The Next David Letterman

I wanted to give a shout out to Henry Abbott of Truehoop.com for putting together a great event last night at the ESPN Zone. On the panel interviewed by Henry was John Hollinger (ESPN writer, invented “PER” Player Efficiency Rating) David Thorpe (trains NBA players) and Quentin Richardson (if you’re reading this blog – you know him).


First Things First:

As I arrived at the Zone waiting to be escorted to my standard “courtside” seat, I was stuck behind Quentin Richardson. Surprisingly Q was a half hour early to the event and according to Henry there was a big mix-up with his car service. As Q quietly walked into the restaurant, rocking a XXXL button down shirt that would be too large for Eddy Curry, he was approached by the hostess. Not having a clue in the world who he was or what event was taking place, she kindly asked, “Do you have a reservation?” Q stared blankly and let his friend do the talking.

As a long time reader of Truehoop, I was very familiar with Henry Abbott’s writing style, but I had no clue what he looked like. It didn’t take long to figure that out. Henry dazzled the crowd in his tucked in pinstriped button down shirt, cargo paints and Adidas type shoes, ala John F. Kennedy. All of the preparation clearly paid off.


A Bullet from Each Speaker:
(Henry is posting the entire session at Truehoop.com, so I’ll spare specifics)

• John Hollinger was the first speaker called to the podium to be interviewed by Henry. The easiest way for me to explain Hollinger is to have you picture the smartest kid in your math class growing up. The type of student that sat in the front row and answered all of the teacher’s questions.
  
  He has these crazy formulas and develops theories based off his calculations. Do I agree with his PER conclusions? NO, but you have to respect him for carving out his own niche in the basketball world.
  
  Hollinger made an interesting point that despite the influx of criticism he receives from his readers, he really tries to take something from their comments.
  


• David Thorpe was next up to bat and he brought to the podium a much needed full crop of hair. Right away, the thing that stuck out about David Thorpe is his passion. He spoke so genuinely about the satisfaction he gets helping kids maximize their talent and developing their basketball careers. Just by listening to him speak, he conveys the message to all working people that it’s so important to be doing what you enjoy.
  


• Lastly, when a fan in the audience asked Quentin Richardson about the rough play last night at the Garden involving the Knicks and Celtics, Q made an interesting comment. He said something along the lines of, “Next time we play the Celtics I have a feeling something is going to go down.” Circle Thursday, Nov.29th on your calendars.

I just wanted to throw up some quick notes on last night’s event. For those interested, Truehoop will be posting the video at some point next week.