Greetings from London - Thoughts on Oj Mayo

'Ello from London! It's been a while since I've made any posts. Been busy with school and traveling.

Anyways, this whole OJ Mayo thing is going to get ugly. "Allegedly" he accepted gifts from this sports agency so they could secure him as a client when he left to the NBA. I put "allegedly" in quotations because you know he did. He was flat broke before he came here, and now he is the best dresser on the team and owns a 60 in. plasma tv.

Anyways, OJ is going to get off scott-free. He is going to the NBA to make his millions. This leaves USC absolutely fucked. This is a huge deal. This comes in the wake of the Reggie Bush scandal, where similar things happened. It just shows that USC can't control their star athletes.

So anyways, USC is going to get in big trouble. If I am on the NCAA committee, I am kicking the Trojans out of the NCAA for a year. Make them ineligible to compete in the Pac-10 tourney. Take away a couple scholarships. This is the perfect opportunity for them to make a statement about accepting gifts while still in college. Mike Garrett, USC's athletic director, needs to either get fired or make some serious changes.

We all knew Mayo was a headcase before he got to USC. To quote Bill Simmons,

Like it or not, Mayo's style of game resonates with a certain demographic, with his final high school dunk symbolizing the divide between traditional fans and the budding generation that was weaned on Slam Magazine and me-first "superstars" like Stephon Marbury and Vince Carter (neither of whom has played on a 50-win NBA team, by the way). Head over to YouTube and you'll find an unedited clip of the dunk that makes Mayo look like an attention-seeking punk, as well as a heavily edited clip of the same dunk that lionizes it. Is it alarming that a 19-year-old kid throwing himself a halfcourt alley-oop in the final minute of a 40-point win, dunking it, tossing the ball into the stands and getting thrown out of his final high school game, then soaking in a standing ovation could be considered a beautiful moment by some people? Probably not. That's just our culture now. Rappers sing songs with their own names as the chorus. Wannabe celebrities intentionally leak sex tapes to make themselves famous. Rich teenagers make fools of themselves on "My Super Sweet 16" and don't even get that they're the joke.

Tim Floyd needs to start getting some character guys. Something tells me Lil' Romeo and Demar Derozan are not going to be those guys.

As for Mayo - he is scum. He came in as a cocky high school kid who wanted to be the star on a mediocre team. He punched out Daniel Hackett and broke his jaw (which was covered up nicely by the athletic dept). He hogged the ball and turned the ball over. And everyone looked past it. All Trojans were just happy to have him.

He can do whatever he wants. He's OJ Mayo.

And now, when all USC fans stuck with him, he stabbed them in the back. He will be long gone and USC will pay the consequences. Is that right? Absolutely not. Mayo's name should be erased from the record books. Every USC student who has his jersey should burn it. He just completely screwed over a program that was on the rise. Mayo should never return to USC. He should not be welcome.

I'll tell you what - Ben Howland wouldn't stand for that for one second. UCLA's players have showed nothing but class for the last 5 years, while USC has had ill-advised early entry's to the draft and transfers. Sorry Floyd. You're a lovable coach. You show emotion. But you blatantly ignored the problems. You HAD to know something was up. And you ignored it.

I say USC fires Floyd and Garrett. USC's two biggest stars of the decade, and they both got illegal benefits while they were in college.

But hey, at least they were entertaining to watch, right?

Lamar Odom (sucks)

I am sick and tired of hearing about how good Lamar Odom is. Lakers fans LOVE him. People who don't know that much about basketball LOVE HIM EVEN MORE. They think he's an all-star. But he's not. He's never been an all-star. And he'll never be an all-star. A friend of mine said this the other day: "Lamar Odom is to Kobe like Pippen was to Jordan." I almost slapped my friend on the spot. Odom doesn't even come close to Pippen. And I will tell you why.

1. Lamar Odom is having one of his worst statistical year's of his career.
If you don't count his 2001-02 season with the Clippers where he only played in 29 games, he is averaging a career low in points (14.2). He is also below his career average in assists, blocks, free throw %, and 3-point %. He is however, averaging career highs in rebounds and field goal %. But still, it really is a down year for Odom.

2. Lamar Odom can't hit 3's.
Lamar Odom isn't a power forward - he is a small forward. And small forwards have to hit 3's. It's part of the position. Lamar is shooting an abysmal 27% from 3-point range. Luckily for the Lakers, they have enough guys, their other three starters can (Fisher, Bryant, Radmanovic).

3. Lamar Odom can't be trusted in the clutch.
According to Lamar shoots an undesirable 39% in clutch time (teams within 5 points of each other with 5 minutes left). That's definitely not something you want to see. Especially when his free throw shooting is below 70%. Gee, I wonder if teams want to foul Odom?

4. Lamar Odom is inconsistent.
Lamar Odom scored 20+ points nine times this season. Four of those times, he had less than 10 points the next day. So first off, he only gets 20 points once every nine games. For a player that averages 14 ppg, that's kind of odd. Second off, in almost half the games he scores 20 points, he goes cold the very next game. That shows no consistency whatsoever scoring. The only thing that he is consistent at is rebounding. But they have Pau Gasol to do that....so....

5. LAMAR ODOM IS USING 25% OF HIS TALENT!
Lamar Odom has one "WOW" play every game. Every game he takes the ball to the basket in a such an elegant way that he makes it look easy. I compare Odom to Ken Griffey Jr. Griffey had that perfect swing - that swing that looked like he could hit a home run at every at-bat. Odom is the same way. When he drives to the hole, the way his body moves and the way he gets up to the basket.....he looks like a fucking swan.

Why can't he do it every time? He does it with such ease! I don't understand it. He makes these wonderful plays and someone in the room will say, "Man, Odom is so good!" Well, the thing is, he only does that once a game. Odom is operating at 25% of his ability. Sports Illustrated did a player poll a little while ago asking NBA players to say who they think does the least with the most talent. The players answered Vince Carter. Vince Carter? Really? Carter has a career average of 24 ppg and is an 8-time all-star. That seems pretty good to me. Want to see Odom's season points averages? His rookie year, he averaged 16.6. Here's his year-by-year average after that:
17.2
13.1
14.6
17.1
15.2
14.8
15.9
14.2

Oh my God! He's gotten worse! Did Odom hit his peak at 22 years old? He averages 16 per game his rookie year. Everyone thought that was only the beginning. Usually when a rookie averages that much, he gets better. Well, Odom's numbers have gone down. And Odom's numbers never got better. They aren't really bad numbers either. They are just...... average.

And that's what Odom is - average. He never developed. He never grew. He just stayed the same. And it seems like he is satisfied with being the 15 ppg, 9 rbg guy. That's fine. He is a great 3rd guy to have in your top 3. But he's no Pippen. He's no Dumars. He's no McHale. He's Lamar "Average" Odom.

So Lakers fans I tell you this - shut the fuck up.