Many Apologies
That’s what the Raiders should be offering to the world for their two lackluster, no lackluster indicates a modicum of effort so we’ll go with absurdidly pathetic, efforts on Monday Night Football. On the plus side, it led to some great discussions by Theisman and Kornheiser, including Kornheiser proclaiming Theisman had a ‘man crush’ on Seneca Wallace.
Also included in the apologies is my half-hearted effort at getting the predictions up. I swear they are done. There were some internet problems on account of bad weather that prevented the post from getting up last night. I haven’t changed them, which should be abundantly clear based on the prediction for Minnesota, despite their atrocious start.
To hold you over, I’ll give you my rookie predictions.
Rookie of the Year: You know where I stand here. It’s simple. Brandon Roy. He’ll walk away with this one. The only guy’s that will offer any competition are Rudy Gay and Rajon Rondo. Rondo’s my sleeper here, because he might be able to beat out Sebastian Telfair by the All-Star break and catch some second half votes.
First-team All Rookie Team:
Guards: Brandon Roy and Rajon Rondo
Fowards: Rudy Gay and Adam Morrison
Center: Craig Smith (he’s as close to a center as I could find out there)
Second-team All Rookie Team:
Guards: Marcus Williams and Rodney Carney (listed as a forward, but I don’t care because it seems like every player in this year’s draft was a small forward.)
Forwards: Jorge Garbajosa (not really a rookie, so I hate putting him here) and Paul Milsap
Center: Mouhamed Sene - as mentioned he couldn’t make a lay-up nine months ago, and will be demoted soon, if not already
While I’m talking about Brandon Roy and the high quality of player that he is, let me ask you this question: If you could have Brandon Roy as your point guard, and still be able to keep Chris Bosh and Charlie Villenueva at the four/five spots, which, in turn, would allow you to be uber-athletic on the front line creating more opportunities to run, why on earth would you go with T.J. Ford and Andrea Bargnani? Now, I like Ford A LOT, but he’s a tiny point guard that has to get into the paint to be effective, plays no defense, and has already suffered a career-threatening neck/back injury which seriously impacts his effectiveness because you’re always terrified of him getting knocked down in the paint again. Then you draft a guy named Andrea. I don’t care if he’s European. One of my rules is never draft an athlete named Andrea, especially with your first pick. Seriously, it is a girl’s name.
