Congratulations and godspeed

I was pretty high on this guy already, since his myspace page was second only to Bynum's in terms of sheer awkward pathos, and he's been drawing rave reviews off of summer league play, which has him pegged as the second coming of Odom (perhaps THE FreeDarko player). He also has one of the most uniquely unpronouncable names in the Association, one that manages to be gross, exotic, and just plain confusing all at the same time.

With this news, though, he is now poised for a Pierce-like tale of triumph over bloodshed, with the inherent goofiness of the high schooler's rookie season stirred in for good measure. Is this oil and water? Will it make the usual high comedy of his hs'er year one into something full of grit and dynamism (the closest we've come was Kwame, and that was just because the Wizards were on tv so much)? Or will this shooting become a mere youthful mishap, like sleeping too late on the team bus? I, for one, eagerly await these answers, and am happy to report that, despite the disintegration of one of the most sublime backcourts in recent memory, I think the Wizards will now be a team of quirks—almost as exciting to me as a team of high-test style.

Seriously, this is like if Len Bias hadn't been as hyped, hadn't gone to college, were headed to far lesser team, and didn't check out because of his pre-rookie catastrophe. And was even less to blame for it, but would probably somehow end up getting blamed more. We will be so sick of this story by the end of the season. It will be a part of us that simply will not die.

(Actually, I just looked at his myspace page again. He's updated it, and apparently is now about as grown-up as he'll need to be for his first four or five years in the Association)