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Bryan Colangelo’s iPod Playlist – Summer 2009

After a busy summer of wheeling and dealing, two time executive of the year, Bryan Colangelo can finally relax. He’s done his part, now all he can do is sit back and watch. I decided to take a little inspiration from this post Natalie over at Need4Sheed did and came up with a Bryan Colangelo “Summer of 2009” play list. As always, if you have tunes to add, do so in the comments and I will update the list with the good ones.

1. Poppin My Collar – Three 6 Mafia
2. Checkmate – Jadakiss
3. We Takin’ Over – DJ Khaled
4. Run This Town – Jay-Z ft. Kanye & Rihanna
5. Guess Who’s Back – Scarface ft. Jay-Z, Beanie Sigel
6. I’m A Hustla – Cassidy ft. Jay-Z
7. Hustlin’ – Rick Ross
8. Big Pimpin – Jay-Z
9. This Is Why I’m Hot – Mims
10. All Eyez On Me – Tupac Shakur
11. Back In The High Life Again – Steve Winwood
12. Some Guys Have All The Luck – Rod Stewart
13. Man Of The Hour – Pearl Jam
14. Victory – Biggie Smalls & Puff Daddy
15. No Body Does It Better – Carly Simon
16. Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop – Young Gunz
17. Smooth Criminal – Michael Jackson
18. I Won’t Back Down – Tom Petty
19. I Believe I Can Fly – R Kelly
20. If I Ruled The World – Nas

*Bonus Track* I’m Doing Me – Stephon Marbury

The NBA – Where 365 Days Of Entertainment Happens

As the 2009 NBA playoffs wrapped up, fans began pondering about life without basketball – if only for a few months. Luckily with emergence of social media and the overwhelming NBA presence on these platforms there has been no “off-season”. Fans went straight from playoffs to mock drafts, to free agent frenzy to what I call “Marketing Season”. I’m not sure its been all positive, but you can’t deny that it’s kept the game relevant even though the shot clock is off.

Here are some of the highlights along with some link love…

D Wade is the “Worst Rapper”?

Looks like Baron Davis has recruited Wade to start up a contest on I Beat You (a business venture of Baron’s) Previously we have seen the likes of Steve Nash and Chris Bosh take part in contests but this one has the potential of being great if they can get Shaq and Ron Ron to enter.
Check out the Flash show of his skills on the mic – Rap 1 Rap 2
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Shaq steps into the ring

Sir Charles in Charge: Shaquille O’Neal On Raw (…)
Talk Hoops: Shaq Fu Part 2
Waiting For Next Year: While We’re Waiting… Shaquille O’Neal on Raw
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Shaq gets “blocked”

D.C. Sports Bog: Shaq Denied Entrance to White House
True Hoop: Shaquille O’Neal vs. the Secret Service
Binary Basketball: Shaq’s White House Marketing 101
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Shaq steps into reality

BDL: Shaq to face Phelps, Pujols and De La Hoya in new reality show
Awful Announcing: Shaq To Take On Various Athletes In New Reality Show
King James Gospel: The Big Diesel vs. Big Ben?
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Dwight Howard – Hey Wooorrrrld!

Right now Dwight Howard has pretty much set himself up to take over the most loveable big man title. He is everywhere – Twitter, Facebook, uSTREAM. His blog is updated on the regular giving his fans access like never before.
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Stephon Marbury has escaped from the BOX

For your enjoyment – Here you can find an MP3 of one of the famous quotes from #marburython and RedsArmy has a t-shirt ready to go

J.A Adande (ESPN): Streaming Steph is a sad, sad show
NBA Musings: When eccentric stops being fun
Empty the Bench: What’s Your Favorite Quote from Steph’s Live Stream?
Hoops Manifesto: He Blew His Mind Out
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The Race to 50K – CB4 v/s CV31

I wrote on the subject earlier in the month on HoH

Bleacher Report: An interview with Charlie Villanueva
Raptors Republic: The #50k Fail
Red’s Army: Villanueva, Bosh race to 50K on Twitter
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Ron Artest pays tribute to Michael Jackson

World Star Hip Hop: click here for the full version (H/T RoShine)
NBA Fanhouse: Ron Artest’s Tribute to Michael Jackson
Lake Show Life:Ron Artest’s Michael Jackson Rap Crap
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Ron Artest – Live in Concert

