Raw Like Sushi was the name of a Neneh Cherry album. It also could end up being the title for the Hasheem Thabeet rookie highlight video.
Of course, if you think this guy is green now, Memphis coach Lionel Hollins says you should have been around for his first workout after the Grizzlies took the 7-foot-3, 267-pound Connecticut center with the No. 2 pick in last June's draft.
"He was really bad,'' Hollins said. "Even though he's a shot blocker, he only had to stand in the paint in college. Now you've got guys attacking you and how you have to go meet them, he knew none of that. He had no footwork. He had no jump hook. He had nothing. And I can say that out of all the rookies in this draft, he probably has come the farthest. He has the farthest to go, and he still has a long ways to go.''
Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Saturday, there are 31 days remaining.
Yes, there was Mount St. Helens in 1980. But there was another pretty impressive eruption in 1994.
That would be the one by Mount Mutombo.
Dikembe Mutombo's Denver Nuggets, the No. 8 seed in the West, stunned the top-seeded Seattle SuperSonics 3-2 in a first-round playoff series. Mutombo led the way by blocking 31 shots, the most ever for an NBA five-game series and his 6.2 average per game remains the highest ever for any series.
That series ended with the unforgettable image of the big center sprawled on the floor, holding the ball over his head in triumph and screaming with joy.
That was a great series. Boston-Chicago had everything you wanted and then some.
The full seven games ... overtimes and close finishes ... star player stepping up ... role players emerging. You name it. Yes, it was truly a great series. But the best first-round series of all time? Let's not go that far.
I'll still take the Warriors' "We Believe" upset over the Dallas Mavericks two years ago and even the Denver Nuggets knocking off the Seattle SuperSonics back in 1994 over this one.
Felled after a collision with a man half his age, Dikembe Mutombo will apparently never play in the NBA again. This isn't the first retirement for Mutombo, but it sure feels like the final one. And boy, the league will miss this guy. But no one will forget him.
Cherry Picking recaps the previous day's NBA playoff action.
Objectively speaking, the Lakers hold a commanding 2-0 lead in their first-round matchup with the Jazz. How commanding? According to ESPN's John Hollinger, teams that open a series with two straight wins have gone on to win the series 192 out of a possible 204 times in playoff history. For those who can't perform long division before their morning coffee, that translates to 94.1%.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
The Celtics got off to a franchise-best 27-2 start this season, and there was obviously little cause for concern. But then, the team hit the road for four games out West, and dropped three of them ... which apparently now is causing complete panic in the front office. Why would I say this? Because the hot rumor of the day has Boston as the ultimate destination for Stephon Marbury this season. ESPN's Marc Stein explains:
Nearly one year since Stephon Marbury last played in a regular-season game, signals are getting stronger that the New York Knicks' outcast will eventually make his comeback with the Boston Celtics.
When asked specifically about the likelihood of Marbury joining the Celtics this season, the source predicted that "it will happen."
Now of course, before Marbury can go anywhere, there's the little issue of his contract with the Knicks. He and the team were previously a few million dollars apart on the negotiations, and unless Marbury has changed his stance and is willing to take less than he is owed, he's going to stay in his highly-paid purgatory for the rest of the year.
But if Marbury's contract does get bought out and he becomes available ... why would Boston take the chance?
Just as we receive word that one old-timer is interested in coming back, another becomes available. The Memphis Grizzlies today waived Antoine Walker, after coming to a buyout agreement on the remainder of his contract. I know what you're thinking: Antoine Walker was on the Grizzlies? Yes, yes he was. Although it was in name only, as he didn't play in a single game for them this season.
Walker was part of the eight-player draft day deal in June that ended up sending O.J. Mayo to Memphis, and saw the Grizzlies send Kevin Love and Mike Miller to Minnesota. Now that Walker's available, the question is, can he still play?
I'm guessing Walker wouldn't have bothered taking a lesser amount than his contract guaranteed him if he was done as a player -- that's just bad business. So assuming he can still contribute something, where might he end up?
Consider it a case of the rich getting richer: Dikembe Mutombo has decided to play this season and the Celtics are high on his list of teams. Doc Rivers, who's friends with Mutombo and talks with him frequently, confirmed that the C's would like to sign him -- and he's not the only one applying the pressure:
Yesterday, Mutombo attended a United Nations presentation of a Ben Affleck-directed film about refugees in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Mutombo's home country.
"I told [Affleck] that I might play in his hometown," Mutombo said in a telephone interview. "He said, 'Come, we'd love to have you.' He's a really nice guy."
Mutombo confirmed that his agent, David Falk, has been in touch with Boston's front office, though he added he's received interest from several other teams, as well. The Celtics are over the salary cap but have $2.3 million remaining from their mid-level exception to offer. It'd mean paying a little extra luxury tax, but they were going to have to do that anyway, so that probably won't be a deterrent.
If you thought Boston was good already, putting Mutombo on the bench would be downright unfair. The Celtics' defense is already smothering, and that's without the second-all-time leader in blocked shots anchoring the bench. The Celtics are already too good to say Mutombo could be the proverbial "missing piece," but it'd certainly help their chances in the race for 70 wins.
Crystal Ballin'takes a team-by-team look at what should, could, and probably will happen in the June 26th NBA Draft.
The Rockets had a nice 22-game win streak to hang their hats on in 2008, but that was about it. The injury to Yao really wrecked the team's chances of advancing deep into the playoffs (or even past the first round). If the team can add some athleticism and boost their bench a bit, they could be contenders in 2009.
Picks: #25, #54.
Needs: Not to have the Chinese government force their All-Star center to shut it down mid-season to make sure he's ready for the Olympics. That, and some size to back up said center when he does play. I know it seems like Dikembe Mutombo might just play forever. But I promise you, Rockets fans: he won't.
Raw Like Sushi was the name of a Neneh Cherry album. It also could end up being the title for the Hasheem Thabeet rookie highlight video.
That was a great series. Boston-Chicago had everything you wanted and then some.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." 
The Celtics got off to a franchise-best 27-2 start this season, and there was obviously little cause for concern. But then, the team hit the road for four games out West, and dropped three of them ... which apparently now is causing complete panic in the front office. Why would I say this? Because the hot rumor of the day has Boston as the ultimate destination for 
Just as we receive word that 
Consider it a case of the rich getting richer: 
