Blank NBA Player

[Jakay]

I'd guess Juwan Howard for no great reason.

[paperboymafia]

It's not Nash. He says in one of the other blogs that he hates the taste of alcohol and never drinks.

[M4P]

Like a previous poster pointed out, the style that this guy types with makes him sound a lot like Barnes.

[FakeScreenName123]

Ray Allen?

[Don Draper]

KEVIN LOVE!

Post padding.

[Scoops]

Ray Allen?

I was just about to say Jesus Shuttleworth. Beat me to it, damnit.

[BurlRapFan]

I'm not sure about the Matt Barnes guess, if only because the Larry Brown complaint doesn't seem to fit. Orlando was 3-1 vs. Charlotte during the season - the only loss was in ORL (March 14; Barnes didn't play; Charlotte did have more FTA, but only 26-21, and TOs were nearly even).

I like the Phoenix ideas, as they lost twice to Charlotte in a 10-day span (Jan 16, with Charlotte having 27 FTA and 9 TO to Phoenix's 25 and 15; and Jan 26, with Charlotte have 30 FTA and 12 TO to Phoenix's 17 and 18). I thought I favoured Grant Hill as the Sun here, but I'm trying to find players that fit the "good college guy who never made it in the NBA" description.

-I'm not sure Louis Amundsen played with any other NBA prospects at UNLV
-Steve Nash played with Marlon Garnett (WCC player of the year, but only played 20-odd NBA games before going to Europe), but can't find anything to suggest there were alcohol issues...
-Grant Hill had lots of "good" teammates being at Duke (Christian Laettner, Thomas Hill, Cherokee Parks, Brian Davis, Bobby Hurley), but did any of them have alcohol issues?

Anyway, I want to float one more name out there for consideration: Shaq.

-He loves to talk, in general
-Teammate of Derek Fisher, though not of Kevin Ollie (he left Orlando before Kevin Ollie arrived, but they'd have had common teammates)
-Calls Iverson the most beloved player "after Shaq" - and we know how he loves himself and isn't modest about it
-Praises both Kobe and LeBron, but says "sometimes hunger wins out over experience" (perhaps looking forward to a Cavs/Lakers final?)
-If he'd been to rude to Kobe (how's my a** taste?) in the piece it might have been "too obvious", so perhaps a bit of grudging respect to throw everyone off the scent?
-Not sure about the college teammate bit, but he did play at LSU with Stanley Roberts, who made the NBA but was never as good as he was supposed to be and ended up being banned for drug use (the last major drug suspension in the NBA prior to Chris Andersen)
-Charlotte won 3 of 4 against Cleveland in the regular season, including Nov 27 (Charlotte 30 FTA and and 10 TO to the Cavs 17 and 16), Jan 3 in Cleveland (Charlotte 19 FTA and 11 TO to the Cavs 13 and 12), and Feb 19 (25 FTA each, Charlotte had more TOs)

Dunno, just a thought... Feel free to dismiss or debate the merits.

[Gervin]

Michael Finley

played with Ollie, plenty experience playing against Fisher....had times guarding Kobe and has a lot of time on the bench lately to observe other players and how they react to refs.

[rsavaj]

It's gotta be Rasho.

[Neb]

So, that Dirk-groupie-engagement-criminal thing was known?

I feel it's Dallas player. Dirk, not Nowitzki, there were most Dallas references, no mention of Dallas arena as toughest places to play - not that I'm saying that it is...had a feeling in his text that he knows Dallas well.

[Chosen01]

Definetely a Dallas player

But the guy who gets the most calls by far is Dwyane Wade, even though he carries the ball a lot and is always falling down. The refs like his personality, I guess. He never met a ref he didn't like.

[Father Time]

Reading everything again, I'm going with Matt Barnes. Earlier this year he gave Kobe some props after their game in Orlando, so he seems like a respectful dude. He also has a bit of a "tough guy" reputation, which could affect how the referees react to him. He says that if he talked to the refs the way CP3 did, he'd get thrown out, which suggests referees are quick to technical him. Barnes also usually guards a star wing player, like LeBron, like Kobe, like Wade, so he would definitely know who gets the most calls. And Orlando is always talking about how they get "disrespected" by everybody, and so if this guy says the refs weren't treating them well, he might be on Orlando. I can also see Barnes calling a ref "sir", because he's a respectful guy with kids.

Matt Barnes.

[Father Time]

Nevermind, because the guy mentions Orlando as one of the toughest places to play.

Not Matt Barnes.

[Chosen01]

lol plus plz someone get the GIF of Matt Barnes attempting to scare Kobe by faking to throw the b-ball in his face, when he was inbounding the ball.

[bicatmit]

Nevermind, because the guy mentions Orlando as one of the toughest places to play.

Not Matt Barnes.

But he lists Orlando as one of the toughest places to play "as a visiting player." This would rule out a guy like Dwight Howard but Matt has been a visiting player his whole career up until this season.