Telinuds Oostende has won the Belgian League Championship. When we last checked in, they’d taken the first game of a best-of-five series. The series went the full five games. Euphony Bree won the second game, in which Elvir had 12 points and 8 boards. Telindus came back to dominate game three, winning by 19 — Elvir with 15 & 8. Game four was a nailbiter, with Bree erasing a 4-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, and squeaking out a 1-point victory on their home court. Elvir went scoreless in this one, and grabbed just 5 boards. This set up the deciding game, on Telindus’ home floor.
And it wasn’t even close. The superheroes from Oostende crushed the pretenders 100-77. Elvir had another 15 points and 8 boards. Thus overjoying tribal monk-chefs all over Belgium. Plus look at the size of that cup! And the jaw of the guy holding it!
Recently, work obligations brought me to the annual gala fundraising dinner for Rising Stars, a basketball-based youth program in New York. I came into the event excited to chew the fat with featured speaker Jason McElwain, the autistic high school team manager who became the feel-good story of 2006 when he got into a game and started draining sick threes every time down the court. The highlight still gives me chills even after seeing it at least ten times:
I remembered hearing in the blitz of media coverage that surrounded this that Jason (a Rochester native) was a big Syracuse fan, and that he went by J-Mac in honor of his hero Gerry McNamara. In talking to him, he turned out to be a pretty quiet kid who felt strongly about two things: that Syracuse totally got screwed by the selection committee this year, and that the new practice facility that Carmelo donated 3 million for would be completely awesome.
In any case, our chit chat was interrupted by a vaguely familiar-looking older gentleman who approached us with inexplicable glee. “I hear what you’re talking about!” and then to Jason, “do you want to tell him, or should I? Go on, you tell him!”
Bad news for a former SU standout today, as Donovan Darius was just released by the only team he’s ever played for, the Jacksonville Jaguars. I knew that Darius had put together a pretty solid and dependable pro career since his departure from campus, but I never realized quite how excellent he’s been. As this glowing goodbye article from Len Pasquarelli suggests, he has a claim to being the best defender in Jaguar history, if you consider the whole career and overall numbers. Granted he was never a superstar in any given one year, but collectively he’s done more in nine years than just about anyone for that franchise. Good on ya, Donovan. Given that this release was mostly for financial reasons, here’s hoping free agent riches await you.
Checking out hoopshype.com’s workouts list, they indicate that Darryl Watkins will be working out for the Pistons on Monday, alongside Josh McRoberts. (Although, they inexplicably list Mookie as coming from Boston College!) Amidst rumors that Rasheed Wallace is on his way out of Detroit, there may be room for another power forward/center on the roster. Detroit has one of the last picks in the draft (#57 out of 60). If Mook is chosen at all, it will be around that time, and in fact hoopshype’s latest mock draft has Detroit choosing him with that pick. Draftexpress.com’s workout list does not show Mookie’s Pistons workout, but it does say that last week he met with the Heat on June 6 and the Bulls on June 7. Their mock draft projects him being chosen by San Antonio with pick #58.
Draftexpress’ workout list also indicates that Nichols will be meeting with the Warriors on June 20, the day before he goes to Portland. They mock-project him to the Warriors at #36, while hoopshype and nbadraft.net both have him going to Seattle at #35.
Readers of Mike Waters’ SU Hoops blog will have seen that Demetris Nichols had a private workout for the Knicks and Nets yesterday. Well, “private” beacuse it included 3 other players. Here’s a somewhat fluffy story from knicks.com about it. The Nets GM is quoted as saying: “The kid can really knock down shots.” There is a (very) slightly more substantial piece on the Nets’ official site, with Demetris talking a little bit about his game, and saying “most all of my shots today were going in … as usual.” Quite a change in confidence level from a couple years ago. But this is about all we’ll get from these workouts — the regular media is usually banned from them, so the only sources are the post-workout news conferences where the GMs and coaches are careful not to let slip anything substantial about the players’ performances, lest they tip their hand before draft day.
It’s likely that Nichols will work for a lot of other teams before the summer is over. Most teams release their workout schedule sporadically during the summer. Hoopshype.com has a list of all the upcoming confirmed workouts (though they delete those that have already occurred from the list). But someone at the Portland Oregonian has got a hold of the Blazers’ entire schedule, and put it on their Blazers Blog. Portland has the #1 pick so there is great interest in who they are working out and when. Nichols is on there, and the Blazers have picks #7 and #12 in round 2, right about where he is projected. But the most notable thing about his workout is who he’s scheduled around:
Wednesday, June 20: GREG ODEN, Ohio St
Thursday, June 21: Greg Oden breakfast; Demetris Nichols, Syracuse; Kevin Durant dinner
Friday, June 22: KEVIN DURANT, Texas
It’s going to be quite a scene in Portland those few days, and Nic will be in the middle of it all (literally) getting a glimpse of the media frenzy. I wonder if the Blazers’ brass will even be paying attention during his workout. I can imagine their minds constantly wandering as Demetris drops in trey after trey, his silky shooting rhythm lulling them to sleep.
While I do often wish that Otto would crash through more walls, I don’t know if a cartoon logo quite qualifies as a ‘celebrity’. For what it’s worth, I think Otto bears a striking resemblance to our Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez.
Neither of the two online sources I have found which were covering the NBA Pre-draft Camp on a daily basis — draftexpress.com and nbadraft.net — had anything to say about Demetris’ or Mookie’s final day at the camp, which suggests that neither of them did anything noteworthy in their final game. However, now the camp is over and it’s time to look at the overall picture.
Yesterday, Demetris Nichols continued his impressive shooting at the NBA pre-draft camp. He scored 17 points on 6-7 shooting, including 3-4 from deep. The draftexpress.com story about all of Day 3 is here, but you have to scroll down a ways to see the blurb about Nichols. Alternatively you can go to Demetris’ profile page which has just the blurb about him, though does not have his statline for the game yesterday. The main thrust of their commentary is that he is “instant offense” but only average in terms of defense and rebounding.
Darryl Watkins also got some coverage from draftexpress. He had a bad game 1 on Wednesday but a better effort Thursday in game 2, with 7 points and 9 rebounds in 20 minutes of play. You can go to his profile page to read more, but it’s likely that any of us could have written what you will find there, without being at the camp. Tell me if these phrases sound familiar:
“[I]t should be noted that most of his shot attempts could’ve been finished with powerful jams he is capable of making, though he usually settles for finesse moves he doesn’t consistently convert instead.”
“Watkins has a great set of physical tools, and shows off some nice skills as well, but he doesn’t consistently play with the assertiveness he should on either end of the floor.”
Still, their opinion is that Mookie is showing enough talent and raw athletic ability to get drafted in the 2nd round as a ‘project’, and will likely end up signing a contract but being assigned to the D-League where he can develop his game.
Neither of the two online sources I have found which were covering the NBA Pre-draft Camp on a daily basis — draftexpress.com and nbadraft.net — had anything to say about Demetris’ or Mookie’s final day at the camp, which suggests that neither of them did anything noteworthy in their final game. However, now the camp is over and it’s time to look at the overall picture.
Yesterday, Demetris Nichols continued his impressive shooting at the NBA pre-draft camp. He scored 17 points on 6-7 shooting, including 3-4 from deep. The draftexpress.com story about all of Day 3 is 
