I'm going to know a secret

 

Moist day here in Secaucus.

And by moist I mean a hard rain, dark and gloomy and about as far from delightful as you can imagine. The thunder’s a nice touch, though.

Anyway …

-

Hey, another first.

The NBA’s asked me to be hang out in the actual room where they conduct the lottery tonight as some kind of unaffiliated witness or something like that.

Not sure what it’ll be like but it’s got to be sort of cool and it means I’ll know before even Bryan how the Raptors have made out.

But I sure can’t tell you.

If I remember correctly, reading last year from someone who was in the room, there are no cellphones, no blackberrys, no I-anythings or tablets of any kind.

In fact, the word I got from the NBA guy was that we’ll be “sequestered” from about 7 p.m. until after airing of the lottery TV show.

But it will be kind of cool to see the reaction of the people in the room when the numbers pop up and the top three teams are picked. After that, I imagine there’ll be a lot of standing around and chatting and waiting to go interview people.

-

Think I’ve only been at one other lottery – it’s hardly a dream assignment – and all I can really remember is sitting there after in the tent they used as a dining area with Glen Grunwald and he’s holding a beer and looking downcast.

It was 2003. The LeBron draft.

-

Yesterday seemed to be one of those days we get this time of year with no games, no news, no nothing really and the guys I feel most sorry for are colleagues trying to drum up off-day stories or set-up stories that all seem to be the same.

It’s got to be especially hard in the Chicago-Miami series because they’ve got an extra day off between Games 1 and 2 and then two extra days between Games 2 and 3 and you can only write “the Heat have to rebound better” so many times.

But it is a TV-dominated world we live in and that’s got everything to do with the protracted start to the conference finals.

In a perfect world, every series would be like the West, a game every other night. A rhythm develops for players and coaches and fans and the media that travels to cover these things and all seems right in the world.

But, because both of the Eastern Conference semifinals finished early, and because they couldn’t play in Chicago on Monday night, we’ve got all this time to kill to start the series.

-

I, like Donald Trump, would like to announce I am not going to run for president of the United States.

Seriously, doesn’t the fact a self-absorbed clown like Donald Trump (and I mean that in the best possible terms) think even in his wildest dreams that he could be the president of the United States scare you at some level?

I half wish he’d run so someone could force him to prove he was born on Earth and not in some other galaxy where goofy hair is a symbol of something.

Anyway …

-

I wake up, turn on the TV to the usual Mike And Mike fare, as I do when I’m in the States, and the one Mike’s not there.

Who is?

Jalen!

Replete in a Kronk Gym sweatshirt.

The guy’s got style.

-

The one thing we should be looking for tonight when the West final gets going (and some of you will have to tell me about it, I’ll be writing lottery stories for most of it) is how the Thunder react to the circumstances.

That’s a young team there, playing in its biggest game ever (well, at least since it forsook Seattle) and Dallas can be one of the loudest and toughest places to play.

I guess the one thing the Thunder can draw on is its Game 7 experience and they handled that quite well, especially Durant and Westbrook, who have to be great if they’re going to win.

But it’s one thing to play well at home against a relatively-inferior opponent; it’s quite something else to play on the road against a veteran team well-rested.

-

This might be a fun update.

Q: Greetings Doug! So I caught some of the halftime hijinks during the Heat-Bulls game, and Sir Charles was asked what his TV theme music would be if he was walking. His response: the Miami Vice theme.

I figure you might want to have fun with this as you did promise last week to list your favourite TV theme songs. So what would be the theme for you walking? Dodging chores? Channel surfing?

My personal favourites are the themes to "The Sopranos" and "Night Court".

Cheers

 

 

Natalie M, Brampton

A: Ah, Natalie, I’m afraid we did this just a couple of months ago and I gave you, in no particular order, the Beverly Hillbillies, The Flintstones, Gilligan’s Island, Cheer (a cliché) and, my fave, Green Acres.

But if you’re looking for a second five …

How about The Addams Family, M*A*S*H*, WKRP in Cincinnati, The Sopranos, for sure, and Laverne and Shirley?

And in a couple of months, maybe we’ll do 11-15.

-

Hey, you know what they have down here?

Happy Hours!

Five dollar appetizers, sales on glasses of Yeungling and a night in Secaucus can be at least mildly passable.

No journey to the big city across the river, seemed to be a lot of work to get there from this tiny hotel and there was work to be done so it was nice to find a good spot down the road.

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Now, where’s my bag of dry ice. Have to get ready for the lottery.

-

 

 

 

Comments

[Lorie]

Doug!
Finally, a day with lots and lots and lots of news about our HOTHC!
So, having had the delightful experience of being sequestered a few times, my only words of advice are these: situate yourself in a place as close as possible to the nearest exit. Do it in a casual and relaxed manner. Without fanfare. Or causing undue attention. I've found that people tend to get a little antsy at the restrictive nature of being sequestered and you'll want to be able to get the hellouttathere immediately, if not sooner, to avoid the inevitable stampede. Plus, you want to land the choicest stool. :) Cheers!

