Wednesday, May 23, 2012

1st and last annual that's a wrap type dillio


Chris Paul earned first team defensive honors, which is, erm, good news I guess.  Not sure how much meaning is stacked on such an honor when the (cough) defensive player of the year, Tyson Chandler, was voted to the second team.  NBA minds at work.

I don’t know if I currently possess the intestinal fortitude to produce my annual wrapup that I don’t do every year.  Probably not.  Whatever this turns into (or doesn’t) shall have to suffice.

Speaking of Paul, I’m sure you’ve seen (or maybe you haven’t) this LA Times bit on CP3 calling up GM Olshey at midnight after the sweep saying it wouldn’t happen again.  The part that stuck with me:
Olshey  said that when Paul called him, the guard “already wanted to start talking about what we need, what we need to add,” which led the general manager to tell reporters that the star he signed is indeed “all in.”
Which is all good and everything, but he’s already signed for the coming year, but can we glean from this he plans on staying in clipper red white & blue (hey, how bout bringing those occasional road blues back every so often, although I did like the LA Stars joints, or, OR what about the baby blue buffalo, er, no the SD clippers? I ramble SORRY) for ever and ever a la Dorothy in the wizard of oz with toto and the tin straw lion.  One can sleep, perchance to dream.

Oh, and Vinny.  My take?  He earned another year winning that game 7 with Paul and Griffin at half-mast.  The bench mob clinching an emotional battle in Memphis and the faith it took VDN to leave them in that long.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, he’s no Knute Rockne, but these bubbles I hear about Jerry Sloan (terrible idea) or other nom de plumes in the ether, I don’t know, it’s a good thing going right now.  Did he get outcoached by Pop in the SA series, of course.  But you know what, everyone got outcoached by pop this year.  No shame in that, and pop had all his horses plus some steeds and studs that only the oracle at Delphi could have predicted would be playing the meaningful minutes at this stage in their careers (both young and old) that they are.  SA is a MACHINE and Pop is Ahab, only this time the white whale’s running scared and doesn’t in fact represent death but victory.  Or something like that.

If you’d asked me a month ago I don’t know how I’d feel, but for now I say keep Vinny on board and see what happens next year.  I keep harkening back to how horrible Doc Rivers was the first few years and now they’re craning him up next to Jackson and Auerbach in the pantheon (I kid, I kid, but tongues need to be swept up off the ground, although Rivers is doing good stuff) the old school doesn’t always know what time class lets out, is all I mean.  That and a million other things I don’t even know I’m saying.