A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's First 15 Minutes in the NBA
Note: Due to my hatred of commercials and possession of a DVR, I started watching the game about 9 PT.
3rd Quarter Summary
12:00 -- I check the text message stampler sent me (from Oracle Arena) about two hours earlier, figuring whatever it is he wanted to point out had already happened.
Wait. What? He's dressed? The Spurs are up 16 at half against a Warrior team that would rather snitch on Suge than play a lick of defense, playing a segababa, and James White is actually eligible to play? Oh dear sweet Baby Jesus in a manger... the immediate game after I have courtside seats and His Flightness, a man who's cause I have championed from the beginning, is suited up. How is this fair? What does this do to my already wavering belief in a higher power?
I leave these questions for another day and immediately prepare. Send a quick text to stampler telling him "you're dead to me," wrap the couch in saran wrap, grab my Costco-purchased tub of KY and wait.
2:42 -- There he is. On the court. #33, sparkling white NBA logo head band perfectly askew atop his head. Al Harrington, feeling a mixture of fear and respect, weeps openly, and I am not afraid to say I have an erection that would frighten Traci Lords.
Pacers ball; Flight is covering Pietrus in the corner. Harrington takes Elson baseline and White is there with the help defense, forcing a travel the refs miss. Harrington misses the shot. Flight elevates for the rebound, but, knowing he'll have the man's job soon enough, allows Finley to grab the board.
James White's quickness can alter the flow of rills, creeks, streams and the occasional river.
2:29 -- White takes his offensive position in the corner while Tony non-chalantly undresses the Warrior defense, taking the layup instead of dishing out to Flight for his first NBA 3-pointer.
Selfish Frenchie prick.
2:18 -- Barnes drives middle, forcing White to leave Pietrus open in the corner (where he misses the 3) and help on Richardson on the wing.
Richardson 3P wing percentage? 82.2. Pietrus corner 3P percentage? -7. Flight's defensive acuity? Unparalleled.
2:00 -- Parker drives the middle, kicking it out to Flight for his first NBA shot attempt. Unfortunately the pass is the worst in the history of the sport, shifting Flight off-balance and causing the shot to rim out.
Frenchie needs to watch hisself.
1:35-- Monta Ellis' lack of a conscience allows Flight to merely stand on the court for all to admire.
A child in the front row is inspired to become the next great sculptor, and she calls out to James: "I'll make Rodin my bitch, James! My bitch, I tell you!"
1:33 -- Parker dribbles around some more until Monta, not having the shot the ball in at least 15 seconds, decides to allow him the easy layup just to get the ball back.
James White, at the age of 7, could see all of Nellie ball's limitations.
1:11 -- Warrior turnover, leading to a 2-on-2 fast break with Parker and White. White points at the sky, preparing to unleash the unholiest of holy alley-oops on the Bay Area. Parker refuses to pass the ball, going to the rim and drawing a foul instead. Flight, tired of the Frenchie's disrespect, impregnates Eva Longoria with a mere thought.
1:02 -- James White makes his first NBA foul, an intentional one called on by Pop to get Parker out of the game. Sarunas Yesikevishus drives, the middle, sucking White into the lane and leaving Pietrus open for a three that he makes.
A more foolish man would point out that maybe White helped too soon. I would tell that man not to speak about things he could not possibly understand. After shivving him, of course.
0:50 -- Oberto looks for White on a cut down low. The ball is tipped by a Warrior and then off White's hands for a turnover that Oberto claims with alacrity. James White begins to think of ways to reward the Argentine's loyalty.
0:38 -- James White's vast talents were not needed this Warrior possession, so he taught a 42 year-old illiterate man to read.
0:28 -- Michael Finley, no doubt nervous in his debut with Flight, bricks a 3; his first miss of the game. Barry grabs the board and dishes it to Flight for his first NBA basket, a layup so beautiful, so perfect, that words, like copious amounts of seminal fluid, escape me.
0:04 Sarunas attempts a half-court shot, which Flight defends with such vigor that the opposing point guard loses all feeling in his lower extremities.
4th Quarter Summary
12:00 -- Oberto finds Barry down low for an easy 10-footer. On the way back down court Fabricio apologizes for not getting Flight the ball. James gives him a reassuring nod, his compassion sending a single tear down the Argentine's face.
