All Madden
INDIANAPOLIS – God bless computer-based technology.
Sometimes the Internet is the greatest thing ever for the most trivial, time-wasting stuff, like when Gilbert Arenas blogs, Shaq tweets and Steve Nash and Baron Davis get together for a ride on a two-person bike ride and post it on YouTube.
And don’t forget about Kobe Bryant jumping over Aston Martins, a stunt revealed on his Web site.
These days, a few clicks will make you best friends with your favorite athlete. If you’re lucky enough, you’ll be placed in his Top 8, get poked and tagged all in one day.
But even though athletes usually aren’t the ones being ultra creepy about social networking sites, sometimes too much information can be distracting.
Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles had to tell his player Charlie Villanueva not to tweet his Twitter during the halftime of games.
It’s not always trivial news, though. Tiger Woods announced the conception of his second child through his Web site.
Waiting for a flight in the Indianapolis airport Monday afternoon, I noticed UA guard Nic Wise had updated his Facebook status just 55 minutes prior: “”wanted those 3 letters since I was 6……….think im gunna chase the dream.””
The most opportunistic Wildcat fans were probably hoping it was an Internet stunt, but the fact is Wise has the NBA on his mind.
Text messages about his status bounced around in my pocket. Word was getting out quickly.
My first question: why?
“”Everybody’s going to do what’s best for themselves,”” Wise said after Friday’s loss to Louisville to end the season.
But this isn’t best for him.
Wise is currently projected to be the 48th pick in the NBA Draft – wait for it, wait for it -ÿin 2010, meaning after his senior season. If that is the position he was in fact drafted, there’s almost no way he would ever make it out of the NBA Developmental League.
Wise is rushing things. He just came onto the national scene this season. At the beginning of the 2008-09 campaign, television announcers referred to Arizona as having a lottery pick (Jordan Hill), a first-rounder (Chase Budinger) and a very good college point guard (Wise).
Once the Wildcats got into the NCAA Tournament, announcers started talking about the three NBA Draft prospects on the team.
It seems like Wise has been itching to bolt from Arizona for a while now. He was nearly a non-factor his freshman year. He almost transferred after his sophomore season last May, but with Brandon Jennings opting to play in Europe and Jerryd Bayless going pro, Wise came back, knowing he was “”The Man.”” As Budinger often said this season, Wise was the head of the dog.
If anything, Wise would be the head, tail, and paws of the team next season, with Budinger and Hill likely to go pro and the team currently without a head coach. Another year in college would help him develop his bark.
But maybe he feels he could become like Aaron Brooks, Oregon’s former point guard who is now Yao Ming’s little buddy in the NBA and makes around a million bucks a year.
Then again, Brooks was on the national radar a lot longer. He was a McDonald’s All-American in high school.
So what is Wise to do? What will his status be in the weeks to come?
Maybe the answer will come to him through the writing on the wall.
– Lance Madden is a journalism junior. He can be reached at sports@wildcat.arizona.edu.