Not Wasted Wednesday

Some thoughts here for your Wednesday reading enjoyment. First off Dusty's confusion over Marquis Daniel's hair is justified. Speaking of hair in the league, or a lack there of, I really want to send Ginobli some of the Ronco hair spray paint for his bald spot. This would be a great commercial too, Manu and Ron Pompeil talking about the product and spraying each other's head. Then close ups during the game would show the spray bleeding as Manu sweats black bullets. Ok enough of that.

How bad are the Wiz without Hibachi! Gil Arenas is like a crazy girlfriend who is super hot, but basically the harmless kind of crazy. Let me clarify, if you were going to continue this analogy we are talking the kind of crazy girlfriend who screams out state capitols during sex. Not the kind of girl who decides that she no longer likes your clothes and starts giving them to Goodwill one piece at a time over a few weeks until you begin to wander why in the hell you have no laundry and your closet is empty. The kind of girl who dresses up like Rainbow Bright and... Not the kind of girl who throws dishes at you after you didn't wash them. You get the point. So for those of you who don't like Gil you have to learn how to embrace the crazy because the Wizards have no one else on that team that can finish games or cause other teams to completely fall apaprt because they cannot guard him. Antwan Jamison will get numbers, but he won't win games on his own. Clock down to three seconds Gil shakes his man and from thirty feet... Montpelier! Get well soon Gil.

The Wiz are about as bad as the Suns are when Steve Nash is not on the floor. The Suns look lost when Nash isn't on the floor. They don't have a back up point guard. They really don't play a back up point guard, who does this? No one that's who. Why haven't the Suns won a championship because no one can give Steve Nash a break and keep the other team from making a run. Yes you can talk about the suspensions last year, but the fact that no one can spell Nash is the reason that Suns cannot get to the Finals. They couldn't have traded Kurt Thomas for a serviceable low price back up? For a smart team this is pretty damn stupid. I am in an analogy mood. This is like buying a Ducati motorcycle with all of the ammenities. This is the sweetest little speed bike you can imagine, and you live in the desert so it is ideal. However, even in the desert it rains. You don't own a car. Not even a beater, so that you have something with a roof for when the rain comes. Shit you didn't even buy rain gear. Somehow if you are the Suns it flash floods in May every year and you never learn your lesson.

Steve Francis is proving that he is worth twenty minutes a night at least. Rafer can be serviceable at twenty minutes a night (even though Mike James should take those minutes). I don't even know why I condoned Rafer at all, I will continue to use this space to dog him from here on out until he wins some critical games instead of making you want to throw the remote through the TV. Steve can be the spark plug on this team. For twelve minutes in the first half Steve remembered who he was. He may not play like Stevie Franchise anymore, but he can still make some shots, pick some pockets, and make you lean forward in your seat. If he learns to follow his shot again we are looking at a dangerous man once again. If you remember this is a guy that used to average more than five rebounds a game. He will never jump out of the gym again, but he is smarter now and makes better decisions. Taking the foul to give and calling for a two for one in the second half on consecutive plays are not things he would not have done in the past. The passes he is making now that he is getting some minutes are down right impressive. The man made the game winning shot. If Rafer Alston had taken this shot I would still be picking up pieces of broken glass. Steve is back, and back in force. Remember other than not being over seven feet tall and not being Chinese he is exactly like Yao Ming, look this old gem up in Sports Illustrated.

Carlos Boozer is dominant. This is a large man making some large plays. Another Cleveland flub, but to be fair he did lie on that one. Anyway, the fact is that the Utah Jazz are going to continue to be good when Boozer is on the floor because he can shoot the midrange and flat out clear the paint out when he needs to do it.The spacing that the Jazz can get with Okur and Boozer on the floor is amazing. Deron Williams could drive a truck through those holes. Too bad for the people in Salt Lake City that Jerry Sloan cannot figure out how to get along with AK. AK remember is one of the most versatile players in the league when he isn't opining for the Motherland. Even though it is one of the more pointless exercises in sports lets think about the teams that passed on Boozer in the draft. Literally every team in the league passed on this man. This isn't should someone have picked him up earlier in the first round... he went in the second round. Let's think about this, a big man who dominated in college could not possibly help a team out in the pros. Power forwards who can play like this are few and far between. They should not be the sixth pick in the second round. Amare Stoudemire and Yao Ming are the only other big men in this draft even worth mentioning in the same breath and they were both top ten picks.

On a sadder note condolensces to the family of Sean Taylor. This was truly pointless.

The Captain signing off.