Bricklayer
Don't Make Me Use The Bat
Ok. Well. Get this: We shot 18-22 in the first quarter against OKC's starters. Scored 40pts. Then we could not close out the game against OKC's bench, which played the entire 4th, without James Harden. Er...not sure what to say about that.
Anyway, was an interesting game at least with all kinds of over the top performances, Outlaw playing the game of his last 3 seasons, JT playing the game of his please pay me, and Boogie slaying his OKC demons...kinda, as he stepped outside and then beat the cruid out of hapless Cole Aldrich (who I remember people talking about taking in the draft as a Boogie alternative a couple of years back). And of course I would be remiss if I failed to mention the Hustlin' Husky, who played a pretty solid roleplayer type game, has now topped Nash and Stockton and is being mentioned alongside Magic Johnson. We've got one game left -- put his chances of being the greatest PG of all time at about 50/50 before the season is out.
Ok, given that we almost won this one, which would have really put a dent in our Anthony Davis pursuit, and given that the Lakers have now secured their playoiff position, if Mike Brown plays it anything like the Zen Master always did there's a good chance we win the last game against the Lakers scrubs, and maybe a ballboy or 2. So since I promised I would do this theme before the year was out and I may not have another chance, Theme = Worst Sports Owners of All Time.
Boxscore
Outlaw ( A ) -- there is really no way to explain what happened tonight. The absolute truth, no exaggeration, is that Travis Outlaw has not been an NBA player this year. Minus the guaranteed money we are stupidly paying him, he would have been released like any other 10 day contract scrub months ago. The last time we faced this same team a week ago, he shot 0-6 for 1pt in 27 minutes while Durant put up 29-14-7. He received an F for a grade. And then tonight...its pod people I tell ya. His hot start began as a gift from the Thunder, who had seen him play a week ago and were gleefully doubling our more competent players and leaving Outlaw wide open, and I do mean WIDE open at the three point stripe. Several long bombs later they began to get more honest about things, but then something even odder happened -- Outlaw, who has pretty much devolved into a jump shooting chucker despite the athleticism, began to charge the rim. It made you cringe given how little he's done it this year, but he came up with several tough finishes (which were actually on shots he forced and should not have been taking, but still), two big dunks, and was just flat getting it done on offense as he had 10 points in the first quarter. With us struggling in the 2nd we brought our main guys in...and it was Outlaw who was the guy with the drive and dunk to restablize us. Kept on making hustle garbage plays into the third, and that was the other thing -- not only was he using his athleticsm on the drive, he was using it on the boards too, and was rebounding with authority. To let you know just how bizarre a development that is consider that Travis Outlaw is ranked 170th out of 195 forwards in the league in rebounds per 36min. Actually...Outlaw is ranked 170th of 195, Honeycutt 172nd, Cisco 179th and Salmons 186th -- I said before the year began that we had put together the worst rebounding collection of SFs in the league, and boy had we. Not tonight though. Outlaw was playing better defense than Durant's statline indicates too (well, Durant's 7-19 might hint at it I guess). Finally made a mistake at the beginning of the 4th that felt more like the Outlaw we've grown to love, fouling the 3pt shooter as he hit the shot to commit the 4pt play error on Cook as OKC took back the lead. Wasn't heard from much in the 4th. Which is probably why we lost of course. You go away from Travis Outlaw you get what you deserve. As these grades always have a healthy dose of relatvity to the indivudal player built into them, gotta go A here. I sincerely doubt, that even if we are stuck with Travis Outlaw for 3 more long years , that he's going to give us a much better game than 20pts 7reb 4stls and 2blks.
Marge Schott (Cincinatti Reds) -- colorful might be a word. That is if you your version of colorful is cheap old foul mouthed racist. She publicly endorsed Adolf Hitler's early years, saying he had the right idea, but things just sort of got out of hand (ya think?). She referred to her players as n-words, and supposedly complained she would hire a monkey before another n-word in owner meetings. She let her dogs -- giant St. Bernard's -- defecate on the field both before and after games. She was cheap as the day went long, famously complaining about having to pay players while they were hurt, refusing to hire scouts "because all they did was watch baseball games" and refusing to have out of town scorers listed on the scoreboards because the service cost $350 a month. She was also heartless. When her outfielder Eric Davis tore up his knee in the playoffs, she wouldn't spring for airfare to send him on home. When an umpire at one of her games suddenly collapsed and fell over dead, she complained about the game being postponed. She later regifted a boquet of flowers that had been sent to her to the funeral home as a sign of her 'respect". In the midst ofone of the Reds last strong playoff runs she announced she was firing manager Davey Johnson regardless at the end of the season. The reason? Because Johnson, who was already in his 50s at the time, was living with his fiancee in the months before their marriage. She was a peach. A rotten peach. But a peach.
