im still pumped, always optimistic in the summer months.

I will try to push through and post something tonite or tomorrow as well.

Dannie, are you not giving us anything new just to keep this record comment streak alive?

The reason I’m posting is not so much for the interview itself, but the fact that Elton Brand looks like he’s in REALLY good shape.  You can tell he’s shed some weight and added muscle, he really looks primed to start the season.  He also said he is 100% healthy and feeling great.  Certainly bodes well for the season if we have Brand return to mid 00′s form with the Clippers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPLWENtNYpQ

(while this interview is more low key, I highly recommend checking out some of Elie Seckbach’s stuff with Kobe Bryant, Shaq, and the late 00′s Suns…very funny stuff).

On AI2, funny, I paused at Rosen’s good-slasher-to-the-basket compliment too.  Iguodala’s not economical enough in motion and often ends up with a compromised or goofy shot (his successful slashing is completed primarily on the fastbreak).  Agree too – his footwork isn’t tight; can’t stop-and-pop well if body balance is whacked (not to mention shot form and arm/muscle propulsion, as opposed to a shooter’s soft reverse-spin fingertip release).  On the positive side, both his self-assessment and ambition appear fairly large.  Strange player, both imposing and weak.  Can drive a team, can drain a team.   

People are actually pretty excited about basketball around here.  Towards the end of last year when they started making the push for the playoffs, that’s when the excitement started to pick up.  Actually the year before last I was at a Bobcats vs. Nets game… and Larry Brown was sitting a few rows down from me.  It turns out a couple months later he became the coach of the Bobcats and people were excited about that.  However, the excitement with the Bobcats doesn’t even compare to the excitement of the Hornets back in the late 1990′s.  Every game was close to a sell out.  It sucks they had to leave.