11:45 -- James White's man gets the ball 20 feet from the basket, takes a single dribble and then passes the ball. He then apologizes profusely for his impotence. Flight corrects him, letting him know he meant "impudence" or even "insolence."
Flight, when required, can drop the vernacular like woah.
11:20 -- Finley gets his shit thrown and wonders if he'll ever make another basket. Jacikevisius throws up a weak attempt at a fast break and back comes Jacque Vaughn, who passes the ball to White before getting it back. Vaughn would later say "I know this doesn't make any sense, but after he passed the ball to me... I swear it felt more round."
10:41 -- Not much was required from His Flightness during this possession. Thus, seeking a challenge worthy of his great intellect, he telepathically teaches Jackie Butler the quadratic formula.
10:14 -- White gets the ball at the top of key, crosses the shit out of Matt Barnes, gets to the rack and draws the foul. He makes both free throws while reciting the preamble to the Constitution in Aramaic.
10:00 -- Once again James is not needed, so he takes the time to telepathically explain the power of Jackie's newfound knowledge. Butler, unfamiliar with equations, math and even, well, numbers, sees the world in a whole new light.
9:47 -- Matt Bonner makes a 3 and finds himself falling in love with James White.
9:26 -- James White, finding himself again with idle time, composes the lyrics for an entire rap album... all in iambic pentameter.
9:09 -- Oberto misses a shot while James White reminds a court side patron that she needs to pick up her dry cleaning tomorrow. The woman turns to her friend and says "Oh my God, I totally would have forgotten to pick up my dry cleaning if it wasn't for that strapping, handsome young man."
8:56 -- Jason Richardson tries to take Flight off the dribble and ends up embarrassing himself and his entire family. His mother refuses to speak to him for 3 months.
8:35 -- Matt Bonner travels after receiving a pass from White. He later tells friends "Oh my God, I was, like, so embarrassed and I, like, hope James didn't see me."
8:22-7:34 -- Over the next three possessions James White gives a lecture explaining the difference between Roth and regular IRAs, redefines the in-bounds pass and saves a troop of Girl Scouts from a cougar attack.
7:34 -- James White grabs his first rebound. Tim Duncan is seen taking notes.
7:24 -- James White compliments an usher on her hair. She smiles for the first time since January.
7:10 -- Matt Barnes runs into White and promptly collapses onto the floor in pain. James let's the anguish continue for 8 seconds before telling the pain "you can stop now." The pain, of course, stops.
6:50 -- White gets the ball on the wing, up fakes his defender and gets to the rim for the and-1. Finley is seen on the bench muttering under his breath while Carlesimo tries to explain the concept of athleticism to Popovich.
6:36-0:32 -- During these six minutes, among other things, James White collects his second and third rebounds, pens the 4th Law of Thermodynamics, effectively summarizes the works of Proust in six paragraphs, convinces Carlos Mencia to never speak again and explains Immanuel Kant's theory of perception to a group of Oakland's inner-city youths.
0:30 -- White cuts down the lane and single-handedly slams home an alley-oop from Oberto for his first NBA dunk. The culmination of his debut is so perfect, so sublime that your humble narrator, despite the events of the previous 14 minutes, found himself nearly overcome with emotions. It's all too much to explain.
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Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's
Then those last 2 or 3 minutes in the 3rd quarter really ticked me off! My question is when is this guy going to fucking learn. He isn't a kid out there he is 24 years old and been in the league 6 years now. It's like a broken record with Parker.
The game was over already, and I know Pop left in Parker so he could start passing the ball to second unit. With the score 94 to 63 Parker 3 out of the last 4 shots. And We all know that Pop wasn't too pleased because he had White foul as soon as the Warriors in bounded the ball.
When Manu or Timmeth are out on the floor with the second unit in a blowout game; they look for their teammates, they don't care about padding their stats.
It's getting old how Pop still has to babysit Parker and after that team meeting Tony shot it less than 10 tens and then went back to his usual self.
This is why Parker could never become a great player his refusal to pass to his teammates. Now people can't say Tony needs to trust his teammates, because he has 2 bona fida stars on this team. He needs to know his damn role.
This is another reason why the ball is always in Manu's hand instead of Parkers at the end of games. Parker is definitely quicker than Manu, but he doesn't make a right decision, that is why Pop doesn't trust him. Also, I guarantee Parker would be benched more if we had a damn decent back up point guard.
