1) It’s Hard to Excite Chris Bosh
Chris Bosh is “not too excited to the point [he] was last year.” It’s understandable. It’s hard to find any NBA player that would rather play with Hedo Turkoglu, Jarrett Jack, DeMar DeRosen, Antoine Wright, Marco Belinelli, Rasho Nestrovich, Reggie Evans and hopefully soon Carlos Delfino than Jermaine O’Neil, Jason Kapono, Kris Humphries, Anthony Parker, Joey Graham and Nathan Jawai.
Oh sorry, wait a second, the Raps are significantly improved from last year. I guess I’ve just been way too busy following Chris Bosh’s twitter competition with Charlie V to properly analyze the Raptors off-season moves.
The latest quote from the YouTube video, racetrack appearance, and tweet making superstar is another public relations blunder that makes Raps fans wonder whether Chris Bosh could give less of a f*** than Alex Rios. When Bosh’s used car salesman All-Star YouTube video first came out, it was endearing. The video was pretty funny and painted Bosh as a fun-loving good guy. Now Bosh’s array of internet endeavors reminds fans of Darius Miles’ role in the 2004 hit teen-com The Perfect Score: FOCUS ON BASKETBALL!! (Don’t bother watching past about 1:30 unless you’re really bored. [Editor's note: This movie rules and I own it on DVD.])
I used to love Chris Bosh, but after being spurned by Damon Stoudemire, Tracy McGrady and Vince Carter, his lack of commitment to Toronto has driven me to hate. I realize this isn’t totally fair to Bosh, but the contract extension saga has brought all of his negative attributes to the surface thanks mainly to the particularly scathing article written by Dave Feschuk in the June 5th Toronto Star.
Word on the street is that Bosh will resign with the Raptors and I hope he does, but he has a long way to go to repair his image in Toronto.
2) It’s Hard for New York Fans to get Excited
Knicks executives and fans are holding out hope that one or two of LBJ, CB4 and D-Wade are coming to the bright lights of Madison Square Gardens in 2010 and therefore Donnie Walsh has been working hard clearing and maintaining cap room. For David Lee and Nate Robinson that means that the contracts they earned with last year’s breakout seasons are not on offer in New York. This has put them in the NBA’s restricted limbo, alongside Big Baby Davis, that plagued Josh Childress and Carlos Delfino last year and eventually saw them land in Europe. (There are rumors that Robinson is exploring European options.) The Knicks are heading towards another lottery pick, but if things can’t be worked out with Lee and Robinson then things will be particularly horrid for Knickerbockers.
While they seemingly refuse to seriously negotiate with Lee and Robinson, the Knicks are said to be interested in Ramon Sessions and Allen Iverson. Sessions is a good young guard and would definitely help the Knicks by taking the burden off Chris Duhon, who played well last year, but also played too much. There is also a bit of a point guard log jam in Milwaukee with first-round pick Brandon Jennings joining Sessions and Luke Ridnour, so that move makes sense. What doesn’t make sense is Allen Iverson. AI is a bad teammate, has a bad attitude and has a diminishing skill set. Yes, he is a former MVP and scoring championing, but at this point in his career he is not an upgrade over Nate Robinson, who is younger and willing to come of the bench.
3) It Was Hard Being LeBron James in High School
LBJ is going to announce to the world in his autobiography, Shooting Star, (written with or more accurately written by Buzz Bissinger) that he smoked marijuana in high school while struggling with his new found fame. Now I don’t think there’s anything wrong with smoking pot, but why on earth would LBJ admit this? I guess he saw how much good it did for Josh Howard’s career and thought “you know what, that looks like a good idea.” I really hope that LeBron has found a new way to deal with his fame and that the stress he is under to win an NBA championship doesn’t drive him to face the terrors of tripping on pot.
4) It’s Hard Being Lamar Odom
Lamar Odom finally made the right decision after taking weeks and losing out on three million dollars. I’ll admit it was a pretty hard decision. Option A: play for the Miami Heat, a mid-level non-championship contending team for the mid-level exception of around six million dollars per season. Option B: play for the LA Lakers, the defending champions and early-season favorites for nine million dollars a year. Hmmm, give me a month to decide.
5) It’s Hard taking the Ball to the Hole in the NBA
‘Nuff Said.