Friday, June 29, 2007

Conspiracy!!! -- by J.O.B.

1) I give it 2 months before the Benoit story starts becoming the stuff of conspiracy lore. I guarantee you that because of the Wikipedia thing, someone is going to jump on the idea that the Benoit's faked their deaths to escape the country or enter some type of protection program because it will come out (at least to "someone" in the conspiracy community) that Chris was involved as some type of super-soldier or something. You just watch.

2) I'm waiting for someone to sell me on Joakim Noah. I will send out a multitude of apologies to anyone I can find, if it doesn't turn out this way, but I just see BUST in big letters on this guy's forehead. I think it's why he wears his hair long. I don't think he was the best player available, and if the idea was to go big to fill need, a guy who isn't a scorer doesn't fill that need. Sometimes you have to draft a bargaining chip or draft a guy that makes a roster guy a bargaining chip. I project Nick Young, Al Thornton, Julian Wright and Acie Law IV to all have better careers than Noah, which sucks because I love the Bulls. They don't have a place for any one of those players but Atlanta, New Orleans, Washington and the Clips (the teams these four went to) all have pieces the Bulls could use. Instead, we're in the same place we were before the draft - looking for a low post scorer. I do like the Aaron Gray pick at 49, and Curry will be a nice backup for Hinrich and Gordon.

3) While I'm yapping about the NBA, contrary to Skurny who saw it as a yawn-fest, I saw something completely different. Outside of the BC kid the Nets took, find me a kid in this draft that isn't a high character guy. The league is slowly flushing out the thug persona. The JailBlazers are back to being the TrailBlazers after moving Randolph East. I really think NY is his last shot, which is wild because where else can he get into more trouble? The Blazers now have Jack, Roy, Oden, Channing Frye etc., etc. Nice, nice kids. The best thing about the mandatory year of college isn't the fact that it will prep the budding high school phenom for his pro career, but that it will weed out a higher percentage of morons.

4) Y'all missed a great one last night. English was the wild monkey butt secks. The place was poppin' till lights on at 1:30 and it was everything it should be. No pretentious snobbery. Everyone having a good time and in talking to the owners they said they are striving to eschew (definition linked for you AWM) the "velvet rope" mentality. There were people there in suits and ties, and there were people there in t-shirts and flip-flops. I had some other friends show up and between four of us the total damage was $11, and we were all very hammered. This will be the regular watering hole.

Bonus No-Chase: Skurn, you must hit English with me while you're in town...maybe Thursday after hitting up the Moonshiners Club with J "August Busch" Nicho, y'all can head on over. Drinks for nearly nothing and chicks for free...

3 comments:

Mark said...

I definitely disagree with you on Noah. While its certainly possible he could develop some low post skills, I think he's going to mainly a defensive asset in the NBA- but a major defensive asset.

If the Bulls suffered from anything in the playoffs this year, it was that they were almost too mechanical at times. They needed that guy to step up defensively, do all the "little things" and get the dirty work on the offensive boards. Joakim is that guy.

Think about where the Cavs would've been without Andy Varejao this year? Noah was the right pick for a team that needs to win now (as in the next 3 seasons). They can't afford to take a shot on a project like Brandan Wright, Julian Wright etc. (though I do think Julian is going to be f'ing great, and a steal)

J.ust O.ver B.roke said...

Yuck, yuck, yuck, yuck and one more friggin' yuck. Quick, tell me what pick Anderson Verejao was in the draft? Ding, ding, ding - if you said 30th, get yourself an ice cream bar. THIRTIETH! Not 9th, three-zero. And we draft a guy who is Varejao-like ... we take a guy with the 9th pick who best compares to a guy drafted 30th. Great.

Julian Wright isn't as much of a project as you think he is and while I agree that Noah is the pick if you're looking for someone who has some polish now, they didn't address a need with this pick. I'd have rather seen it packaged with Duhon and someone else to get an inside scorer of some sort.

Mark said...

I agree they had no reason to keep that pick, especially if their goal is to win now (as well it should be...with Ben Wallace on the wrong side of 30).

But if they were going to pick anyone, why not a guy who's ready to play now? And sure, Andy was the 30th pick in the draft...but don't you think that had everything to do with the fact that he was 19 and had less than a year of international experience than due to his talent? I think if they knew what he'd become, he would've been a lottery pick for sure. You don't think the Sonics would've taken a long look at him instead of Robert Swift? Hell, the Cavs might've picked him instead of Luke Jackson (speaking of yuck).

Of course, hindsight is 20/20. But I think you'll be thrilled with the Noah pick around this time next year when the Bulls manage to take the Cavs to 6 games before losing in the conference finals.