Rautins doing just fine, thanks

July 2, 2008 – 2:41 pm

Yesterday you probably saw this post on TNIAAM or this blog entry and this article from Donna Ditota, all dealing with Andy Rautins’ return to the court on Monday, and how it seemed that everything went pretty well in his first game action since his injury. Sean of TNIAAM found a second perspective from the Dino Nation blog (Toronto Raptors/Canada Basketball). Well, the Post-Standard didn’t feel like writing a second Rautins story in two days, but Dino Nation did cover Canada’s second game, which took place yesterday (which also happened to be Canada Day) and had this to say about Rautins:

Rautins Seems Back On Track For Syracuse This Fall

For those of you that may be fans of Syracuse Orange, you would be interested in the progress of Andy Rautins. I will say I am far from an expert in some ways. But as someone that does watch a fair bit of basketball, I saw little to no effect on Rautins who is coming off a major injury suffered last year vs Brazil. He is wearing a brace on the repaired knee. But he seems to be moving without issue or concern. I also noticed him in today’s game playing at times as a play maker as oppossed to a shooter. He made several nice passes and was setting players up with easy scoring chance. Rautins would look for his own offense after the game was long decided in the 4th quarter. It is a good sign that he was able to play a great deal of minutes in a quick evening to late afternoon turn around. So I would say if you are a fan of the Orange it seems you will have your player back at a level that is not unlike when you last saw him.

He’s not kidding. I’m very heartened to hear that Andy played on back-to-back days with apparently no ill effects. The fact that he can do more than shoot is not news to us. That’s how they do it in Canada.

I also found the box scores (in PDF format) from the two games, courtesy of Canada Basketball’s website. In the first game, Andy had 9 points in 14 minutes, but only one steal otherwise (no assists or rebounds). In the game yesterday, he had 5 points, 5 assists, 3 steals and 1 rebound in just under 20 minutes of play. Canada will continue the exhibition series with Lebanon and New Zealand this weekend, with games on July 4 and 5 in Toronto. Then the actual Olympic qualifying tournament begins on July 14.

Two other quick roster notes: (1) Andy is the only college player on the Canadian National Team; they have a couple of NBA guys and the rest play in various European leagues. (2) One of his teammates is former Pittsburgh pain-in-our-butts Levon Kendall, who currently plays in Greece.

By Josh | Posted in Andy Rautins, Pitt | Comments (4)

The D stands for Donte

June 27, 2008 – 7:09 pm

I’m calling it right now: if current circumstances persist through the summer (that is, no injuries or further trades) Donte Greene will be in the D-League next fall. The Houston Rockets rotation does not have much space. Of the nine “regular” guys in their rotation at playoff time, only* Chuck Hayes is not currently under contract for next season. Granted he is a small forward, but even if he leaves they have options on the contracts of Carl Landry and former Marquette sharpshooter Steve Novak who would fill similar roles. The Rockets are a “win-now” team and aren’t going to give significant court time in the uber-competitive Western Conference to a guy at Greene’s current ability level.

But if you think I’m being silly, check out these bits of an article from the Houston Chronicle (www.chron.com = awesome!) that Mike Waters linked to this morning:

“We needed size, athleticism and shooting,” said Rockets general manager Daryl Morey. “(Greene) has all of those things. He’s a young kid, one year out of high school. He’s a future bet.” … Morey said prior to the draft it was not likely the Rockets could find a player who would crack their rotation next season, so the team might be inclined to look for size and athleticism that could be developed for the future. Greene seems to be just that kind of project.

Of course, one awkward step by Luis Scola or Shane Battier in the Olympics and the Rockets might need to keep him around. But if the team as currently constructed stays intact, Donte can look forward to spending some quality time with the Rio Grande Valley Vipers this autumn. I hear Hidalgo, TX is lovely in November — the low sunsets look beautiful glancing off the World’s Largest Killer Bee.

*-Technically Dikembe Mutombo is also not under contract for next season but he’ll be replaced in the lineup by some guy named Yao Ming.

