WHATEVER HAPPENED TO ZEKE?

After a week sans posting, I got onto some free flow state of mind last night with James Osterberg lyrical influence and a labored examination of how dreams from 20 years ago could have affected the present day mechanical misfortunes of my car.  As in theta waves predetermining rust and corrosion.  I fortunately awoke of sounder mind and decided to focus on the thread that's tangentially attached to basketball.  Still, I hate losing the part about yawing from side to side with no discernible connection to the road.

The Lakers' Halloween romp through the Warriors has been covered six ways to Sunday and it's somehow become Tuesday night and they're presently blowing out the Grizzlies as I type away. One thing I took out of the Sunday game was Vlad the Impaler's forgettable 0-4 and the memory of how I once regarded signing him as an act of brilliance.  The Serbian experiment never really paid off.  In other related where are you now news, Ronny Turief took his hard-hustle play from Golden State to the New York Knicks and Devean George is still without a job after being waived by the Warriors.  Sorry Devean,  no link for you.

It's not all gloom and doom for Lakers' alumni - Jordan Farmar's having a nice start to the season in New Jersey, Caron Butler is likewise fitting in at Dallas and while Marc Gasol never actually played for the Lakers (his draft rights used in the trade for big brother Pau) he's nonetheless grown into a valuable asset for Memphis.  Maurice Evans, despite some injury problems, has carved out a nice role with Atlanta for the past few years and Bangin' Mbenga found himself a new home, playing for the Hornets and appearing in all three games to date.  Last but not least, Josh Powell's played meaningful minutes in all four games for Atlanta - their 4-0 duplicating the Lakers' own undefeated record as of tonight. 

The fringe element:  Former number one pick Kwame Brown has carried that distinction like an albatross and despite all, is now in his 10th year in the league, having come full circle to MJ (and who knows what kind of personal hell that could be).  Brian Cook's with the Clippers now, sharing a building with his former teammates and contributing one and a half points per game.  Cobe Karl is living the basketball dream in Spain and I can think of a lot worse places to be.  And Sun Yue's a New York Knick.  I think. 

They looked as if they put the whole world down. Trevor Ariza left under some crappy circumstances thanks to less than exemplary agenting and is now with New Orleans via Houston.  One-time blog icon Von Wafer has more recently been trading punches with Delonte West in Boston.  Smush Parker parlayed two years of starting in L.A. into a generally defiant nose dive (current zip code Russia).  Javaris Critteron parlayed his Russian roulette into a quick exit from Washington followed by an even quicker exit from the Bobcats.  And, finally, Gonzaga bad boy Adam Morrison has gone his own Kwame route from Michael to Phil to being waived by Washington before the season began.  That one's a disappointment to me, I really wanted to see him succeed.

And then there's Slava.  Finally, lest anyone think I don't care about games at hand, wrong.  I do.  But others write analysis faster and better and my basic stand on tonight's game can be summed up as we kicked ass!    It's somehow become the wee hours of the morning and my laptop's wheezing like an old man.  I guess this is now a Wednesday post.  Shuffle off to slumberland.