It was nice seeing White play; and I loved how Pop tore into Bruce for that stupid as left hand shot while Finley and Manu were wide open.
by adam8065 on Mar 27, 2007 9:41 AM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's
That pissed me off too; I'm not usually down with the TP-hatin, but he's starting to get to me. Still, I honestly can't think of many point guards who would be a better fit for the Spurs than TP is; Arenas would be fun, but he's just as much of a non-passer as Tony is. Steve Nash's skills would be utterly wasted on a Popovich-style team. Chris Paul would do decently; Chauncey Billups would be great... but that's about it. Gary Payton or Jason Kidd from 7-8 years ago would probably be Popovich's ideal point guard (excluding Stockton, who Popovich rhapsodizes about in much the same way Matthew exhults about Manu).
But dammit... it's occasionally painfully obvious that Parker would truly love to shoot the ball every time down the court, degree of difficult be damned, if he was allowed to do so - there's more than a little Kobe-ness in him. It's a credit to him (and Popovich) that he rarely truly indulges himself like that... but, with the game already decided and a surplus population of scrubs on the floor on both sides, he just couldn't help himself. I'm surprised he didn't jack up a few threes before Pop yanked him.
All the same... Tony just isn't a true point guard. You can't be a true point guard if you'd rather score than make an assist. I just can't visualize Tony, in an open 2-on-0 fastbreak, giving it up to the other guy.
Compare that with Manu; I have little doubt that, given the choice between: A) throwing down a nasty dunk, or B) making a sick pass that hurts your brain like a twisted optical illusion, he'd choose the pass every time.
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
White is the FUTCHA!
by Gros Membres on Mar 27, 2007 10:13 AM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of Flight
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of
I have realized though Pop has been yanking Parker a lot sooner these days if he doesn't like what he seems from him. Which is a good thing.
There are times when he should pass and times when he should score, and in that game it just makes him look selfish not only to the Spurs players but as well to the Warriors players.
I think next game he might once again take fewer than 10 shots.
The worst thing that happened to the Spurs last year was that Timmeth and Manu were both playing through injuries; which by default made Tony more into a scorer.
by adam8065 on Mar 27, 2007 2:44 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's Fir
by PaleNimbus on Mar 27, 2007 4:09 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's Fir
ALL HAIL FLIGHT WHITE.
by PaleNimbus on Mar 27, 2007 4:16 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's Fir
by PaleNimbus on Mar 27, 2007 4:27 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's Fir
And Number 33 said...Let there be dunking, and there was dunking. And Number 33 saw the dunking, and it was good.
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of
by adam8065 on Mar 27, 2007 4:50 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's
Now I can root for the blowouts so I can see more of White on the floor. If Pop isn't going to play our Hero Manu that many minutes might as well let White get in there. And nice game for his NBA debut!
I really want to see flight with the sickness: Manu would throw him some sick passes! Finally some damn athleticism on this team.
by adam8065 on Mar 27, 2007 4:59 PM CDT reply actions
James White Dunk
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/photo?slug=getty-71797687rw026_warriors_spur_2_08_35_am&prov=getty
Here is a picture of Manu's dunk!
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/photo?slug=getty-7179768rw027_warriors_spurs_2_08_48_am&prov=getty
by adam8065 on Mar 27, 2007 5:32 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James
He is 4th on our team in scoring at 9.0 ppg. And he's 3rd in PER at 24.40, just a couple of ticks behind Manu's 24.42...
Man this guy should play more!
In all seriousness, at least it's safe to say that he's had a better debut than Butler, who's PER is current -5.50. I didn't even know a negative PER was possible until two minutes ago.
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James
by adam8065 on Mar 27, 2007 6:43 PM CDT reply actions
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review
The Mavs play mostly slow like us, so it doesn't matter. But with Phx, I think the best way to control the pace is to have home court. I think it's too damn hard to play slow in their court.
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's Fir
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's Fir
from TFA:
"Finley has helped mentor White, providing a few words of advice or encouragement when appropriate."
sorry party monster but i thought you should know
Re: A Totally Unbiased Review of James White's
by adam8065 on Mar 28, 2007 9:38 AM CDT reply actions

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