———————————–

What about the other draft-night deals? As the Syracusan already pointed out, Hakim Warrick must have been a bit worried when the Grizz picked Kevin Love, only to let out a massive sigh of relief when Love was traded for O J Mayo. At the moment, Hak’s minutes look relatively safe — yes there is Antoine Walker, but can you imagine him putting forth anything more than a token effort on this awful team? Especially since they are committed to the “youth movement” at this point. The Wizards drafted a 7-footer out of Nevada, which may spell trouble for Etan Thomas’ long-term future with the team. Etan is under contract for two more seasons, though, which is plenty of time for Brendan Haywood to revert to his usual sucky form. (PS. How pissed do you think the Wizards, desperately looking for help in the post, were when local favorite Roy Hibbert got snapped up by Toronto right before they picked?) Carmelo’s Nuggets didn’t do much — they had no picks, but did trade for the rights to 2nd-round choice Sonny Weems, a shooting guard out of Arkansas. Not much happening there. And it’s not like Carmelo is going anywhere. (Is he?)

Which brings us to the Jazz. Jason Hart is still under contract in Utah, slated to earn about $2.5 million this season. He must be feeling pretty good right now because the Jazz took three European frontcourt players: Ohio State’s Kosta Koufos (remember him?) late in Round 1, and a Serbian forward and Croatian center in the latter half of Round 2. No competition there, so Jason’s status as the third PG on the team appears safe, such as it is.

Finally, there is the situation of Demetris Nichols. He had a good draft night as well — the Bulls elected to extend him a “qualifying offer” and make him a restricted free agent. So they’ve obviously got interest in keeping him around, even though he may spend more time in Iowa this fall. He’s now got this offer “in his pocket” so to speak, although he can poke around and see if there is another team that wants to sign him to an offer sheet, in which case the Bulls could then choose to match the offer or let him go to the other team. The flip side of that freedom is that the team is permitted to withdraw the offer at any point within the next four weeks (unless he signs it, I presume). The Bulls, of course, had the #1 pick in the draft and took Derrick Rose, but he’s a point guard. They also ended up with a Turkish center in the 2nd round, who will probably play in Europe this year anyway. So it seems like there is definitely room for Nichols in Chicago.

By Josh | Posted in Carmelo Anthony, Demetris Nichols, Donte Greene, Etan Thomas, Hakim Warrick, Jason Hart, NBA | Comments (2)

the perils of blogging before the dealin’s done

June 27, 2008 – 1:06 pm

Half of my last blog post was invalidated late last night after I went to bed, when a flurry of post-draft trading heavily restructured the Memphis roster. In a series of moves far too complicated for me to interpret as brilliant, foolish, or meaningless, Memphis shipped Donte Greene off to Houston in a three-team trade involving Portland, and then ditched their big-shot #5 pick, Kevin Love, in a blockbuster 8 player trade with Minnesota. So, never mind all the hand-wringing about Donte and Hakim being on the same team. Also, the theory that Hak’s PT will vanish is now moot. Memphis packed off their prime-time PF draft pick and brought in a SG, OJ Mayo, so Hak is looking much better off. That said, the blockbuster deal did bring in PF Antoine Walker, and the Donte deal brought in the #27 pick of the draft, former Jayhawk PF Darrell Arthur. However, if Hak can’t beat out busted old ‘Toine or a #27 pick, then he probably deserves to be on the bench. Personally, I expect he’ll be the one to emerge among that troika. What this all means for Donte I’m not sure. Houston is already a very good team, so I imagine he’ll be getting zero PT whatsoever next season; as opposed to if he were on Memphis, a team so bad they likely would have given him some minutes here and there just for the heck of it. On the other hand, although he will be playing less, perhaps Houston will take a more serious approach to developing him in practice, and they can afford to go slower and be more patient.

Who knows? I’m not enough of an NBA expert to figure out what this all means. All I know is I wish I had waited about an hour before typing up that post last night.

By Syracusan | Posted in Donte Greene, Hakim Warrick, NBA | Comments (1)

NBA yawns in Donte Greene’s general direcation; Flynn takes note?

June 27, 2008 – 12:54 am

Donte Greene avoided humiliation by the skin of teeth this evening, sneaking into the first round of the NBA draft at the 28th spot. Three more picks and the SU blogosphere would have exploded with self-satisfied mockery, but Donte ultimately got his minimum requirements: some guaranteed money, a spot in the first round, and a team that’s required to keep him around a couple of years so he has a chance to prove himself. That said, the extremely long wait he had to endure to hear his name called speaks volumes about what most NBA general managers think of his so-called potential. He landed in the region of the draft where most of us expected him to land–after the lotto but before the 2nd round–but at the farthest possible outskirts of respectability. This confirms he made the wrong choice in my mind, since my acceptance of his decision was predicated on at least getting picked in the teens. But at this point most SU fans probably don’t care any more whether he was right or wrong. He burned his bridges, and no one felt sorry for him tonight as David Stern rattled off other names for hours on end.

