Wilkins Gives Back

What do Ludacris, Kevin Durant, and Ray Allen all have in common?

They're all going to be at a free hip hop concert in Atlanta, which will benefit the community and bring a positive focus. "The Ludacris & Friends, Strength in Numbers Concert" is also being done in association with The Damien Wilkins Foundation (ahh, the reader says, now it makes sense!).

Rashard Lewis will also make an appearance, and Danny Fortson is expected to be there as well, because, you know, they've always got free grub at these things. What Da Fort doesn't know is that he's going to have to pay to get in.

The event takes place on Sunday, September 2 in Atlanta. Other performers include Chingy, Ne-Yo, and Shareefa. Kenny G was invited but was unable to attend due to a bar mitzvah conflict.

Sonics Add A Voice

The Sonics announced a replacement for David Locke on Tuesday, naming former Clipper, Maverick, and Hornet man Matt Pinto to handle the radio play-by-play duties.

In addition to his NBA experience Pinto has also broadcast University of Hawaii men’s sports, Boston College basketball, Brown University football, Hawaii Islanders and Pawtucket Red Sox AAA baseball. Which is good, because if the Sonics break out into a football scrimmage during one of the games, we'll be covered. Or, if (God forbid), Dave Neihaus and Steve Raible decide they want to finally admit that they love each and shack up in Vancouver as "life partners," well, Seattle will still be covered for radio duties on its other pro sports teams.

It's unknown if the Sonics will continue with having Kevin Calabro call radio games when there is no tv coverage, which they did last year, or if KC will get the night off when the tv is dark. It's worth noting that while working for the Clips, Pinto would step aside for Ralph Lawler when LA's game was not televised.

Team USA Selects Collison For Select Team

I've gone from being baffled to understanding this process to being utterly baffled (again) in the span of a week and half. It started out with me thinking Nick Collison was on the Select Team that will scrimmage Team USA in the run-up to the FIBA tournament in Las Vegas.

Then, I thought he was going to be a member of the Team USA because, well, it was reported at ESPN and everywhere else via an AP story.

Now, Steve Carp of the Vegas Review-Journal says that Collison will be on the Select Team after all. Here's what he wrote:

"USA Basketball still is finalizing the roster of NBA players that will scrimmage the national team. Several players already have committed to what is being called the NBA Select team, including Nick Collison, Monta Ellis, David Lee, Andre Iguodala, Al Jefferson and Jason Kapono."

It appears that LaMarcus Aldridge and Monta Ellis are off the Select Team because of injuries, which may be why Collison is headed for that club, rather than Team USA, which is the team that the Select Team plays, because they're not the Team USA, because ...

Oh, I give up.

Somebody explain to me how this means we're going to finally beat Puerto Rico?