Akeem Scott takes on Latvia (people's champ, people's champ, people's champ)

DeceptivelyQuick mega-star Akeem Scott is in Latvia for a three week tryout with Ventspils. In his debut Akeem delivered 20 points, 4 steals, and 2 boards in a winning effort. Follow him on twitter here. I will never make you wait so long for an Akeem Scott update again. Promise.

Hey ESPN, Enjoy Hyping up Jennings.

Remember all this unsavoriness?

Now go look at THIS.

With the way he's been playing this season ESPN has to hype Jennings. I imagine they will conveniently never bring up that time they actively tried to bury him and his apple-cart tipping ways.

Coach Nate loves Jay Z, is totally down with the kids

From the other Quick:

"The emergence of Oden is getting the Blazers close to completing the diamond that coach Nate McMillan likes to make with his hands when talking about this team. McMillan puts his forefingers and thumbs together to symbolize the connection between Brandon Roy, LaMarcus Aldridge, Oden, and himself."

I imagine its just a coincidence (Nate seems incapable of pandering), but that would be hilarious if this is Nate's way of showing he can be down with the players. It makes me want to picture him awkwardly pulling out all kinds of outdated pop rap references, "Nice shot Blake, now thats gettin jiggy with it!" All you need is the R-O-C baby.

Channing Frye set to receive death penalty

Unless I'm confused about something.

How long before Rudy Fernandez is run out of town?

Rudy's latest hinting at his potential to earn a malcontent label:

“Right now, I don’t know my situation in the team,’ said Fernandez, who dealt with back spasms during training camp and missed four preseason games. ‘Blake play in the 2 (guard) position. For sure (that) is one more player in that position. Right now, I’m focusing in my work and taking (care of) my back. And when I’m on the court, play hard to help my teammates.’

We've heard the sniffles of dissatisfaction before. Part of me wants to think that once Portland takes care of their log-jam situation Rudy will be happy. The more we hear from Fernandez though, the more I wonder if making room for him to have a larger role would even be worth it in the long term. He will never be a top three guy on this team, can he be happy with that? I get the sense that the answer is no. Is Rudy the type of guy that would rather be a star on a bad team than a complementary player on a great team? If that answer is yes, Portland should be looking to move him while his value is somewhat high.

And when do the fans turn on him? If Rudy keeps talking we have the potential to witness one of the biggest swings from total euphoric fan support to get-him-the-hell-out-of-here-now in Blazers history.

Maurice Lucas classic

So awesome. Thats all.

(Via SI.)

Donald Sterling ok, players wearing jewelry bad

So goes the logic of David Stern, I guess. In a league that frets over its image to the point of banning players from wearing too much jewelry or shirts without collars it is hard not to be a little disgusted that man like Donald Sterling, who, um, OWNS AN NBA TEAM gets a free pass. Human rights violations are fine, t-shirts are the real enemy. Got that? If you want a refresher read the latest on the Clippers owner.