen Lebron James peak.
• We have seen Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson peak.
• The era of the quick point guard is only beginning. I am looking at you, Mr. Longoria.
  
• The anticipation and preparation for the summer of 2010 continues to build.
  
• The USA Soccer team stunning Spain and advancing is a story that deserves to be followed, written about, and talked about...if only Americans knew enough to do so.
• Oh yeah, we have the NBA Draft tonight. Expect more madness to follow.
  

Weather Report

Weather Report:

Well, it appears our African-American friends have found yet something else to be pissed about.

A black congresswoman reportedly complained that the names of hurricanes are all Caucasian sounding names. She would prefer some names that reflect African-American culture, such as Chamiqua, Tanisha, Woeisha, Shaqueal, and Jamal. She would also like the weather reports to be broadcast in language that street people can understand because one of the problems in New Orleans is that regular folks couldn't understand the seriousness of the situation due to the racially biased language of the weather report.

I can hear it now: A Houston weatherman says:

"Wazzup, mutha-fukkas! Hehr-i-cane Chamiqua be headin' fo' yo ass like Leroy on a crotch rocket! Bitch be a category fo'! So grab yo' chirren, yo' Ho, be leavin yo crib, and head fo' da nearest guv'ment office fo yo FREE shit!"

Disney Finals

Considering every game of the NBA Finals is broadcast on ABC/ESPN and takes place just miles away from either Disneyland or DisneyWorld, I am surprised that Disney has not jumped all over this dream marketing opportunity aside from just a measly t-shirt.

Curry Bashing

Just when you thought at least our modern western world may have finally moved past all this nonsense, you find out about events like these.

Sonics Live on...

In 06, Gary Payton hits two Finals game winners and earns a ring in Miami.

In 07, Brent Barry wins a ring with the Spurs.

In 08, Ray Allen destroys the Lakers in route to a ring.

In 09, Rashard Lewis magically stuns the Lakers in route to a ring.

The SUPERSONICS live on as champions...

E3

I could be writing about the tons of storylines coming out of the NBA right now, ranging from the Clippers winning the draft lottery, Lebron and the Cavs failing to win the East, the emergence of the Orlando Magic, The Finals, the loads of topics to choose from with the Lakers...

But instead I am actually excited about the Electronic Entertainment Expo, specifically the release of a pair of trailers for the upcoming Halo games.

Halo 3: ODST

Reach Falls Teaser.

Lottery

Via TrueHoop:

Alok Pattani of ESPN Statistics and Information Research has done something fabulous: He has come up with basketball things that are about as likely as this or that team winning the lottery:

• The Kings are 25% likely to win the top spot, which is about as likely as Kevin Martin scoring more than 30 points in any given game.
• The Wizards have a 17.8% shot, which is about how often they lost a game by 20 or more points this season.
• The Clippers are 17.7% likely to win. That's roughly how often Eric Gordon scored 25+ points.
• The Thunder have an 11.9% chance at the top spot. That's about as likely as Kevin Durant shooting over 60% from the field for a whole game.
• The Timberwolves have a 7.6% chance of winning the lottery. That's about as common as this year's Timberwolves winning consecutive games.
• The Grizzlies have a 7.5% chance of winning, which is about as likely as the Grizzlies having a 50-win season.
• The Warriors, with a 4.3% chance, are about as likely to win the lottery as they are to hold an opponent below 90 points in a game.
• The Knicks likelihood of winning, 2.8%, is about the same as their likelihood of shooting fewer than 20 3-pointers in a game.
• The Raptors are as likely to win (1.7%) as Jose Calderon is to likely to miss a free throw.
• Michael Redd is as likely to make five straight 3-pointers as the Bucks, with a 1% chance, are likely to win the lottery.
• The Nets are as likely (0.9%) to see Devin Harris, as a Net, having a 40-point, 10-assist game as they are to win the lottery.
• The Bobcats chances of winning (0.7%) are roughly the same as their likelihood of going on a six-game winning streak.
• The Pacers have 0.6% chance at the top spot. Troy Murphy, as a Pacer, scores 25+ points about 0.6% of the time.
• Shaquille O'Neal is about as likely to make eight straight free throws as the Suns are to win the lottery, with a 0.5% likelihood.

