Two things to address today. First of all, yesterday was media day. Everyone knows the best part of media day is seeing pictures of the players for the first time in a couple months. It's like the first day of middle school. Who got fat over the summer? Who got a haircut? What do the new kids look like? Who grew boobs?
...I guess some of those apply more than others. Anyway, here are the photo galleries. (There are three.) A few thoughts:
- Jared Jeffries shaved off his beard. Not cool.
- By the way, I'm pissed off that we now have two players named "Jared". That doesn't sit well with the obsessive compulsive within me.
- Eddy's got a clean haircut and his arms have officially become legs with hands.
- Is Z-Bo wearing Starbury's?
- Roderick Wimont!
- I love this picture. There's some unintentional art in that photo.
In other news, Henry Abbott of TrueHoop dropped a monster post today about Stephon Marbury's summer and how it translates into the upcoming season. Embedded in the post (which is worth reading in its entirety, as is the case with all TrueHoop articles) is this very reassuring segment:
He's not there yet. Sure he has made some noises about scoring fewer points and getting more assists now that Zach Randolph is in the fold. But when he was asked recently what he was working on this summer, he made clear that he was not interested on working on things that he was not good at, and instead was perfecting his scoring ability.
Still no promises it will turn out well. But things are churning in this guy, and he sure seems to be happier than ever before. I don't feel like I know the guy at all. But I have no problem seeing him smile as he figures out what it means to be Stephon Marbury in 2007.
Coming from the Blogfather himself, that's great to hear. Thanks, Henry.
That's all for now. My conribution to the season preview project is coming tomorrow. (The Nets guys, including Hooplah Nation, went today.) I'll catch you fools later.