Thompson ( A- ) -- quiet start, but especially after Collison came in just started scoring at will against him. And that kind of remains the thing with JT -- we need a better defensive starter, but when you look at the 3rd bigs for the elite contending teams, at Nick Collison, Taj Gibson, Udonis Haslem etc., JT fits right in with that group. Tonight Jason didn't do much against a quiet Ibaka (who I think was just depressed that Cuz wasn't going to go charging in there 10 times to pad his block stats), but whenever Collison was in there he worked him over. Called postups, drives, long jumpers...it wasn't just garbage hoops. On the flip side did not give us much on the boards -- none of our guys did as we go got killed on the glass for what seems like the 20th straight game (even Charlotte whipped us). Late in the game got iced by his own team at the FT stripe when a strange series of lineup changes and subs led to a 2 minute delay between his FTs, but for him a 4-6 night isn't bad there either.
Arnold Johnson (Kansas City A's) -- Bought the Philadelphia A's, and despite a furious public campaign to try to keep the team in Philly, moved them out ot Kansas City. Then things got interesting. First he signed a very short term lease with Kansas City, which included an escape clause allowing him to leave the city anytime after 3 years were over if attendance fell below 1 million for the season. Second he had long been in bed with the Yankees owners in business dealings (including actually owning Yankee stadium before he bought the A's, and the Yankees owners' holding a second mortgage of Johnson's house worth $2.9mil). Third, it was widely rumored that his eventual intention was to pack the team up a second time and move to L.A., an idea that was only frustrated when the Brooklyn Dodgers beat him to that market a couple of years later. But meanwhile, Johnson still wanted out of Kansas City, still had his connections with the Yankees, and didn't give a damn about the sport -- he was pretty much a male vesion of the bitchy owner in Major League. So for the next 7 years everytime the A's developed a young player with any talent, Johnson would immediately sell that player off to the Yankees, helping his bottom line and hurting attendance as he basically turned the proud A's franchise into a new minor league affiliate of the Yankees right where their old affiliate had been. Not surprisingly, people did indeed quit coming to the games while the constant influx of free talent helped power the Yankees dynasty. But Johnson, alas, died before he was able to complete the final leg of his master plan and get the team to California. That would fall to his successor, Charlie O. Finley.
Cousins ( A- ) -- well, in his 4th try against the team that has tortured him this year, Boogie finally figured it out. What stops this from being truly triumphant is that it really ddin't feel like the same team we were facing. Having lost the top seed, playing poorly, just playing out the string, that same defensive intensity was not there. Who knows, maybe World Peace punctured their confidence balloon with his elbow. In any case, Cuz played this one smart, neutralizing the Ibaka factor by simply refusing to play in his playground and peppering the Thunder with long jumpers instead. In fact a day after geting a reprieve for his 13th technical, it seemed like Boogie was intent on playing this one smart al the way around, as he also conspicuously avoided fouls on defense (sometimes too conspicuously as he wasn't even raising his arms on defense against Perkins in the early going). In fact you could almost say he played a finesse first half -- unfortunately the finesse would extend to the boards, where he didn't do much and was rarely in position on offense due to the jumper focus. As per usual on our team, got hampered by his own coach as he scored 16pts in about 16 minutes and then never returned in the first half as we scored 19pts in the second quarter after 40 in the first. But obviously, don't want to break up that awesome bench momentum. Coaching 101 really. Turned up the aggression after half, working well with Reke for dunks and layups, and getting aggressiuve on defense and coming up with mutliple blocks and steals as we opened the lead back up. Pumped his stats up considerably in the 4th after the Thunder just said screw it and threw their reserves in there. Big Cuz got matched up with fellow sophomore lottery pick Cole Aldridge, who has been nearly as effective s DeMarcus in his career. Nearly. Boogie won that battle, and if wasn't quite the same thing as finally overpowering a fully engaged Perkins and Ibaka, it was still a strong game against this team.
Ted Stepien (Cleveland Cavaliers) -- you know the way we couldn't trade our first round pick this year because we traded our pick last year? That's the result of this owner. Taking over the Cavs in the early 80's, he proceeded to run them into the ground, gaining the nickname the Cleveland Cadavers, threatened to move the team to Toronto, and finally sold his interest to the Gund brothers. He meddled incessantly and had no patience. In one season he fired three different coaches, including Chuck Daly who was fresh off of taking my alma mater Penn to a Final Four and just about to take over the Pistons and become a HOFer. His 4th coach that year was Bill Musselman, whom he had just fired the year before. Stepien was famous for overpaying roleplayers, and for trading away pick after pick to acquire mediocre and over the hill vets. One of those picks went on to become James Worthy, selected #1 overall in 1982. Thus the institution of the "Stepien" rule to protect idiots from themselves.