Soulsearching in Laker Nation

Via TrueHoop:

On Silver Screen and Roll, a guest post from someone calling himself Frying Dutchman explains that his heart will always be high on these Lakers, but his mind is extraordinarily frustrated with what he sees as a lack of effort:

If the Lakers win the championship, part of me will be disappointed. The part of me that thinks that effort and hard work are important and should be rewarded. The part of me that gets angry at how unfair the world is. Because that's exactly what it will be. If the Lakers win it all this year, it will be unfair. Unfair to the game of basketball. Unfair to all the past champions. Unfair to the Houston Rockets, who lost their 2nd best player in the regular season, and got better. Who lost their best player for the playoffs, and came out and played harder. It was bad enough when Shaq would take half the regular season getting into shape, but this? Those teams never took entire playoff games off. The Lakers today were the Detroit Pistons, a team with much of the same talent that had them go to the EC finals 5 years straight, and yet this year saw them limp into the playoffs before getting swept as a mere formality. The Lakers today were the LA Clippers, a motley assortment of players who could care less about the team. The Lakers today weren't champions, and they don't deserve to be champions.

My heart doesn't work on logic, so I'll be there in front of my TV rooting the team on like I always do for Game 5. But in the back of my mind, I'll be hoping that one of these teams comes along and finally gives these Lakers the lesson they deserve, that some group of guys dedicated to each other and to playing the game as best they can ALL THE TIME drives the point home to my team and makes them suffer for it. We all thought it would have happened last year, but it didn't. Maybe it can't happen, maybe its a lesson the team will never learn. But my mind will be hoping for a hungrier team to come and ruin the Lakers season again, because my mind does work on logic. My mind seeks justice.

Even if it costs my heart the chance to celebrate a championship.

Clipper Darrell

My fellow brown writer Arash Markazi has a great feature on my main man Clipper Darrell. It is especially cool for me to be reading about these guys who I have had the opportunity to have multiple conversations with during my times wandering around Staples Center during Clipper games.

Playoff Buzzer Beaters

Some other great Playoff clutch buzzer beaters

Big Baby

I have loads of thoughts on what was another great classic weekend of NBA Playoff basketball, but I will leave it as just a few:

• The Los Angeles Lakers are not a championship team. The title teams of Jordan's Bulls and Duncan's Spurs would never take opposing teams so lightly like the Lakers did Sunday. The Lakers played with more laziness than I would on a Sunday matinee game, except that is their career that they get paid to perform on national television. My dislike for the Lakers and their many bandwagon fans is well documented, but now I have really turned against this particular team. Playing defense and showing effort seems like such a chore to this group of overly skilled yet sadly lackadaisical individuals.
  
• The Lakers winning the title would be an insult to basketball enthusiasts such as myself, and even more so to other playoff teams such as the Cavs, Celtics, and Rockets who leave it all on the floor every game.
  
• Remember how Kevin Garnett shouted at Glen "Big Baby" Davis with such intensity that he cried on the bench earlier this season? You could not have written the end of that story better than with Big Baby hitting an unlikely game winner filling in for Garnett during the playoffs.
  
• If defense breeds championships, what to the Lakers deserve? I vote for a fishing trip.
• Each series has been led by the team with more former Seattle Sonics. Just saying.
  

Ron Witnesses Murder

Ron Artest on the madness during last night's physical Lakers Rockets game, which featured two ejections:

"I understand it's the playoffs. I remember when I used to play back home in the neighborhood. There was always games like that. I remember one time, there was um, one of my friends, you know, was playing basketball and they was winning the game. It was so competitive they broke a piece of leg from a table and they threw it. It went right through his heart and he died right on the court. So I'm accustomed to playing basketball really rough."

Oh Yao, you so funny

Yao to teammate Ron Artest as he left the podium after a win:
"See you in the club"

Yao on whether he viewed the Rockets as underdogs against the Lakers:
"Well I just learned that word a few days ago. Like NBA says...where amazing happens."

Boston-Chicago: Amazing