Sharapova’s Thigh: Ron Artest Rapping in China
The Faster Times: Ron Artest Brings the Hood to China
That NBA Lottery Pick: Ron Artest Rap Tour hits China
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UPDATE: Ron Artest Reflects – THE BRAWL

Had to throw this in. Ron Artest who has been touring China hopped onto twitter and posted the video along with the tweet: @96TruwarierQB Shin Shin wanted to know so I told her
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If I’m missing any stories… put in ’em in the comments

Incoming: He’s Baaaack – Rasho Nesterovic

Action – The Toronto Raptors have signed Rasho Nesterovic to a 1 year deal worth approx. $1.9M
Reaction – LET’S NBA!

Note to readers: The name Rasho Nesterovic will always go hand in hand with the phrase “Let’s NBA!” If you don’t know why – This should explain it all. (Kudos to Lockdown from RealGM)

The Details: The whirlwind summer continues for Raptor fans. Bryan Colangelo kept the ball rolling by locking up Rasho Nesterovic for the 2009-10 season. This marks the 7th new addition to the team over the span of 2 months. The signing comes as no surprise as it wasn’t a matter of “if”,  more a when and for how long. Colangelo made it pretty clear at the Jarrett Jack press conference that his next goal was to bring back Rasho. Lucky for him, he was working with some leverage. Rasho is one of a growing number of players who WANTS to play in the great white north. He maintains his off-season home in Toronto and mentioned in almost every interview since he was traded that he never wanted to leave. Both sides seemed keen to get this deal done and the one year contract is a bonus. Once again, the mastermind of BC comes through – He gets the veteran he wants while maintaining flexibility for next summer

The Benefits: I liked the Rasho deal with the Spurs and I like it even better this time around. This move isn’t going to make headlines outside of Toronto, but Rasho brings to the table a lot of the intangibles that went missing last season. He is the definition of a “know your role” player. A perfect compliment to backup Bargnani at C – Doesn’t demand the ball on offense, rebounds well, can hit the occasional jumper and plays defence. My only concern would be having him and Evans on the floor at the same time as the front line on the second unit (hopefully won’t happen since Jay has shown a lot more competence with his rotations than the Smitch). As a Pacer, Nesterovic averaged 6.8ppg and 3.4rpg over 70 games but it’s not his numbers that make this signing a positive one. In his previous stint with the Raptors, he was a veteran presence in the locker room who served as a mentor for Bargnani. This time shouldn’t be any different. The stat sheet may be lacking but those aforementioned intangibles along with the ability to play one-on-one defense makes one believe this is another step to get the team back on track.

Looking Ahead: I love this deal for the team but it pretty much kills any chance of the team bringing back Pops Mensah-Bonsu. With only one roster spot remaining, it will likey be used on a wing player. Unless Pops was serious about his transformation, the list of probable players is a pretty short one which includes Carlos Delfino, Joey Graham or any available player that can be had for the league minimum. Personally, I would be perfectly OK if Colangelo stopped right now and left that spot available for possible tweaking during the season.

Regular programmin’ on this blog has been interrupted due to #Marburython

July 24 2009 – Mark it down as the day @StarburyMarbury took over the Internets

My twitter feed has been taken over, no work is getting done by me (or anyone I follow on Twitter apparently) and I haven’t left my computer in fear of missing out on some goodness.

Marburython on USTREAM: Have At It
Marburython on Justin TV: Mooncricket

If you late to the party, Michelle over at NBA Musings has a raw transcript with a highlight package of went down.

Russbengtson said it best on Twitter: Picking a favorite quote from the @StarburyMarbury marathon is like picking a favorite Michael Jordan highlight.

Chris Bosh has tried this, Dwight Howard has tried this, Kevin Durant has tried this but nothing comes close to the pure gold Steph has been spitting for almost 7 hours (he plans to do this for 24 hours straight)

THEY TRIED TO PUT ME IN A BOX!!!

(image via @jeskeets)

*Heels on Hardwood – EXCLUSIVE*
“THEY TRIED TO PUT ME IN A BOX!” – Stephon Marbury

Download MP3: The Put Me In A Box