May.15 at 11:18 am

Ryan Jones says:
Russ or Ben may remember this: Once after a Knicks game 7 or 8 years ago, we went to the overpriced bar across the street from MSG (the one with the smoking hot bartender who swore her mom was a stripper and also swore that a certain Bible-toting, happily married Knicks sharpshooter had recently propositioned her). Who was drinking alone at the bar but… Kevin O’Neill. This was during his brief stretch as a Knicks assistant. We BS’d with him for a minute, he was cool enough, and among other things we asked why he’d gotten out of college coaching. He basically said it was because he was disgusted with the grind of recruiting.
What this has to do with Sampson: Some college coaches seem to thrive on the dirty and distasteful world of recruiting high school kids, and others would rather get an eternal lap dance from Oliver Miller than have to deal with that sh*t. Kelvin is obviously the former, O’Neill the latter. What’s funny is that they both ended up in the NBA because of it: O’Neill because he finally got sick of dealing with it, and Sampson because he was a little too good with the dirty and distasteful stuff.
Coaching: It’s not just about coaching.

May.15 at 11:28 am

H to the izzo says:
Ryan:OJ Mayo.

May.15 at 11:38 am

Ryan Jones says:
Izzo: I was originally just gonna post “The Bucks should totally draft OJ,” but thought I’d try sincerity and actual insight instead. Stupid me.
I’ll probably chime in with a “my take on OJ/what’s up in my life because I know how much you all care” update sometime next week. Mark you calendars!

May.15 at 11:41 am

H to the izzo says:
Ryan:Is it something along the lines of:What he did was bad but what the NCAA are doing is 1000x worse?

May.15 at 11:42 am

TADOne says:
See, this is the only Insider info you can get exclusively at Slamonline. And Ryan: Is the obvious first person who pops in your head the right one?

May.15 at 11:57 am

DP says:
O.J. has reached his peak since the 11th grade. His potential is up and with the crowd is his hanging out with now……………I don’t like the future for O.J.

May.15 at 11:59 am

riggs says:
The OJ name is cursed forever.

May.15 at 12:01 pm

TADOne says:
How can you NOT like OJ’s future? Regardless of what he does in the league, he is still gonna get paid!

May.15 at 12:04 pm

Ryan Jones says:
Izzo: I don’t think OJ actually did anything “wrong” in a moral or legal sense, and the NCAA can, as always, eat a d*ck.
Tad: Not sure I get your question.
DP: Like it did for LeBron, Amare and lots of other guys, OJ’s life figures to get a lot simpler once he’s actually getting paid above the table for what he does. And he’s still really good — maybe not as good as people were predicting he’d be when he was 15, but really good nonetheless. I think his situation could turn out just fine.

May.15 at 12:13 pm

H to the izzo says:
Ryan:As someone said to me,rules are rules are rules.

May.15 at 12:21 pm

Ryan Jones says:
That was my whole reaction to the Outside The Lines thing: Wow, amazing, detailed, serious reportage… about what, exactly? Government or corporate corruption? You know, something important? No, actually, just a monetary beef between a couple of street hustlers that, because it involved the almighty NC2A, requires ESPN to treat it like f*cking Watergate. It’s sh*t like this and the fact that our Congress — which can’t get motivated to do ANYTHING about the ongoing tragic embarrassment of the Iraq war — keeps tripping over itself to investigate f*cking steroids and “illegal” videotaping. Idiocracy gets closer to reality every day.

May.15 at 12:22 pm

Ryan Jones says:
There’s an incomplete sentence in there, but I think I made my point. TTFN.

May.15 at 12:24 pm

TADOne says:
“the one with the smoking hot bartender who swore her mom was a stripper and also swore that a certain Bible-toting, happily married Knicks sharpshooter had recently propositioned her).”
Regarding that Ryan: I know who the 1st person that popped up in most peoples heads would be. I was asking if that was the person, without saying names.

May.15 at 12:29 pm

H to the izzo says:
Ryan,I agree with you.But that was entertaining please go on.Also what struck me was that they showed game footage of OJ making a pass at some random USC game and then then showed the reaction of *booster whose name I cannot remember*.How long have these freaks been following him?It is a bit disquieting to think that people who follow a college student,because according to the NCAA that’s what first and foremost he was,can a)sleep at night and b)think what they are investigating matters and makes a difference.

May.15 at 12:34 pm

B. Long says:
“And with the 3rd selection the Bucks select Eric Gordon.” @RYAN: you totally stole my idiocracy quote. Check the Cure to the Celtics road woes comments…Swagger Jacker.

May.15 at 12:34 pm

Ryan Jones says:
Sorry, Tad. I imagine so, yeah. But again, I don’t want Buzz Bissinger on my ass for spreading internet hate, so I’ll stick with Page 6-esque implication.
Izzo: I’ll elaborate next week. Promise.

May.15 at 12:36 pm

Ryan Jones says:
Didn’t see it B. Long, but respect. Great minds…

May.15 at 12:37 pm

H to the izzo says:
I’m just happy I got to use ‘disquieting’ in sentence.

May.15 at 12:38 pm

H to the izzo says:
in a sentence*

May.15 at 12:57 pm

iLL wiLL says:
Kevin O’Neill was a gangsta head coach when he was with the Raptors.

May.15 at 1:32 pm

B. Long says:
@Ryan: I still don’t think Ray Allen is a HOFer….lol

May.15 at 1:38 pm

Russ Bengtson says:
Of course Kevin O’Neill wound up going back into college coaching, so he LIED to us. NCAA to the end.

May.15 at 2:02 pm

Ryan Jones says:
You were there, right Russ? In fairness to Kev, I’m under the impression he took that U of A gig because it was heavy on coaching and light on recruiting (I think they let Pastner’s kid do all the heavy lifting there). So he might’ve been sincere.

May.15 at 2:02 pm

Ryan Jones says:
And B. Long: I think he’s still got a great shot, but we can agree that he sure as hell hasn’t looked like an HOFer in this series.

May.15 at 2:11 pm

Mo Charlo says:
Farmer Jones for President.

May.16 at 10:07 am

Melvin says:
WTF….sampson?