Donte was lucky the incompetently run Memphis Grizzlies happened to have a pick just in time to bail him out. This pick helps cement the Grizz’s reputation as a basketcase of a franchise. Remember the scorn heaped on them after the Pau Gasol trade? Remember how badly they seemed to get hosed by the Lakers, and then remember how the Lakers rode Gasol to the finals? Well, now they’ve used one of the two picks they got from LA and burned it on Donte Greene. Great job Memphis: you’ve turned Pau Gasol into Kwame Brown and Donte Greene. Is it time for the NBA to talk about contraction?

After the break, I manage to contain my excitement over Donte Greene and Hakim Warrick being on the same team:

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By Syracusan | Posted in Donte Greene, Hakim Warrick, Jonny Flynn, NBA, Orange Blogosphere | Comments (1)

F***ing Khalid El-Amin!!! (Pro Wrapup, Summer ‘08)

June 25, 2008 – 10:14 pm

I know you have all been anxious to find out what happened with the overseas Orange in their respective league playoffs. I’ve been derelict (Derelicte!) in my duties for the past month-plus, and there has been plenty going on since then, so let’s get to it quickly so I can take the rest of the summer off….

Read More »

By Josh | Posted in Damone Brown, Elvir Ovcina, Former Orangemen, Gerry McNamara, Otis Hill, Preston Shumpert, syracuse | Comments (3)

Wesley Johnson cometh

June 25, 2008 – 3:16 pm

The weeks of rumors have been put to sleep and, as first reported by the Post-Standard, Wesley Johnson is transferring to SU from Iowa State. He’s a 6′7″ forward who was on the Big 12 All-Rookie Team after his freshman season in 06-07. His stats are intriguing: he averaged 12 points and 8 rebounds per game in his freshman season. His scoring stayed steady in his sophomore campaign but his rebounds dropped to 4 per game. TNIAAM got in touch with a Cyclones blogger who gave the lowdown on the kid here. It sounds like he will be a great fit into Boeheim’s system — long and athletic wing player who can rebound a bit (a broken foot last season contributed to the drop in his board numbers) and shoot a mid-range jumper.

The scary part is what the ‘09-’10 team will look like. Remember that of the players currently under scholarship, only Kristof Ongenaet is going to use up his eligibility this season. The ‘09-’10 roster will (barring any transfers or early departures) look like this:

    Seniors:

  • Harris
  • Devendorf
  • Onuaku
  • Rautins

    • Juniors:

  • Flynn
  • Jackson
  • Jardine
  • Wesley Johnson
  • Sean Williams

    • Sophs/Redshirt frosh:

  • Kris Joseph
  • James Southerland
  • Mookie Jones

That is a stacked roster. Experience-heavy and talent-rich. I’m having no luck figuring out who are the starters in that group. In fact I’m a little surprised that Johnson decided to come to SU rather than someplace with a thinner bench. But on the other hand, there is definitely PT available for anyone who can man the power forward position (even at 6′7″), grab some rebounds and run the floor. And after that senior class leaves, he’ll be one of the stalwarts. Essentially, he is taking over Donte Greene’s junior and senior seasons, and although he is a few inches shorter it sounds like he may have a similar skill set.

Of course a lot can happen in a year, and I will be shocked if all twelve of these players are around in November 2009. Barring any more damned injuries, four of them will probably be buried on the bench this year, based on Boeheim’s M.O. of a 7-to-8-man rotation. And with only Kristof’s minutes coming available for ‘09, and Johnson’s appearance on the scene (and he’ll have had a year of practicing to learn the zone etc.) I don’t doubt that at least one of the players will decide his fortunes are best sought elsewhere. Place your bets….

By Josh | Posted in Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku, Donte Greene, Eric Devendorf, Jim Boeheim, Jonny Flynn, Kristof Ongenaet, Paul Harris, Recruits, Rick Jackson, Scoop Jardine, Sean Williams, syracuse | Comments (1)

A night on the town

June 24, 2008 – 1:53 am

What do the Syracuse Mens Lacrosse team, a couple thousand gays and lesbians, and me all have in common?

No, not that. You have a dirty mind. That’s just wrong.

The answer is, all of us were at Nationals Park in Washington, DC last night for the Nats-Angels game. The team is in DC for today’s visit to the White House as part of “NCAA Champions Day” (which has been and shall be discussed much more thoroughly by those SU blogs whose authors actually know something about lacrosse like Orange:44 and TNIAAM). The team got a “welcome message” on the Jumbotron midway through the game; I caught the word “Syracuse” out of the corner of my eye but I was too slow with the cameraphone to provide evidence. Most other groups that were “welcome”d to the game were local LGBT organizations, as it was the fourth annual “Night OUT at the Nationals” game.

