Kate Beirness. She’s an anchor on TSN who referred to the Lakers/Suns series as the NBA Finals. I joke you not. Thought I’d get that out of the way early before I forget. While we’re complaining about stuff, let’s also mention basketball articles that use the term the word “slam dunk” in their story titles. It’s like their brains don’t have the capacity to make anything but the most obvious double entendre. For example, here’s Frank Zicarelli saying that Trading Turkoglu is no slam dunk. Zicarelli’s (pictured here) lack of effort didn’t stop there, he didn’t even bother researching the article and claims that “even if Turkoglu wants out, trading a player with three more guaranteed years at roughly $30 million is no slam dunk”.
That’s not true, he’s got a player option of $12.2M for the 2013-14 season which he’ll no doubt pick up because I don’t see anyone offering a 34-year old Turkoglu that kind of money. Not to flog a dead horse, but what is up with his articles containing one line per paragraph. Moving on.
There hasn’t been a single word from the Raptors camp about the Turkoglu saga. Bryan Colangelo has probably contacted Turkoglu or his agent to sort matters out, and I half expect Colangelo and Turkoglu to come out and say they’re best friends and it was all a misunderstanding and stuff was lost in translation. Once that happens, nobody should be surprised to see Turkoglu traded within the week because that’s how Colangelo rolls. The man has an unenviable task of turning water into wine with this team and he’s loyal to no one, and at this point he should keep all options open, including lying to Turkoglu, trading Bargnani, and firing Gherardini.
Veteran Miami Heat writer Ira Winderman is openly debating whether the Heat absorbing Chris Bosh and Hedo Turkoglu would set them on the path to contention. After Riley fleeced Colangelo on the O’Neal deal, I’m very weary of dealing with him again. I get the sense Riley negotiates like Michael Corleone as in you think you’re getting a good deal but all you’re doing is scheduling a cap in your ass. Turkoglu doesn’t appear to be a “Riley type” player, the lackadaisical attitude, the wry smiles, the most faintest attention to defensive detail, a lot of things about him just don’t line up with how Pat Riley views the game. But in a free-agent market containing only one premiere guard other than Wade, if somebody happens to snatch Joe Johnson before Riley (assuming he’s even considering it which I doubt), they’ll have to look elsewhere and in that case, we should hope Turkoglu’s “legend” from the 2009-10 finals is still alive.
This is a couple days old but it’s worth checking out, David Falk’s take on the whole free-agency situation and what LeBron James should and shouldn’t do.
To keep things fresh, I will go through some of Chris Bosh’s recent tweets and make a comment about them.
Tweet: She enlightens me
Comment: If you’re talking about her, I can see it happening.
Tweet:I’m not around a TV right now. Who’s winning the game?
Comment: So you’re equipped with an internet-enabled device which can post to Twitter, but you can’t check nba.com?
Tweet: I know this is random… But what do camels eat? It just came up in a conversation.
Comment: Again, you got the internet at your disposal. I’m starting to think you need help.
Tweet: Someone just asked me where I’m going for 2010. I can’t even escape the madness outside the country.
Comment: Oh poor Chris, somebody stop the ‘madness’ which he himself brought on so that people would ask him these exact kinds of questions. Punk.
Tweet: Sometimes all it takes is a tip-in. The Lakers found that out tonight. (No pun intended)
Comment: Where’s the pun?
You might’ve heard that Gary Coleman passed away to which Bosh and Jalen Rose responded on Twitter. Not that this is related, but a pornstar had the most truthful take on Coleman’s passing away.
