Other People: Salim Stoudamire

So the Spurs' acquisition of Salim Stoudamire has generated a little bit of buzz around the interwebs, which is a testament to how absolutely little NBA news there is right now (actually between the Knicks waiving Marbury and Shareef Abdur-Rahim's retirement this has been a pretty busy 48 hours, comparatively). Either way I figured I'd give a quick breakdown of other people's reactions.

Tom Ziller, NBA Fanhouse: "The one constant with Stoudamire: dude can shoot. Let's ignore last season, when he only totaled 400 minutes. Look at all seasons, college and pro, when he actually got a shot. Here are his three-point shooting percentages: 45% as a college freshman, 44% as a sophomore, 42% as a junior, 50% as a senior, 38% as a rookie, 36% as a second-year player. The league average is 36%, and the Spurs are accustomed to shooting slightly higher. Salim helps that, yes?"

Pounding The Rock: "Apparently, Damon Stoudamire's stint with the Spurs was not painful enough. Now we get another vertically challenged ball hog to sit at the end of our bench. Woo hoo!! This has been the best off season ever!"

Rob Mahoney, in brief: "For the record, I don't think Salim Stoudamire will be a good fit in San Antonio."

Salim Stoudamire (as interpreted by Trey Kerby): "The first thing I want to say is, I'm open. All the time. I'm open right now, in fact. Even though sometimes it might look like I'm guarded, trust me -- I'm open. I don't know how it always happens, but for whatever reason, I'm always open. I wake up in the morning -- open. I get up in the middle of the night to pee -- open. I'm driving down the block with my Low End Theory tape in -- open. So basically, just get me the rock."

The actual Salim Stoudamire: "This is definitely my second chance and it might be my last chance. But I know how to turn negatives into a positive. After these three years in Atlanta I can say that I’ve finally become a man. Being in a situation where I wasn’t playing, it humbled me. It made me appreciate just being in the NBA a lot more. It made me work a lot harder and realize that this is a blessing. There are only 400 and something guys in the NBA and billions of people in the world. So once you take that into account, your focus is there, your clarity is there and you can move forward."