[Kent]

@ steve. "Like Doug said if Walker is that good, how would trading down to sixth be good for the Raps if he goes 5th! If BC really wants him he will take him at 3."
huh? let's say you have the 3rd pick and you wanted Walker. let's also say that Irvin/Williams are already off the board. Before going up to the podium, why wouldn't you call the team with the 4th pick to see if they are dying to take Kanter? If they want Kanter at #3, give them the pick, get something back and draft Walker at #4. Is this not the kind of conversations GMs have on draft day? or is the phone in the war room for ordering pizza?
Also, I didn't say Walker is a can't-miss. Who knows? I was commenting on Walker's intangibles based on watching a lot Big East games this past season. All I was saying is that if you draft him, you can be sure that you are getting a leader, a winner, and a guy who's not going to be afraid of the moment. A lot teams won't find out these things about the guy they drafted until years later; what i am saying is that people already know these things about the Walker. Now they just have to guess whether his go-left-step-back fadeaway is going to work against the taller guards in the NBA. They are not sure about this and that's why he is projected to go #6-#8. If Walker was 6'4, he would be the undisputed #1 pick.

[Richard]

Just saw this in another draft article:

Even Colangelo recognized just how young his team is already when he said, "quite frankly we are so young that I don't think we can afford to put two more young pieces into the fold next year."

Hmmm, I believe I made a similar observation several weeks ago. Where's my contract extension...?
For that matter, where the h&ll'$ my contract...?

[coachd]

Hi Doug,

I too have decided against running for President of the United States. I seem to have misplaced my birth certificate. On a lighter note, I wonder if teams going into this draft, because of its perceived weakness and lack of a true superstar talent, would be happier if they picked at #2 or #3 instead of #1? It might make it easier for a GM to say a couple of years down the road, "Well , it's not like I had the first pick." Or, are they all competitors and want to get the first pick no matter who is available?

[doug]

my fav walking song is the old Mayberry song, how can you not whistle along...and when I am on the treadmill anything by AC-DC does the trick...Shoot to Thrill I crank on the treadmill and almost fly off...@Lori there's a guitarist Troiano , you ever notice about guitarists that there playing has a personality all of it's own...from Stevie Ray, Clapton, Knopfler, Gilmour Carlos etc,etc...there so distinguishable and unique, that's why I love guitar playing...there was a joke in there or at least a place for a lewd comment in your "no their real balls" comment, said with sincerity but also as i say room to comment further....ok go Raps go, and Go Jays go...

[doug]

now is this a compliment from Richard Peddle or not in regards to the extension just given to BC..."There was no one better than Bryan Colangelo available."...not exactly a ringing endorsement and is one of those statements where there are many ways to fill in what he didn't say ...please someone buy MLSE soon...

[Lee Z]

@D Mac: your lottery story offers a chilling reminder of a really ugly period. I was born in and grew up in the States, and when I was around 12 our family decided to get the hell out of there before my older brother became of draft age and potential cannon fodder. My dad, a professor, had two job offers, one from Regina, the other from Toronto. I wanted to go to Toronto. Not that I had ever heard of Toronto (I was an American, after all), but ignorant pre-teen that I was, I didn't want to be in a city that sounded like a female body part (not unlike "Mulva" on Seinfeld). Of course, I'm thrilled that I ended up in T-dot, beyond any faux-genitalia issues, since Regina is in the middle of nowhere and Toronto is the centre of the universe! Doug, since the NBA stormtroopers, er, security staff no doubt have you bound and gag as we, or shall I say, I, speak, you probably can't answer this, but what are your thoughts on the incentive-laden year three of BC's contract? Do you think it's a good idea to incentivize the GM to go for wins right away, possibly at the expense of building a team that will be successful for the long haul? If you can't talk, blink once for yes, twice for no, and three times for "I gotta pee, will someone let me out so I can get to the can?" Remember, you only have to give them your name, rank and beat grunt number. And don't worry, a team of Canadian Navy Seals is on its way to rescue you!

[Lorie]

@D-Mac and @Lee Z:
Being a Toronto gal at the time you boys were discussing, I recall one snowy, December evening spent at the New City Hall (yes, I still call it that) where I spent a couple of fun hours helping a newly-arrived American boy learn to ice-skate. He'd just "relocated" to our country to because of his beliefs about that (despicable) war and it was his first attempt at skating. I hadn't focussed so much on the human side of Vietnam as the political outrage up to that point - but getting to know someone who might have become, as you say 'canon fodder', renewed the vigour with which I protested it..personalized it I guess you could say. Glad you fellas made it through that time, too: and able to live your lives freely and safely - if not Irregular-ly! Now, thanks for that Regina-Mulva thing...what's a day without at least one good Seinfeld reference?

[J]

@Kent:

Yes, but that's only a one spot drop. It's much easier to tell if you can still pick him up when you're dealing with the team you're allowing to move up. However, in the scenario you posted earlier, you were talking about trading down from #3 to #6-8. While you may guess at what the teams at #4 and #5, or even #6 and #7 might pick, I'm pretty sure a lot of GMs hold their cards close to their vests. It's silly to suggest GMs follow fan mock drafts when deciding whether or not to risk it.

I do find it interesting that when someone mentioned Kemba being taken at #5 after you trade down to #6, the scenario you responded with was a trade down to #4. Perhaps you yourself realized how unpredictable it would be trading down to #6.

In any case, it's a moot point now. We are officially pick #5.

[Aditya]

doug smith, wish you weren't in secaucus, cuz you brought bad luck to the raps lottery results...

[Aditya]

gotta love BC's comment here (http://tmi.me/akvlG)

[The J]

So the last time you were at the draft Cleveland wins big and the Raps are dissapointed?

Do me a favour and stay home next year. Good for Cleveland, they deserve it. But please stay home next year.

And here I thought you'd do all us irregulars a favour and find away to rig the draft.

[Sherman]

I guess you aren't the good luck charm for the raptors. Maybe next year the Star send someone else?