As the Nats predictably trailed going into the bottom of the ninth, my brother (who treated me to the game) drew my attention back to the scoreboard. The Nats’ version of “Mr Excitement” was in the crowd trying to rally the fans in support of the team. But there was an unusual amount of orange around him. Turns out he’d planted himself right in the middle of the SU lax team. The guys were mugging for the camera and hooting and cheering to try to whip up some crowd support. Mr Excitement announced their presence to the assemblage, trying to get their winning mojo to rub off on the home team. As the team stood and waved, my brother realized that they were only a few sections over from where we were sitting. I was able to hastily take this incredibly shitty photo with my phone on max zoom:

su lax at nats game

This could be a picture of the moon landing for all you know, except there is clearly a nice chunky orange shirt in the crowd. That guy, and the people around him, are basically the team — most of the rest of the fans in that section had already departed (if they were ever there in the first place; it was a Monday night and there had already been a rain delay). Anyway, the Nats got the tying run to 2nd base but lost. Not enough win-mojo in the house… or perhaps they were just saving it for the football team….

(PS. Someday I will get a camera with a real lens. I promise.)

By Josh | Posted in Lacrosse | Comments (2)

Ten reasons I’m really pumped about the ‘08-’09 team

June 20, 2008 – 12:29 am

It’s June, and I have to admit, I can’t stop thinking about next year’s college basketball season. So here are ten reasons why I love this team we’ve got coming in:

10. The unfathomable experience jump
It blows my mind that it’s possible for us to go from last year, where the main roster players had a collective two seasons of playing experience under their belts (Onuaku and Harris each with one) to a team which will have have, by my count, 12. This doesn’t even reflect that we have four (FOUR!) redshirts who are a year older than their class reflects. This kind of thing makes a big difference in college, where we’re going to have three 22 year-old juniors going up against 18-19 year old freshmen. These guys are going to be like Gandalf - old, wise, and able to make quick work of opponents.

9. Almost all of our individual positions are as strong as they’ve been in the last 30 years
No really, think about this one. Going position by position, with the exception of the power forward, there’s no more than one guy in Syracuse history who I’d trade our current player for.

  • Point Guard: Jonny Flynn is coming off of the best freshman season ever for a Syracuse point guard. Maybe you trade him for the Pearl or Sherman, but I might hold on this hand.
  • 2 Guard: I’m going to take this position as a combination of Devendorf and Rautins, since they both fit here and it’s unclear if either will absolutely be 100% Lawrence Moten is the gold standard here, but aside from him, I want these guys.
  • Small forward: Carmelo Anthony, sure. Probably Billy Owens. But Paul Harris brought his game to an elite level in the home stretch of last season, and became our most reliable scorer and rebounder - putting up routine double doubles. He’s the hustle, and he’s poised for a monster year.
  • Power Forward: As I said, this is the exception. Rick Jackson and K-Ong will be serviceable, but will never be Derrick Coleman, John Wallace, or Hakim Warrick.
  • Center: The only people who would compete with Arinze are Etan Thomas and Ronny Seikaly. Maybe I trade for Etan, but Arinze is a force to be reckoned with. Huge bruiser with a offensive touch. You can’t go wrong with that.

*I’ll note that I defined this in terms of the last 30 years for two reasons - first, it is the approximate amount of time that I’ve been alive, and second, that I believe that level of play in basketball in general has improved over the last 30 years to the point that a good player today would blow almost anyone from the 70’s or before (with a few superstar exceptions) off the court. This point always riles up the older folks, but nevertheless, I’ll always believe it to be true.

8. At least four future NBA-calibre players
As an extension of point nine, Jonny Flynn, Paul Harris, Arinze Onuaku, Eric Devendorf, (and maybe even Andy Rautins) all have at least a taste of the NBA within their potential reach, if not a nice career. As the Syracusan has observed in the past, these future NBA guys are the ones who win championships.

7. No more Donte Greene
Okay, this one is a mixed bag. I admit that the team would be better with him. But as I had time to reflect on his departure, I came to realize that this is not a guy I’m going to miss terribly. I think he’s the anti-Kevin Garnett. He saps hustle and drive out of his teammates with his lazyness, poor (though frequent) shot selection, and need to receive assists to score while rarely dishing them out.

