I can't tell you when the last time I had three dunks in a game. Shoot, I don't think I even had three dunks TOTAL this season going into the last game. So I'm sure I surprised a few people with that performance. That being said, here is what is on my mind this week...
5 Things I Think I Think
1) Lukasz Koszarek (Koszar to me) is probably the funniest guy I have played professional basketball with. Robert Witka has a great sense of humor and Brent Scott always kept me smiling when we played together in Italy, but my "very friend" Koszar is comic number one in my book. Actually, it is the comic duo of Koszar and Arek Miloszewski (Mily) that cracks me up the most. Mily, not only being hilarious, is probably the most genuine person I have met in basketball. He is the most unselfish guy I know - just a great dude.
In comedis terms, Koszar and Mily work together at the same level as basketball's Stockton and Malone. Whether they are joking about "Coach Czocz's" tecniques, how cheap Masi is, Janusz's sweaters, or just arguing with one another, these guys always have me rolling (laughing so hard that I'm, figuratively,rolling around on the ground). The funniest thing about their "act" is that they do it in English! A far from perfect English, of course. I am waiting for a TV producer to sign them up to start their own sit-com. Although it may be tough to make it on the air with all the great Polish programming that already entertains us on the 13 inch hotel TV's.
I don't know if Koszar is showing his sense of humor in his blog entries - I guess I will have to find a translater to inform me - but I'm sure his entries are very entertaining. Also, if my other fellow blogger - Radek Hyzy - is as good at writing as he is at "acidentally" hurting guys out on the basketball court, he may win the Nobel Prize for literature.
2) There have been some great 3-point shooters who have played in the Polish League: Andrzej Pluta, Walter Jeklin, and Joe Crispin to name a few. Even I made my name as a 3-point sniper for a few years - although you may not know it based on my performance this season. However, the Polish League player that I most like to watch shoot the long ball is Dennis Stanton. Maybe it's because with his babyface he looks like a junior in high school raining jumpers from anywhere on the court or maybe it's because I wouldn't think of attempting half of the shots he takes - and often makes. Between the legs dribble, step-back, min in his face....SWISH! His shot selection may get his team into trouble if he is not hot, but - make or miss - he is as fun to watch as the scantilly-clad girls dancing on the bar at Cinnamon in Warsaw on a Saturday night.
3) Speaking of great shooters... The best player in college basketball this season has been a 6'8" (203cm) shooter/scorer from Gonzaga (the school that produced former Anwil star, Matt Santangelo) named Adam Morrison. He is a funny-looking white dude with shaggy hair and an ugly mustache. These characteristics, along with his on-court offensive talents have convinced many journalists and fans in America that he is the next Larry Bird. Adam Morrison is a great college basketball player who may be the #1 pick in this summer's NBA draft. He could even become an All-Star someday. But he is NOT the next Larry Bird!!!
Morrison scores like Bird, rebounds like Bird, and has the late-game shot-making skills that Larry possessed. The difference is that Larry Legend was one of the all-time best passers and few men were able to make his teammates better the way the "Hick from French Lick" did. To be accurate, Morrison should be touted as the next Kiki Vandeweghe.
But journalists and fans are always looking for the"next (insert best athlete in the sport here)". In Basketball they all look for the next Michael Jordan - or, if the dude is a white guy, the next Larry Bird. I know most Europeans are more familiar with Michael Jordan, as the NBA exploded globally during his ch&ionship runs. But i grew up on Larry Legend, Magic Johnson, and Dr. J. And I'm here to tell you: We will find (if we haven't already) the next MJ before we find the next Larry Bird.
Kobe Bryant is Air Jordan without the personna and Lebron is well ahead of where MJ was at this point in his career. Who is similar to Bird? Nobody. Why? Because in this day-and-age kids grow up trying to be great one-on-one showtime players and don't learn the team game. They all want to "be like Mike" or AI or T-Mac or the And1 mix-tape goofballs.
I know Michael Jordan is the greatest of all-time, but we will see the "next" MJ long before we see the "next" Larry Legend...if we ever do.
4) I am a freak of nature! No, it's true. I am only two meters tall and i where size 18 (53 european size) basketball shoes! I've had big feet all my life and I can tell you it has been a struggle at times. Before the internet took off and I could shop online, finding nice casual shoes in my size was harder than trying to pay for a pack of gum with a 100 zlotych bill in a Zabka sklep. What's the deal with that anyway? Bankomats in Poland usually only dispense cash in 100's, but no store in Poland has change for anything higher than a 20. For the love of Adam Malysz, stock the damn cash registers with a few more bills!!!
Anyways, as I was saying: Big feet, big hands = big shoes, big gloves. ;) My feet got me thinking the other day in practice. Which is the worst physical drawback on our team? I ask you this rhetorical question:
Would you rather have...?
a) my big ugly feet
b) Tomas Pacesas' broken nose
c) Filip Dylewic's big ears (hey, I think they help him fly - do you see the way he dunks the ball?!?!)
d) Goran Jagodnik's hairy shoulders
I can ask this question because these guys are my teammates and friends.
I don't know exactly what my answer would be, but i do know that my problem is the only one that cannot be fixed. Jagoda can just shave his shoulders - hell, i do. And a plastic surgeon could do wonders to Sherriff's nose and Fili's ears. But, my clown-shoe feet will be this big forever. Oh well, at least I have a good excuse for being so slow on defense.
5) I think I'm running out of things I think for this week. Plus I am late for dinner over at Christian Dalmaus's house. His mom cooks the best Puerto Rican food in all of Trojmiasto. So I am packing up the wife and kids and heading over to the Dalmau's to fill my belly and watch my son chase Christian's two cute daughters around the house.