Anyway, was an interesting game at least with all kinds of over the top performances, Outlaw playing the game of his last 3 seasons, JT playing the game of his please pay me, and Boogie slaying his OKC demons...kinda, as he stepped outside and then beat the cruid out of hapless Cole Aldrich (who I remember people talking about taking in the draft as a Boogie alternative a couple of years back). And of course I would be remiss if I failed to mention the Hustlin' Husky, who played a pretty solid roleplayer type game, has now topped Nash and Stockton and is being mentioned alongside Magic Johnson. We've got one game left -- put his chances of being the greatest PG of all time at about 50/50 before the season is out.
Ok, given that we almost won this one, which would have really put a dent in our Anthony Davis pursuit, and given that the Lakers have now secured their playoiff position, if Mike Brown plays it anything like the Zen Master always did there's a good chance we win the last game against the Lakers scrubs, and maybe a ballboy or 2. So since I promised I would do this theme before the year was out and I may not have another chance, Theme = Worst Sports Owners of All Time.
Boxscore
Outlaw ( A ) -- there is really no way to explain what happened tonight. The absolute truth, no exaggeration, is that Travis Outlaw has not been an NBA player this year. Minus the guaranteed money we are stupidly paying him, he would have been released like any other 10 day contract scrub months ago. The last time we faced this same team a week ago, he shot 0-6 for 1pt in 27 minutes while Durant put up 29-14-7. He received an F for a grade. And then tonight...its pod people I tell ya. His hot start began as a gift from the Thunder, who had seen him play a week ago and were gleefully doubling our more competent players and leaving Outlaw wide open, and I do mean WIDE open at the three point stripe. Several long bombs later they began to get more honest about things, but then something even odder happened -- Outlaw, who has pretty much devolved into a jump shooting chucker despite the athleticism, began to charge the rim. It made you cringe given how little he's done it this year, but he came up with several tough finishes (which were actually on shots he forced and should not have been taking, but still), two big dunks, and was just flat getting it done on offense as he had 10 points in the first quarter. With us struggling in the 2nd we brought our main guys in...and it was Outlaw who was the guy with the drive and dunk to restablize us. Kept on making hustle garbage plays into the third, and that was the other thing -- not only was he using his athleticsm on the drive, he was using it on the boards too, and was rebounding with authority. To let you know just how bizarre a development that is consider that Travis Outlaw is ranked 170th out of 195 forwards in the league in rebounds per 36min. Actually...Outlaw is ranked 170th of 195, Honeycutt 172nd, Cisco 179th and Salmons 186th -- I said before the year began that we had put together the worst rebounding collection of SFs in the league, and boy had we. Not tonight though. Outlaw was playing better defense than Durant's statline indicates too (well, Durant's 7-19 might hint at it I guess). Finally made a mistake at the beginning of the 4th that felt more like the Outlaw we've grown to love, fouling the 3pt shooter as he hit the shot to commit the 4pt play error on Cook as OKC took back the lead. Wasn't heard from much in the 4th. Which is probably why we lost of course. You go away from Travis Outlaw you get what you deserve. As these grades always have a healthy dose of relatvity to the indivudal player built into them, gotta go A here. I sincerely doubt, that even if we are stuck with Travis Outlaw for 3 more long years , that he's going to give us a much better game than 20pts 7reb 4stls and 2blks.
Marge Schott (Cincinatti Reds) -- colorful might be a word. That is if you your version of colorful is cheap old foul mouthed racist. She publicly endorsed Adolf Hitler's early years, saying he had the right idea, but things just sort of got out of hand (ya think?). She referred to her players as n-words, and supposedly complained she would hire a monkey before another n-word in owner meetings. She let her dogs -- giant St. Bernard's -- defecate on the field both before and after games. She was cheap as the day went long, famously complaining about having to pay players while they were hurt, refusing to hire scouts "because all they did was watch baseball games" and refusing to have out of town scorers listed on the scoreboards because the service cost $350 a month. She was also heartless. When her outfielder Eric Davis tore up his knee in the playoffs, she wouldn't spring for airfare to send him on home. When an umpire at one of her games suddenly collapsed and fell over dead, she complained about the game being postponed. She later regifted a boquet of flowers that had been sent to her to the funeral home as a sign of her 'respect". In the midst ofone of the Reds last strong playoff runs she announced she was firing manager Davey Johnson regardless at the end of the season. The reason? Because Johnson, who was already in his 50s at the time, was living with his fiancee in the months before their marriage. She was a peach. A rotten peach. But a peach.
