A Scoop of Bull

W.F. Slinger has recently emerged from the Dark Ages with an iPhone and a gmail account. He will be posting on his own shortly. For now, A Ruthian Rip from W.F.

A fellow ripper pointed out this latest Scoop Jackson gem. I have to say, Mr. Jackson has outdone himself this time.

If you don't want to bother reading it, I'll spare you the details. Basically, Scooper says that Carmelo Anthony has joined the list of the truly elite players in the NBA: LeBron, Kobe and Dwyane Wade. The main reason? Because he had time to reflect this off-season.

A. This is incorrect. Those three guys are actually great players.

B. Huh?

Melo tells Scooper, "This is the first summer I've really had since I've been in the league to get my body right and let my mind just ... wander a bit." So we're supposed to believe that somewhere in there, that thinking made him one of the top players in the NBA. But then a few sentences later there's a long quote (that includes a reference to Scoop -- what joker would actually keep that in when transcribing? Scoop!) that talks about how Melo's supposed greatness started by playing with Team USA in previous summers.

So which is it? Actually, confusion from this rambling column aside, the answer is technically neither. Melo doesn't deserve to be categorized with those three players. There are also plenty of other players I wouldn't hesitate to take ahead of Anthony in an open draft, including Chris Paul and Dwight Howard (two players who deserve to be in that conversation, at least with Wade).

I guess Scooper forgot about the fact that Melo hadn't won a playoff series until Chauncey Billups was traded to Denver for Allen Iver-lost during last year. I guess he swept all those failed postseason series under the rug, including the three that he shot .364 from the field or worse. Not very meaty.

But Anthony was able to "get my body right" in the offseason, speaking of meaty. Or beefy I should say. Ever seen that commercial where he runs down the street with his shirt off jiggling? Maybe if he had gotten his body right at some point during his six-year NBA career, he would have achieved things more like what was predicted when he came out of Syracuse.

But back to Scoop, check out what longtime Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock had to say about him in an interview with The Big Lead. Pretty brutal.

So, let's recap. Carmelo Anthony is an All-Star level player, but not, to use Scoop's lingo, in the running for best baller in da league. As for Scoop, he's still a complete clown.