August 19, 2005 ...Wasn’t going to write today but I just read my morning paper at 12:30 PM and saw that Minnesota is going to sign Damien Wilkins for five years and $15 million. Is Kevin McHale drunk? I watched Wilkins’ entire college career and his one—albeit fairly nice year—with Seattle as an NBA rookie. He is a 6’6” power forward. He shot 27% from beyond the arc last year which means he has no business playing the THREE spot. At 6’6” - a guy should really be a shooting guard in the NBA. Wilkins can’t shoot well though. 61% FT shooter. Okay—so to warrant that contract—he must be a helluva scorer or rebounder. No and No. I don’t want to pick on Wilkins. He is tough, and a team guy. I am picking on Kevin McHale. The Wolves—more than any other team—have been bad because of poor front office decisions. Joe Smith cost them draft picks. The Sprewell signing failed. Anthony Carter as a backup PG was awful. They waived Blake Stepp. Now this summer they give a  long deal to Mark Madsen, trade Sam Cassell for Marko Jaric, sign Nikoloz Tskitishvili, and overpay for Wilkins. No wonder KG can’t win.  McHale should be fired. ...Hey Jimmy Jam—you’ve got the cash to buy that franchise. How about it?

 

August 18, 2005 ...New Orleans. Peeeeeuuuuuhhhhhh. The worst starting five in the NBA belongs to the New Orleans Hornets. Fixing this dreadful team would take darn near a miracle. We are guessing they trot out Chris Paul as a starting rookie point guard (although Speedy Claxton would be the way to go). Second year shooting guard J.R. Smith is not yet ready to start but he probably will at this juncture. The three-man could be Rasual Butler or Bostjan Nachbar, or David West. P.J. Brown will start at the Four. They keep threatening to trade Jamal Magloire but so far he is still on their roster.  Chris Andersen received a new contract and he will be the starting Center. The bench holds only rookie Brandon Bass as young player we are fond of. The Hornets have George Lynch and Maciej Lampe. Yawn. Rookie Arvydas Macijauskas from Lithuania is a 6’4” guard that is new to Byron Scott’s team. Maybe he can help N.O. after last season’s year-long struggles. Smith and Casey Jacobsen ranked 112th and 113th respectively among those who  played over 300 minutes at the TWO in the Association in 04-05. So it makes perfect (non) sense that they traded for Kirk Snyder who ranked 120th. ...The miracle fix toward the path of righteousness in Louisiana? Good pieces are Chris Paul, Speedy Claxton, Chris Andersen, and Brandon Bass. David West—if he can play the three, can also help. P.J. Brown should be a backup at this point—so trade him if possible. Magloire is vastly overrated, and I would trade him too. If we are in charge we let Lee Nailon and Jacobson walk as free agents. Contrary to popular belief—we would work to re-sign Dan Dickau but only at a “back-up price”. He is a young talented point guard coming off his best year as a pro. I again stress I think he will prove to be a good backup in the NBA. Chris Paul may be a hit some day—but rookie PGs struggle. Keep Dickau and see if you can move Claxton? New Orleans MUST improve at the TWO and THREE to have any chance of winning. Matt Carroll would help them. CBA’er Nate Johnson would help. Rodney White? Ime Udoka, Michael Harris? Josh Davis? On the front line—I like young free agents Olumide Oyedeji, and Darius Songaila.

 

August 13, 2005 ...The Kings signing Shareef Abdur-Rahim is a good thing for Sacramento. Shareef can shoot. He was over 50% FG, 80% FT, and 38% 3-pt. last season. Here are the guys who shot as well as Abdur-Rahim did last season: Jason Terry, Steve Nash, and and ??? No one, that’s who. Shareef shoots as good as an elite point guard. Imagine him busting 17’ jumper after 17’ jumper in the Kings offense. He is more naturally a power forward than a small forward but I think he is more valuable when he plays the three spot. His deep stroke is getting better as he matures and he is such a good rebounder that he adds toughness when he can play with two other bigs. Makes your team seem like three bigs on floor together. Regardless of where he plays—this is a really nice signing. Another one. Geoff Petrie is schooling cats right now on how to build from within the league.

 

August 9, 2005 ...Jamal Sampson was signed by the Sacramento Kings today. It’s a low-risk—possible high reward signing. The backup Center is coming off his ‘most impressive’ season to date where he earned a .495 EFR for the Charlotte Bobcats. That efficiency number ranked him 35th among all Centers in 2004-05. However—he logged just over the minimum 300 minutes to qualify. It may surprise you to know his EFR rating was higher than those of Lorenzen Wright, Chris Kamen, Steven Hunter, and Nened Kristic. Sampson is only 22 years old. He played at Cal for one season and then made a regrettable decision to leave college for the NBA. He was taken in the 2nd round of the 2002 draft by Milwaukee. Had he stayed four years in Berkeley—he would be an NBA rookie now. Instead his rookie year was 02-03 with the Bucks. He landed in Los Angeles with the Lakers for 2003-04. His “Senior” season included 300-plus minutes logged for the Charlotte Bobcats last year. The body of work for Sampson is sketchy; 467 total minutes for his NBA career. Enthusiasm is an issue for him as well. Sampson can look like the oldest 22 year-old you’ve ever seen, lumbering up and down a floor. I just saw him play at the Rocky Mountain Revue. He rebounds very well, and he blocks shots. He is a poor free throw shooter, and he gets an assist about once a month.