Hooped Up

To quote, English writer and critic Edith Sitwell. “Eccentricity is not, as dull people would have us believe, a form of madness. It is often a kind of innocent pride, and the man of genius and the aristocrat are frequently regarded as eccentrics because genius and aristocrat are entirely unafraid of and uninfluenced by the opinions and vagaries of the crowd.”

With that quote, I give you the All-Eccentric team. To make this squad you had to be on a NBA roster in the past year and be considered borderline crazy to the untrained eye.

PG – Stephon Marbury
For the record, I’ve officially come to the conclusion that Stephon Marbury isn’t crazy, but rather eccentric. Since being banished by the Knicks, Starbury has definitely shown his uniqueness to the fullest. Lets see, so far he’s done a five part interview from a bus stop with a random dude, showed up to a Knicks game as a fan and launched his own online reality channel where he’s cried, crashed, danced, smoked, bedazzled and even eaten Vaseline to express himself.

Who knows if Marbury will play in the league again, but after making $20 Million a year for quite sometime. I’d say he can afford to express himself freely for as long as he wants.

SG – Delonte West
Even before, West got pulled over for cut off a squad car riding his Spyder motorcycle and the cops found a handgun in his pocket, another in his pant leg and a shotgun in a guitar case strapped to his back. West seems to have been made for this team. Whether it’s freestyling about KFC,  talking basketball or tattoos El Mariachi is an original.

BTW,  minutes before his arrest. Steve Bushemi was in a bar telling its patrons a story about West passing through a bar down the road and how Delonte West was “The biggest Mexican he’s ever seen“.

SF – Danny Granger
Danny Granger is a young star on the rise and you can reference his first All-Star selection and his Most Improved Player award in 2009 as proof. So what makes Granger eccentric? How about an obsession with Batman that’s so huge, Granger has plans to construct his own Batcave as part of his home in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

In fact, Granger’s Batcave plans are so elaborate that it includes a freakin’ underground moat. I’d say that tops a yearly visit to Comic-Con on the eccentricity scale.

PF – Lamar Odom
Forget that Odom married the third hottest Kardashian on the depth chart one month after meeting her and did it on a reality show for a sec. Lets concentrate on the fact Odom has a personal assistant hired to buy him sweets on a weekly basis so the “Candyman” never runs out of things like Hersey Cookies n’ and Creme, Watermelon Annihilators and Snickers bars. If Odom’s assistant is a Dentist too, I wouldn’t be surprised either.

And yes, marrying Khloe Kardashian was also taken into account for this selection too.

C – Joakim Noah
Ever since Joakim Noah did this, and then wore that. He was destine to be the man in the middle for this crew. However, to solidify his spot, Noah has since had an international love triangle with this famous young lady, the best time ever with this young lady and worn these Raoul Duke inspired glasses with these ladies. But hey, if you spoke a couple languages and your parents were former tennis champion Yannick Noah and former Miss Sweden Cécilia Rhode. You would probably seem a tad eccentric too.

Coach – Phil Jackson
Phil Jackson coaches one of the best players in the league, uses the most complicated offense, wins 70% of the time, dates his boss who is the big bosses daughter and is known as the Zen Master. Still, he might want to leave it all behind again to ride his motorcycle cross-country and travel.

Plus, he’s coached Dennis Rodman and Bison Dele at the same time. So keeping this group in line would be easy as winning 10 championships.