6. Sean Williams
Who can’t wait to see those arms swing into action??? I’m looking forward to four years of raw and unpredictable play punctuated by a few completely preposterous blocks per game.

5. The freshmen
Probably the least exciting class we’ve had since the ill-fated Wright boys, but it seems like they actually have some talent. If so, it’s icing on the cake. Also, having three top 100 recruits on your team for the sole purpose of trying to prove themselves in practice against your starters and keeping the bench toasty during games is the basketball team equivalent of rolling blunts in $100 bills.

4. Andy Rautins’ glue
Possible lewd entendre aside, Andy Rautins strikes me as a real glue guy you love to have on your team. Good shooter who can spread defenses and be an end of game free-throw guy, a hustler, and surprisingly good defender and passer. Plus, this guy is going to be a fourth year junior who as I type is getting ready to go to the Olympics as part of team Canada. How many other college basketball players are going to be checking Kobe Bryant this summer?

3. A chance to appreciate Jonny Flynn while we still have him
We shouldn’t get too comfortable projecting the next three years of Jonny Flynn’s career. Syracusan explained this thoroughly in this post. The kid is probably in Manley fieldhouse this second taking 10,000 three pointers a day, because having a hot jump shot is the only thing standing between Jonny and the NBA lottery. Just as in RISK, when a player reaches a critical level of power, it’s all going to be over much sooner than you think it is. I’m looking forward to watching this guy for another year, and cherishing it like it might be his last.

2. Our best shot at a final four in this player cycle and maybe beyond
All of the above points boil down to the simple fact that whoever our best player is next year is going to go pro, and maybe more than one. We’ve got these guys now, and this is our time. I just hope that Boeheim gives them Mikey’s Goonies speech going into the NCAA tournament, because I get chills just thinking about it. (FYI, Troy’s bucket represents the NBA Draft).

1. Paul fucking Harris
I’ve been thinking about writing a post on this for awhile, so here it goes: Paul Harris is my favorite Syracuse player of all time. Here’s why: Paul Harris plays basketball EXACTLY as he would if I were controlling him in a video game. It’s uncanny. On the defensive end, he swats for every steal, attempts to block every shot whether from in front or behind, and charges in to leap for every rebound. On the offensive end, this guy has a distinct turbo mode. It may as well be activated by the right index finger button on my xbox controller, as it kicks in on every single drive and causes him to attempt to turn any shot within ten feet into a dunk attempt. It’s not the perfect way to play real or video game basketball, but dammit, I love him for it. He makes the game thrilling.
He’s the perfect narrative protagonist - passionate yet flawed, driven yet at times directionless. A guy who shows you limitless potential but peppers it with the heartwrenching mistakes of youth (turnovers at the end of the Pitt and UMass games). But you forgive him for those mistakes because you know he’s just trying too hard, and is probably spending the rest of his night headbutting the trees in the woods behind south campus until dawn to punish himself.
I love his complete and undampened optimism that he’ll develop an NBA jump shot one of these offseasons, and that even when he’s releasing his signature long range bricks, he truly believes that each one is going in when he lets it go.
I love that he’s not a millimeter over 6′4 yet is the best rebounder on our team based purely on hustle.
Paul Harris is my favorite Syracuse player of all time because he’s possibly the perfect college basketball player: an awesomely talented, passionate hustle guy who doesn’t quite fit into any NBA models. I’d take this guy first in any sport, from basketball to beer pong.

Alright, who’s ready for some hoops!?

By Tom | Posted in Andy Rautins, Arinze Onuaku, Carmelo Anthony, Defense, Donte Greene, Dunks, Eric Devendorf, Etan Thomas, Hakim Warrick, Jim Boeheim, Jonny Flynn, Kristof Ongenaet, NBA, Paul Harris, Pitt, Rebounding, Recruits, Rick Jackson, Sean Williams, UMass, syracuse | Comments (1)

That’s one expensive parking space!

May 19, 2008 – 11:03 am

Sorting through my mail the other day, sandwiched inside the usual pile of credit card offers and debt collection notices I found a letter addressed to me from the Syracuse University Athletic Dept. Could it finally be the long-awaited apology letter from Daryl Gross? Perhaps I’ve been selected to compete in next year’s Dunk & Bright “Action in the Lane” contest?

Of course not. It’s the spring fundraising letter.


Fundraising Letter (small)

As I perused the letter and the accompanying donation form, a number of things stuck out.

