BUCKETS!
Regular visitors to Green Bandwagon know that I'm a big fan of Rod Benson's work. And his recent post on Leon Powe, which was the inspiration for the title of this post, is up there with his best. My top 5 favorite parts:
1. For anyone who somehow missed the obvious Powe works incredibly hard.
2. According to Benson Powe was at one point the #2 high school prospect. LeBron James was #1. Further proof that he fell to #49 in the 2006 NBA draft because of extenuating circumstances - his knees.
3. The packet of Kool-Aid story killed me. I don't know why.
4. Benson closes the article with a shot at Phil Jackson. Well played.
5. Finally, the following anecdote stood out amongst stiff competition:
"I clearly remember one pre-game meeting we had at Cal. We used to have these pretty long meetings where we would go over each player on the other team and over how we would play different situations. On this day, Coach Braun (now at Rice) and coach Pasternack (now at U of New Orleans) had gone over the other team for nearly 30 minutes before deciding to quiz some of us on the game plan. Since Leon was the man, they started with him.'So, Leon, what's the game plan?'
Leon's answer was quick, clear, and concise. In fact, it was probably the only answer someone gave to a question during my four years at Cal that I remember.
'Get buckets,' Leon answered confidently." - Rod Benson
"Get buckets" is also significant because it currently trails "Make him pay" on my list of expressions that are fun to say in a pick up game. Although they're both light years behind "Put him in a body bag" and "Sweep the leg". But that should go without saying.