–To Be Filed Under “And You Thought Jordan Hill Was A Bad Draft Pick”

When Brandon Jennings, the #10 pick in this last year’s draft, started showing he’s fo’ real, everyone bitched about the Knicks not snagging him with their #8 pick.  ‘Course that means 9 other teams passed on him too, so it’s not like NYC was the only one who misjudged him.  And with #1 pick Blake Griffin injured and unable to play a single minute this season, really the only two higher picks who’ve been clearly better are Tyreke Evans and Stephen Curry.  Others like James Harden and Jonny Flynn have been solid, and word is that Minnesota Timberwolves’ pick Ricky Rubio has been phenomenal  …playing over in Europe.  Everyone thought the draft would only produce one stud (Griffin) and the other players would be mediocre.  Instead, they’ve done wildly better than anyone would’ve guessed.  Which only makes it sting more for the Memphis Grizzlies who just sent their #2 pick, Hasheem Thabeet, to the D-League.  While his name is pretty darn fun to say (or even to sing, particularly when you replace the chorus of the Go-Go Girls’ “We Got The Beat” with his name), he will be the highest draft pick EVER sent to the D-League.  The dude is so bad that the Grizz decided to replace him at backup center with Iranian, Hamed Haddadi, who thinks he’s playing something called “net ball.”

–The Last Straw

Newly acquired Dallas Maverick, Caron Butler, has been banned by the NBA league office.  Banned from chewing on straws during games.  Really?  We’ve become so overly concerned about appearances that we’re cracking down on straw chewing?  And for those of you who think “straw chewing” is a euphemism or slang for something, no, it’s literally what it sounds like: Caron likes to sit on the bench and chew on McDonald’s straws.  Since Butler used to play for the Wizards, the Washington Post once did a hard-hitting news piece on this insidious habit:

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