August 18, 2006 ...…More
freestyle thought is headed into this space. We will still talk hoops more than
anything but you all know I like to talk media, music, food, and nightclubs as
well. With that in mind, Kim and I made a
recent trip to Southern California and we discovered some cool and some not
cool things. …Not cool was a club we hit on Friday night called The Highlands.
Located in Hollywood at the Highland & Hollywood complex that houses among
other things the Kodak Theater (where they hold the Academy Awards), the club
was touristy. The layout of the club was okay with a couple of rooms playing different
music. An outdoor patio for the smokers was also available. Bottom line was we
were not ‘feeling it’ so we cut our losses and bounced early. The Saturday
night club choice wasn’t much better. We hit Avalon on Vine. Two DJ’s in two
different rooms were banging out up-tempo beats but the cat in the main room
was on some industrial techno trip that I didn’t like. The other room was
smaller but the DJ was much better. That being said – the crowd was a bizarre
mix of humans that just didn’t give us the vibration we were seeking so we left
early from there as well. It turns out that Avalon is known better as the
‘after-hours’ spot. We should have come back to the place at 2am to really see
it hopping said our cabby. …Speaking of not cool – while we were vacationing we
saw the ESPN News scroll saying that Jared Jeffries had signed with the Knicks. I like Jeffries demeanor and he has
team-player written all over him. BUT…he just isn’t efficient enough at his
position. If he could shoot the three more reliably I would see SOME value in
him as a small forward. However – he usually has to play the four spot where he
is out muscled and over powered. I view this as another in a long line of
TERRIBLE signings by the Knicks. …The Hornets continued to add shooting to their
squad with the addition of Jannero Pargo. …The Mavs did well to acquire Devean George. …Back to the LA trip. We had good experiences at LaLa’s restaurant.
The Argentine food spot on Melrose was so good we ate dinner there twice in
five nights. The service was outstanding and the food was incredible. Their
empanada appetizers were top-notch with a flakey crust that was perfectly
cooked. I highly recommend LaLa’s! …I do not endorse the UCLA ice cream and cookie joint
called Diddy Reise. We were excited to find a long line outside of the student
favorite on Broxton in Westwood. The cookies must be GREAT we thought. Actually
they were just cheap. For a $1.25 you get an ice cream sandwich using two Diddy
Reise cookies and one scoop of your favorite flavor. The ice cream was nothing
special. It was Dreyer’s as a matter of fact. The cookies which were hyped
beyond belief in the City Guide that led us to the place after 10PM were
nothing special at all. They looked and tasted like the crap you buy off the
shelf that is ‘cut and cook’. It was baffling to see such a line for such a
regular – no frills – taste. …We loved the huge shopping mall known as the
Beverly Center. The choices for men’s fashion at Bloomingdale’s were
impressive. …We saw Lark Voorhies from Saved by the Bell shopping at BeBe. Yes, she still looks good.
August 13, 2006 ...I am proud
of the Kings for landing Loren Woods. He is certainly good enough to warrant some run. I see him as a good
backup if he can stay healthy. ...MTV’s Run’s House is a great T.V. show. ...I
also love HBO’s Entourage.
July 25, 2006 ...I have no
idea how the Kings could sign John Salmons to a reported five year deal.
John Salmons? The good things I can say about Salmons are that he is
tough (he played all 82 games last year), and he can score a bit on his own. He
will help Sacramento in slowing down opposing point guards. Geoff Petrie mentioned he could play
three positions. I say he can maybe DEFEND three positions but his three point
shot is not yet like that of an offensive three-man. He is more suited to
playing either of the guard spots. The Kings press release says Salmons is 6’7”
yet NBA.com lists him at 6’6”. Salmons
Efficiency Rating ranked him as the 84th best shooting guard in the league last
season. ...The Kings also said they are not going to land Bonzi Wells back in Sac because Wells is seeking too
much cash. ...Prepare yourself Kings fans for the first sub-.500 Kings season
in Sacramento in ages unless there are some more moves coming. It is a given in
my mind that the Kings are already not in the same class as Dallas, San
Antonio, Phoenix, and the Clippers. New
Orleans and Minnesota have improved in the off-season. The Rockets were 21-10
when Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady played together last
season. The Lakers will be there.
Seattle still has Ray Allen and Rashard Lewis. Utah should be better after enduring an
injury riddled 2005-06. Denver should be in the mix too. ...The Kings did do
one thing I liked and that was signing Justin
Williams—a rookie
free agent from Wyoming that actually blocks shots.
July 6, 2006 ...D’Or Fischer of West Virginia and Curtis Withers of Charlotte will play on the Bobcats
summer leaguer entry in the Orlando Summer League. ...I just looked at the
Minnesota Timberwolves regular season roster and it stinks. Outside of
Portland—Minnesota could be looking at worst in West status in 2006-07. All
free agents that didn’t get drafted should try to make the Wolves roster. The
chances are good you beat out the likes of Marko Jaric, Trenton
Hassell, Mark Blount, Troy Hudson, Bracey Wright, Mark Madsen or Justin Reed. Eddie Griffin—I still think can play but he keeps doing silly things off-court.
Obviously Kevin Garnett
is GREAT but
outside of draft picks Randy Foye, and Craig Smith—I don’t see much help. J.P. Batista of Gonzaga is on the Wolves summer
roster. He should make that team. ...Ruben Douglas - a scorer from New Mexico is on the Summer Suns roster. Former UoP
(Pacific) high flyer Guillaume Yango is also on the Suns Vegas summer team. ...Hopefully whoever covers the
summer leagues for NBA-TV will focus enough on the actual games to keep the
viewing about playing basketball. Often, Summer broadcasts turn into horrible
shows because inevitably there will be an extended interview during game play. I
hate that. There is no continuity when they do that. I prefer all the GM
jibber-jabber and such to be packaged tightly (pre-recorded and edited) and
used when appropriate at the end of quarters or halftime or during 20-second
timeouts, etc…