Daily Thoughts

For some reason, a few days ago a reporter decided to ask Shaq about Stephon Marbury's relationship with Larry Brown. Not directly answering the question at first, Shaq goes on tell the SportsNet New York reporter, "If you say you're the best point guard in the world, now you have to come out and show that every night. The only time when I really say that is when I have a real big game. You never really heard me say I'm the best center to ever play the game. When you say that, you have to come out and show that every night, especially here in New York."

When asked before a game against the Nets during the 2004-05 season how he would match up with Jason Kidd, Marbury replied, "I'm the best point guard in the NBA."

A few years late here... the reporter apparently asked the question just to stir up some controversy, an all too common occurrence in the sports world. Shaq is certainly not the first, 10th, 100th person I'd ask about the relationship between Steph and Larry. He had nothing to do with the two. He took Larry's side, as expected, because Larry has the better resume. A very Shaq thing to do. The reporter already knew all of this. He just made Shaq's animosity towards Marbury, which most likely is a product of Marbury's reputation as a loser, public.

In more positive news, Dajuan Wagner's body seems to be handling the vigorous workouts he has been putting himself through in his attempt to return to the NBA well. Wagner was diagnosed with colitis during his last NBA stint (2004-05 season with the Cavs), and apparently had been coping with the disease since his one year at the University of Memphis (2001-02 season). It was questionable whether Dajuan would be able to play ball again, but he has been playing in a competitive league in the Philly area. Dajuan's squad lost its last game to a team consisting of Hakim Warrick, Cuttino Mobley, Rick Brunson, Alvin Williams, and others. Reportedly doubled the whole night, Dajuan still managed to drop 43. Dajuan boasts multiple 50+ point games including an 80 point effort in the league, though it sounds like there is not much D played. However, this still is the same guy who scored 100 in a high school game and averaged over 42 ppg for the season. It doesn't matter who he is matched up against, he must be feeling well if 50 points has turned into the norm for him this summer.

Dajuan has recently worked out for the 76ers. 76er GM Billy King wrote in an e-mail, simply, "He looked good."

Wagner has certainly set the bar high. "I don't want to just get back; I want to get back and do good," he said. "I'm not going to be satisfied with just getting back. I want to have a good season. But it's going to feel good just to be playing."

People have questioned Dajuan's character in the past, but I would love to see him get back on the court and succeed. I will be rooting for him this season.

Thanks to Wang Shipeng's buzzer beating trey vs. Slovenia, which gave China the 78-77 win, the team will be moving on to the elimination round. The "Eight-Finals" match ups look like this:

on 8/26:
Argentina vs. New Zealand
Italy vs. Lithuania
Turkey vs. Slovenia
Spain vs. Serbia & Montenegro

on 8/27:
Germany vs. Nigeria
USA vs. Australia
France vs. Angola
Greece vs. China

I will continue to cover the World Championship.

My last thought is that I am surprised that this picture, part of the official World Championship logo, has yet to offend anyone. It just seems that it screams "I offend you!" I had a feeling that someone would get mad. That is, unless FIBA has indeed been receiving hate mail that I am unaware of...