The No Bench-press Association

The totally irrelevant professional sports league that is the National Basketball Association just had its annual draft. This is not to be confused with the annual fantasy basketball draft that used to take place at Shanghai Kelly's on a cocktail napkin for the now legendary "Whiting v. Wood" 2-team fantasy basketball league. I don't know what has happened more recently, that fantasy draft or a new TAP blog post.

The Seattle Sonics were roundly praised for selecting Kevin Durant with the second overall pick in the NBA draft. I am disappointed that the Sonics did not get Greg Oden, since I think Wood still follows the NBA and I would have liked to be able to ask him questions like "Does Oden ever talk about what World War II was like?" Nevertheless, the Sonics got Durant.

The Sonics also hired PJ Carliesimo to coach their team. Carliesimo enjoyed substantial success in the college ranks at Seton Hall and went on to fail as an NBA coach at several stops. You might remember that Carliesimo was the coach of the Golden State Warriors when he was choked by one of his players, shooting guard Latrell "I Got a Family to Feed" Sprewell (note welts on neck):



I think this is a dicey hire for the Sonics. You see, a 6'10" player with a 7'+ wingspan like Durant has could choke Carliesimo from a considerable distance. However, this may be countered by the fact that Durant cannot bench-press 185 pounds - so he is probably too weak to apply enough force to effectively choke his coach:



If I paid any attention the NBA, I'd be curious to see how this plays out.