Thompson ( A- ) -- quiet start, but especially after Collison came in just started scoring at will against him. And that kind of remains the thing with JT -- we need a better defensive starter, but when you look at the 3rd bigs for the elite contending teams, at Nick Collison, Taj Gibson, Udonis Haslem etc., JT fits right in with that group. Tonight Jason didn't do much against a quiet Ibaka (who I think was just depressed that Cuz wasn't going to go charging in there 10 times to pad his block stats), but whenever Collison was in there he worked him over. Called postups, drives, long jumpers...it wasn't just garbage hoops. On the flip side did not give us much on the boards -- none of our guys did as we go got killed on the glass for what seems like the 20th straight game (even Charlotte whipped us). Late in the game got iced by his own team at the FT stripe when a strange series of lineup changes and subs led to a 2 minute delay between his FTs, but for him a 4-6 night isn't bad there either.
Arnold Johnson (Kansas City A's) -- Bought the Philadelphia A's, and despite a furious public campaign to try to keep the team in Philly, moved them out ot Kansas City. Then things got interesting. First he signed a very short term lease with Kansas City, which included an escape clause allowing him to leave the city anytime after 3 years were over if attendance fell below 1 million for the season. Second he had long been in bed with the Yankees owners in business dealings (including actually owning Yankee stadium before he bought the A's, and the Yankees owners' holding a second mortgage of Johnson's house worth $2.9mil). Third, it was widely rumored that his eventual intention was to pack the team up a second time and move to L.A., an idea that was only frustrated when the Brooklyn Dodgers beat him to that market a couple of years later. But meanwhile, Johnson still wanted out of Kansas City, still had his connections with the Yankees, and didn't give a damn about the sport -- he was pretty much a male vesion of the bitchy owner in Major League. So for the next 7 years everytime the A's developed a young player with any talent, Johnson would immediately sell that player off to the Yankees, helping his bottom line and hurting attendance as he basically turned the proud A's franchise into a new minor league affiliate of the Yankees right where their old affiliate had been. Not surprisingly, people did indeed quit coming to the games while the constant influx of free talent helped power the Yankees dynasty. But Johnson, alas, died before he was able to complete the final leg of his master plan and get the team to California. That would fall to his successor, Charlie O. Finley.
Cousins ( A- ) -- well, in his 4th try against the team that has tortured him this year, Boogie finally figured it out. What stops this from being truly triumphant is that it really ddin't feel like the same team we were facing. Having lost the top seed, playing poorly, just playing out the string, that same defensive intensity was not there. Who knows, maybe World Peace punctured their confidence balloon with his elbow. In any case, Cuz played this one smart, neutralizing the Ibaka factor by simply refusing to play in his playground and peppering the Thunder with long jumpers instead. In fact a day after geting a reprieve for his 13th technical, it seemed like Boogie was intent on playing this one smart al the way around, as he also conspicuously avoided fouls on defense (sometimes too conspicuously as he wasn't even raising his arms on defense against Perkins in the early going). In fact you could almost say he played a finesse first half -- unfortunately the finesse would extend to the boards, where he didn't do much and was rarely in position on offense due to the jumper focus. As per usual on our team, got hampered by his own coach as he scored 16pts in about 16 minutes and then never returned in the first half as we scored 19pts in the second quarter after 40 in the first. But obviously, don't want to break up that awesome bench momentum. Coaching 101 really. Turned up the aggression after half, working well with Reke for dunks and layups, and getting aggressiuve on defense and coming up with mutliple blocks and steals as we opened the lead back up. Pumped his stats up considerably in the 4th after the Thunder just said screw it and threw their reserves in there. Big Cuz got matched up with fellow sophomore lottery pick Cole Aldridge, who has been nearly as effective s DeMarcus in his career. Nearly. Boogie won that battle, and if wasn't quite the same thing as finally overpowering a fully engaged Perkins and Ibaka, it was still a strong game against this team.
Ted Stepien (Cleveland Cavaliers) -- you know the way we couldn't trade our first round pick this year because we traded our pick last year? That's the result of this owner. Taking over the Cavs in the early 80's, he proceeded to run them into the ground, gaining the nickname the Cleveland Cadavers, threatened to move the team to Toronto, and finally sold his interest to the Gund brothers. He meddled incessantly and had no patience. In one season he fired three different coaches, including Chuck Daly who was fresh off of taking my alma mater Penn to a Final Four and just about to take over the Pistons and become a HOFer. His 4th coach that year was Bill Musselman, whom he had just fired the year before. Stepien was famous for overpaying roleplayers, and for trading away pick after pick to acquire mediocre and over the hill vets. One of those picks went on to become James Worthy, selected #1 overall in 1982. Thus the institution of the "Stepien" rule to protect idiots from themselves.
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