I found The Score used at Cheapo for 3 dollars when I was 17 years old and it bent my mind.
It's still hard to come to grips with all that energy unfulfilled. Pras was the perfect complimentary rapper, a guy who could come in and "compress sound-sets with my rap DBX, then drop vocals on my four, five, six AMPEX". L Boogie could drop a "motherfucker so you ignorant niggas hear me" but also she could sing her soul out. Wyclef plays guitar, speaks Japanese, and covers Bob Marley, so don't worry about him. But they were only together for a brief time, and then egos got in the way. Now don't get me wrong. The Carnival is perhaps one of the greatest hip hop albums of all time. No wait. Maybe the best ALBUM of all time, depending on the mood. And Miseducation is also a great R&B album, if you are a fan of that (which I am not). But collectively, they had something else, a different vibe. I won't discuss Pras' solo career, because it never happened. No, literally. He never went solo, never acted in a terrible movie, never teamed up with ODB and Mya for a stupid MTV single... never never never. This is all not to say that Wyclef is not a great solo artist. He is top notch, and I understand that his style is different than the Fugees style. I guess the point is that The Score was the best non-gangsta-rap hip hop album of the mid 90s, and I wish they could have given it one more shot.
But anyway, Wally must think he's a motherfucking cowboy lately, because he's PEELING OFF SHOTS LIKE JOHNNY WAYNE.
His confidence is up. The shots are falling. And everybody, including Case, trusts him. I really like what KG is doing with Wally. They are rolling tight together. KG knows Wally's talents, whereas very few NBA fans in this state fail to do so. Let's make it really simple:
Wally Szczerbiak is one of the best shooters in the NBA.
Ok, that's it. He's Peja, only shorter. He is as consistent a shooter as we have seen in years. He shoots the same percentage every year, he knows himself and his shot, and - though he does occaisonally run in streaks (who doesn't?) - he is probably the least streaky player on the team not named Kevin Garnett.
But everyone forgets this. Everyone talks about other aspects of Wally's game. And I'm not saying that that conversation is not worth having. But let's not forget what the Wolves have in Wally. No matter what you say about defense, ego, passing, hustle, whatever; you are always going to have to construct your argument around the fact that he is a dead-eye shooter who never goes cold for long stretches and almost always hits open shots when he needs to.
So, knowing that, don't even fucking talk to me about Artest.
Because we can bring him in, and that would be really fun. It would be fun for the authors on this site, because the ghetto-factor would immediately shoot off the charts. There would be quotes, oh god, would there ever be quotes. There would be a WHOLE different feel to the team.
You know what else though? The best shooter on the team would be Marko Jaric. And that would make us all hurt a little bit in our private areas.
A good shooter is an essential part of a good team. Look at Portland and New York. They are athletic as hell, can get to the basket and even play defense in spots. But nobody can shoot. I mean, nobody. So what happens when they can't get a layup or dunk? Joel Przbilly leaves in free agency, that's what.
So before we jump off the deep-end and buy into the Charles Barkley mentality of "superstars make teams great", let's think about what we have here in Wally. Because you give up that perimeter threat, you give up that intensity and consistency, you better damn well get something back that either replaces it in full, or changes the whole fucking thing. And yes, Artest would change the whole thing, and I'm not against him being on this team AT ALL (Bill Blaise better watch himself with that program though, that's all I'm saying). But there is nothing else in this town that's more like a fucking metronome than the chants of "Trade Wally, Trade Wally, Trade Wally", and nobody seems to stop and consider what he brings.
And if you saw him last night, you know what I mean. This team plays good with him on it, and let's not change that right now. Let the Lakers take Artest.
Oh wait. I just realized that Deadzo is in charge of these negotiations. That changes everything. I'll be happy if he doesn't trade KG for Jeff Foster.
2 comments:
Just imagine McCants and Artest teaming up. The MPD would need a special unit.
Throw Eddie G into the mix... he's a mild-mannered guy right now, but you can see the thousand-yard stare. In the words of Kramer - if he's on the street and it starts to go down, he doesn't leave until it's finished.
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