I was gonna go into a whole thing about the debacle that was the Mike Conley Jr. contract extension. But I just read that it's a little more reasonable. It's not 9 million a year. It's about 7.5 at its maximum and there are many incentives that can get it to 9. In order for it to get to 9, he's gotta put up elite level stats and the team has to go deep in the playoffs. So, it's a little easier to stomach now that I have read that. Had he not been extended, he probably would have got at least 6 per on the open market. He's right about a 4 per type guy for me. 4 year 16million would have been my ceiling as a GM.
Last night I walked up to the local outdoor courts in MB. I had no expectations. I just wanted to shoot and practice for a half hour and then move along to my crossfit workout. Luckily for me though, the courts quickly filled up and I was suddenly in the middle of a 2.5 hour 5 on 5 pickup session, with a cast of characters that made the night entertaining.
I think this was a pretty regular game. Guys showed up at 5:30. Most of them knew each other. I laid low and shot on the other court until they called me over. I made 9, and then some scrub showed up and we were on.
The captain of my team was a guy named Don. This was the classic, almost 60 year old guy, recspex who for some reason is still convinced that he can play. I hate to kill him because I have no doubt in my mind that I might be him someday. But I hope when I do it I can do some things to help a team win. All this guy was doing was getting murdered defensively and throwing up shots off the backboard with his foot on the 3 point line. We lost the first game 11-5. I had 5.
But let's go through the rosters here. That's what I enjoyed the most. Having not played in about a month and a half, it was very refreshing to be running with 9 other guys. It was nice not to be playing against the same Lakewood Y guys that I play against every session.
Caesar: 6'4, 215--Good player, I could tell he was probably a so so high school player who thought he was screwed by the coach so he's been playing serious pickup ever since. Caesar was the guy who gets to the court and isn't on the court ready to play for another 20 minutes. He had to change into his shorts, take off his jewelry, put 2 pairs of socks on, ankle braces, shoes, puts the wifebeater on, then the cutoff over the wifebeater. Check. But now he's ready to play and he means business. He's out there and he's out there to get his numbers. He's the guy who would post hard, catch in the midpost area, square up and jab 5 times then shoot a shot thats short 80 percent of the time. Expletives on every miss. He goes hard to the offensive glass and runs the floor. And he'll express disgust if he's not rewarded for running. He says And 1 after every layup. I checked him pretty much the whole time. He was a little out of sorts. He's used to being able to get his offense. Not tonight.
Skinny Tattoo'd Guy: 6'1, 180--also good player, Tats all over. Ran the point for Caesar's team. Always calling for the pick and roll. Very painful and annoying to be around. To give some color to this guy: this is the skinny kid on the public school high school team who hates the catholic school kids. And he immediately starts talking shit 2 minutes into the game and throughout the game. This is the kid who didn't lift weights with his high school team because he thought it would mess up his game and he had better things to do like try to convince the ugliest girl on his block to give him a handjob after school. He gets into the game and he's shocked that he's missing 3's, he's shocked that the guy he's guarding is scoring on him. He's always got the explanation that he "thought you were rolling or cutting on that" when he throws a no look onto the other court. BUT, like many of the skinny public high school guys, he has the ability to make a good play every once in a while. And this guy did so twice with a huge game winner one game and a coast to coast layup.
Jose: 5'7, 180--role player, shooter. It was very clear that Jose watches his fair share of NBA. Because every time he made a basketball action he would refer to an NBA player known for those actions. Every steal or strip (brutal hacks for the most part) would be followed with RONDO! Pullups would be KOBE midrange! Passes on the break would be followed with CP3. You all know the guy. I love guys who love the NBA, but it was a little over the top. Combine that with his coach on the floor lectures every possession and it quickly became a tired act. He was a good pickup game player though. He could stick the jumper. In good games and bad games. He wasn't afraid to shoot it.
Carl Winslow look alike 5'8 225--Perhaps the nicest guy on the floor. Yet you can tell everyone was SO tired of him. Tired of his awful shots, his poor defense, his most of the time not making it past half court. He was the classic 45 year old pickup player. The guy you don't want making his first shot. And guess what, he made his first 3--off the glass. He convinced himself that he was hot and what followed was an hour and a half of bricks and awful plays. But bottom line, nice guy. Out there for the right reasons. Didn't help that he went with the Boston Celtics shorts and T-shirt. But in his defense I think he travels a lot. So that might be a destination of his.
Chuck--6' 200 real good player--Chuck was good. We never played with each other. But if we did we would have ran Caesar Tat guy and Jose out of the gym. Chuck had a good game, made 3s, passed the ball and finished layups. He like myself, willed his team of misfits to a couple wins. He was a good guy. Definitely a Cali guy tho. Not real friendly. Little full of himself and his game.
Don--5'9--58 years old, sweats and sweatshirt while playing--Don was a good guy. Basketball purist. Pass first in the half court. Made a couple shots. When he was off he changed into a diffrerent sweatshirt and shot free throws on the other court. He was a coach on the floor.
SOME OF THE HIGHLIGHTS:
We lost a game when I was playing with Carl Winslow, Don and a couple bums. The next team needed 1. I shot a 3 and made. Carl banked. Don swished. I miss the next one and then Carl and Don went on with a 8 minute shoot a thon to see who would be the 5th. This is my number 1 pet peeve of pickup mens hoops. It's always the biggest bums in the gym who make the free throws or in this case the 3s. These are the last guys who would be picked if the next team could just pick. It drives me crazy. And on top of that it killed like 8 minutes because they both made and both missed. Ridiculous.
Caesar double dribbles at 8-7 their lead. I call it during the play and mayhem breaks loose. Expletives. I think he may even have thrown the ball. Jose gets into it. Tattoo is throwing his two cents in. But I stand my ground. My voice is loud and authoritative as I argue. I demonstrate it 2 times. I build concensus with the rest of the players. One rational 38 year old dad on the other team accepts my case and we move to the other end of the court. We win the game. They go nuts after the fact.
I call 4 fouls in a row during 1 half court possession. 3 were fouls. The 4th one was tic tac where I messed up and bailed myself out cause I got some contact from Jose. It was a critical part of the game. I had a team of guys I was playing hard for I didn't want to let them down. I called it on Jose, and he goes into this heated debate about how all the fouls have been bullshit. I stand my ground again. We end up winning the game but I forced a 3 on that ensuing restart of the possession.
I throw a heat of the moment tantrum at Carl Winslow for giving up a walk in game winning layup to the 5th best offensive player on the other team. It was no coincidence that CW was guarding the 5th best guy. I made it a point to get that matchup set. We were going for 4 wins in a row. I was invested in the game. 10-10 game. I repeat 10 to fricking 10. Guy walks in for the layup. The other team celebrates. I scream at Carl "You let that walk in like that on game point are you frickin serious?" He stares at me blankly. He goes: what? I say again "You gotta make that bucket a little harder man! Geese." He embarrassingly goes, "Naw man, I'm 41 years old, I don't run through picks. I mumbled a couple other things and then dropped it. I picked up my ball and went home, embarassed that I laid a guy out for a 2 minutes in front of people. It was not my finest moment of the day.
But all things considered it was a fun run. I quickly established myself as a guy. I was focused. I got buckets. I made NBA 3s. I cleaned the glass. I offensive rebounded. I didn't get hurt. It was a win win. Until next week...
Willing to work harder,
JC
No comments:
Post a Comment