Hot Links For The Basketball Soul (Vol 3.3): Melo Art and The Making of "Go NY Go,"The Video
LOOKIN' HOT: This Carmelo Anthony was done by Dustin Watson who is working on creating 30 pics in 30 days, one player per team. He started off the project with Melo and already has some nice artwork of Deron Williams, Brandon Jennings and Russell Westbrook at Dark Wing Illustration.
MAN ON FIRE: Wow. You Learn something new all the time. I had no idea who Keenan Cahill was until I decided to do some background research on this 'making of " video. The real star of this vid is Keenan Cahill a YouTube sensation with 201.2 million uploads and 19.8 million channel views. The "Go NY GO NY GO" video has become a fan fave as have the acting chops of Andy Rautins and Landry Fields, who really need to do their own show. Very funny dudes. Anyway, Mr. Cahill's story is so nice that I think we need to invite him to the radio show. The finished version of the video is below and will be seen during our LBEs.
Hot Housekeeping: We added Rob's Sports Daily to our blog roll. It's a relatively new aggregator of Knicks sports news. There are plenty of those type of blogs, including us, sorta-kinda (see side bars), but Rob's Sports blog has a very nice,clean magazine style which might appeal to some. Visit recommended. . . . You might also want to check out Hoops Manifesto's NBA Big Questions for the Week. Bloguin bloggers chime in on whether the Carmelo "experiement" will work and whether Michael Jordan can still play and score 15-20 ppg. My money is on MJ in less than 60 games.
I caught the 2nd half of the game against the Jazz. It was an interesting study in human psychology to see Andy Rautins on the court last night. First the crowd called for him. The coach, in a Rudy like fashion initially laughed at the request and then eventually gave in to the wishes of the crowd. That was just the beginning. Rautins gets in and immediately turns the ball over in a moment of nervousness, attempting a mid court pass to a dazed and confused Renaldo Balkman. Rautins visually sulks and is embarrassed by the ill advised pass to an unsuspecting teammate. Every single person in the building, including his teammates on the floor, wants him to score. Andy is in a bad spot. He needs to prove that he can run the offense with players that he barely knows, he's embarrassed by the attention bestowed upon him by the Garden crowd and the pity playing time from Coach D and his confidence is shaken from the poor pass right out of the gate. The next possession he turns the ball over again when he threw a pass with a bit too much pace after a pick n roll.
After that Rautins barely looked to score. His teammates appeared to pass up shots in order to swing the ball back to him but Andy relented, choosing to fade into the background.
I watched, waiting for him to bust into Allen Iverson mode and chuck the rock every chance he got. What did he have to lose? Andy was just a little bit too passive. Was this going to be his break out moment? Not likely. D'Antoni has made his judgment on Rautins and it will not change before the end of this season. He's looked at as a long time project, not for immediate release.
What I saw from Andy Rautins last night was a guy who stepped onto someone else's court and was tested. He wanted to fit in. He had to stand out. C'mon Andy, fire away next time
Now for another hot link. If you've been strangely obsessed with this whole Charlie Sheen phenomenon, as I have been, you may enjoy my exclusive interview with him. He is apparently going to be shipping off to Afghanistan next. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CqD0X5vS3FM
