By Jeremy Conlin and Joe Parello
Studs and Duds is a weekly feature on Suite Sports. Who had a good week? Who had a bad week?
Studs
Jay Harris, AKA "Jay Datbull"
If a college football recruit has ever had more Swag than Datbull, I haven't heard of him. Harris reportedly turned down a scholarship offer to play football for Michigan State so that he could pursue a budding rap career.
Awesome, I know.
His first single, "Datbull 4 Life" features him lighting up some weed, rapping about stealing people's wives, girls sitting on his (expletive deleted) and just general baller-hood. If you check out this video below and don't immediately sign him to a record deal, you clearly have no eye (or ear?) for musical talent.
Oh yeah, and then the minor detail came out that it was actually MSU releasing him from his scholarship after this video got over 50,000 hits on Youtube, citing inappropriate behavior.
Haters gone hate.
-JP
Jarron Collins
That picture at the top is just great. Jarron is the twin brother of Jason Collins, the journeyman NBA center that recently came out as major American sports' first active gay player. Not much else to say, just pretty funny.
-JP
The Indiana Pacers Defending Isolation Scorers
The way to beat the Pacers defense - move the ball side-to-side, force Roy Hibbert to defend high screens, don't isolate at the elbows.
Things the Knicks did in their Round 2 series: None of them. None of those things.
The Knicks opted to have Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith jab-step their way to glory. They failed miserably. Indiana completely swallowed them up. Carmelo shot 43 percent in the series (37 percent in New York's three losses), J.R. Smith an abysmal 29 percent. Ball movement died, allowing Indiana to load defenders on the strong side of the floor, and that was all there was to it.
-JC
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The NBA's all-time leading scorer put the WNBA's brightest young star through a crash course on his iconic shot. Kareem taught Phoenix Mercury rookie Brittney Griner the finer points of his famed "Sky Hook" this past Wednesday, and seemed to think the women's basketball phenom picked it up pretty quickly.
So, will the already unstoppable Griner be adding the game's most unstoppable shot to her repertoire?
"You'll see some hooks, but to do a true skyhook, that's going to take a while to get it down perfect," she said. "But you'll definitely see once I get a feel. I definitely want to get that in there."
-JP
Duds
Andy Reid
When new Eagles coach Chip Kelly took over in Philadelphia, the first thing he did wasn't install his cutting edge offense… It was get rid of Taco Tuesday and Fast Foot Friday.
Really Andy Reid, really? I mean, I know you and Mike Holmgren helped found the Walrus Coaches of America, but can't you just eat Taco Bell and McDonald's on your own time? Did you really need to make this an official team function?
I will now give you a few seconds to let it sink in that this man was taking some of the most finely-tuned athletes on the planet and giving them twice-weekly helpings of things you shouldn't eat when you're preparing for an intramural softball championship.
-JP
Russell Westbrook Detractors
Oklahoma City playoff record with Russell Westbrook: 3-0
Oklahoma City playoff record without Russell Westbrook: 2-6
But yeah. He shoots too much and Durant would be better off playing next to someone else. Sure. Seems legit.
-JC
The Maloof Brothers
Try as they may to spite the fans of Sacramento that showed up in droves when they put a decent product on the court, the Maloof Brothers' proposed sale to a Seattle-based ownership group was shot down by their fellow NBA owners. Now, the cash-strapped Maloofs have to decide whether to sell the team to the Sacramento-based group approved by the league, or continue the facade that they have the funds to adequately operate an NBA franchise.
-JP
Game 1 Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies have lost Game 1 in every series so far this postseason. They are now 0-3 in Game 1's. They're 8-1 in all other games.
So is that trend going to carry over in the Western Finals? What's more indicative of Memphis' prospects in this series - the 20-point drubbing the Spurs put on them, or their propensity to bounce back from early losses? Neither sample size is really adequate to make a call one way or the other, but if Game 1 against San Antonio is any indication - Tony Parker should be able to get to any spot he wants against the Grizzlies defense - likely a death sentence for Memphis.
-JC
