In his latest really really really really long mailbag, Sam Smith blows the lid off of Chicago's best kept secret:
Aaron Gray, it seems, had an entitlement problem.
Sam: Yes, no good deed goes unpunished, eh. He refers to Gray saying when the Bulls were in New Orleans last week that he never got a chance in Chicago and would show he can play now and was glad he could do it for another team. He's been with the Hornets four games. They played him in one six minutes and he got three fouls. They made their statement as well. He's not an NBA player. Maybe he could be, but he has the worst attitude of so called white stiffs I've ever seen. There's always been this joke around the NBA that teams keep these big white guys at the end of the bench to have a white guy on the roster. It's nonsense, but most of these guys are useful for certain matchups, to give fouls and contribute some. Gray always saw himself as Bill Walton. His attitude was miserable. He'd yell at coaches about not playing, and you look at him three years later and he's still not in shape. Take a guy like Marc Gasol, who changed his body and became a productive player. Last summer, the Bulls had Illinois' James Augustine on their summer league roster. I lobbied for his signing, writing he'd fit well with the style players they had. But the Bulls felt they owed another shot to Gray and given his size he'd help. So this is how he repays them with cheap shots on the way out. Tells you all you need to know about the guy.
You'll notice the Bulls only said nice things about him after the trade.
The Bulls might have done, but apparently their website writers are prepared to mix it up a bit.
If true, it is quite a damning indictment on Gray. For him to have not realised or accepted that the players ahead of him are superior than him will have taken a level of stubbornness rarely seen since Operation Barbarossa, and for Gray to have believed that he had anything more than backup talent at the NBA level is quite the argument against the measuring of statistical output. The numbers do not back up such a claim.
It might explain a lot, however. Aside from one photo shoot - in which he simultaneously rocked my second lamest haircut of summer 1993 - Gray was never in shape as a member of the Bulls, and the more out of shape he got, the worse his play became. Gray started his two and a bit year career with the Bulls as a decent offensive threat from the deep bench (free throws excluded), but by the end he couldn't make a layup.
I don't know much about basketball, but I know Bill Walton could make layups.
Filed under: Uncategorized
Tags: Aaron Gray, Bill Walton References, chicago bulls, Divaish Behaviour, Sam Smith Mailbag
Let Aaron Gray be a DIVA in New Orleans.
FYI:
The Bulls just signed Chris Richard.
http://realgm.com/src_wiretap_archives/64496/20100205/chicago_signs_chris_richard/
Sorry, I missed the earlier report.
Somebody please tell me that the Bulls have another move up their sleave. They can't be this CHEAP.
CHEAP? Yeah, that makes total sense. I mean, the reason they haven't replaced Noah with a borderline all star is because they're too cheap to do it. Wait....maybe that's just...stupid?
What exactly would you like them to do? Magically spend money on something that doesn't exist?
Nice to be at Miami without TT (banish him please) and Noah....could open Wade's eyes about Chi-Town a bit more.
As far as David Lee...would he really match with Noah? Would look good if we landed Wade.....Rose, Wade, Deng Lee, Noah....not bad.
I've always hated Aaron Gray as a Bull. I liked him as a college player and as a complement taken in the same year as Noah, thought he'd be a good fit.
Last year, though, when Rose crossed-over Andre Miller and put him on his ass, Aaron Gray effin' stared down the 76ers. I since noticed he did that quite often. He stares down and talks shit when his teammates do something good, as if he, himself, did it.
He's a douche.
This year's over. We're sellers now.
Sam Smith is the best.
BRING IN DAVID LEE! i honestly didnt know his year was this good..he was the biggest all star snub this year..its crazy the numbers he gets..i dont wanna hear systems because every team has one -_- david lee and joakim noah would be the best rebounding and energitic front court..lee is basically like getting boozer..not as much scoring..but lee is averaging nearly 20 with 11 boards a night..
if bosh cant come..then lee is the next best 2010 pf truthfully..
he can run,shoot,score,rebound and play hard for the length of the game.. bring in lee by the deadline..