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By Josh | Posted in Carrier Dome, Daryl Gross, syracuse | Comments (11)

Where Şaşırtıcı Happens (Pro Update 5-6-08)

May 6, 2008 – 11:22 am

Preston Shumpert’s Besiktas Cola Turka has begun their quest to win the Turkish League playoffs. Besiktas was the league’s regular-season champion and is facing Banvitspor in the first round. Besiktas won the first game, so they lead the series 2-0. And no, that is not a typo. In case you missed this space last week, Shumpert’s team was granted a 1-0 lead before the best-of-five series even began by virtue of having swept the season series from Banvitspor. Shumpert had 12 points in this first game; I’m a little disappointed that, even for the playoffs, the only reported individual stat from each game is points scored. Game 2 is Thursday.

While Besiktas takes care of business in the first round, you should go to the league homepage and vote for Preston Shumpert for MVP in the lower right corner of the page. I’m pretty sure this is just a fan poll and not actual MVP voting, but you never know. He’s in the lead right now — but you never know when some jerk UConn fans will start flooding the server with votes for Khalid El-Amin. So do your patriotic duty and Vote Shumpert in ‘08!

Stuff is less rosy for Gerry McNamara’s Latvian team. They are down 2-0 in their 2nd round playoff series, which is also a best-of-five. They got crushed in game 1, last Friday. Gerry had 5 points on 1-8 shooting from the field. Game 2 was a heartbreaking (I presume) 2-point loss in which Gerry had 3 points, 4 assists, and 3 rebounds. Game 3 will be tomorrow, and could be the end of G-Mac’s season.

Also tough news from Japan. Ryan Blackwell’s Sendai 89ers fell short in their quest for the BJ-League championship. The playoff format was single-elimination, and the top-seeded 89ers lost to the 2nd seed Tokyo Apache by two points in Saturday’s semifinal matchup, in a tight battle that went down to the last minute. Ryan had 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 assists in the loss, but shot just 5-12 from the floor. No time for pity, though, as the consolation and championship games were held the very next day. The 89ers saved face by winning the 3rd-place game by 4 points; Blackwell had 22 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Thus ends the BJ-League season. Who knows if Ryan will be back next year…?

In the Netherlands, Damone Brown’s 2nd-ranked Den Bosch squad is locked in a tight semifinal battle. Having dispatched their first-round opponent Zwolle with relative ease, the boys from ’s-Hergotenbosch find themselves neck-and-neck with the team from Bergen op Zoom. The best-of-five series is tied one game apiece. Den Bosch took the first game on Thursday; Damone had five points in 18 minutes. But Bergen op Zoom came back to win Game 2 on Saturday; Damone had 5 points and 3 boards in 12 minutes. Game 3 is Thursday night.

Elsewhere, some regular seasons are still going on. In Belgium, Elvir Ovcina had 10 points and 3 rebounds Wednesday, followed by 11 points and 6 boards Saturday, as Telindus Oostende went 1-1 for the week. They have slipped to third place but with only two regular-season games remaining, their spot in the playoffs is secure. At this point it’s a question of seeding. In Israel, Otis Hill and Nahariya are still fighting for their postseason lives. They’re in 4th place and have opened up a one-game lead on the fifth-place team with 3 games remaining in the regular season. They accomplished this by beating (handily) the #2 team in the league last weekend. Otis had 13 points and 3 rebounds in that game. Of their three remaining games, one is against the top team in the league and the other two are against the 6th- and 7th-place teams who are not that far out of the playoff chase themselves. So it’s shaping up to be a wild ending to the Israeli hoops season.

Finally, let’s check in on Dayshawn Wright at his latest stop with the Hudson Valley Hawks. According to the game summary on the hvhawks.com front page, Dayshawn contributed 10 rebounds in their win over Delaware on Saturday. His point total was not mentioned. You may note an inconsistency in the date of the game as mentioned in the report — it says Saturday April 26. But if you read a little further down to find the report from the actual april 26 game, you will see that the author used the same lead sentence in both reports — he swapped out the name of the team, but he forgot to change the date. Classy. By the way, feel free to check out the Hawks’ MySpace page if you are feeling it. There isn’t much there, except that the team is apparently “Single”. And among their Top 20 friends is Dayshawn’s former club the Albany Patroons. (And also Tom.) If you’re a MySpacer, drop them a line and see if they can’t get some stats up on their website.

That’s all for now. Until next time:

BERGEN OP ZOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!

By Josh | Posted in Damone Brown, Elvir Ovcina, Former Orangemen, Gerry McNamara, Otis Hill, Preston Shumpert, Ryan Blackwell | Comments (1)