Magic Wands: May 8, 2009

-Hardwood Paroxysm's ode to Tracy McGrady finally "making" it out of the first round.

-Inside Hoops reported last Friday that the Rocky Mountain Revue summer league will not be played this summer in Salt Lake City. That means the Orlando Pro Summer League (at RDV Sportsplex) and the Las Vegas Summer League are the only ones left. Could this mean Orlando's summer league might be open to the public this season?

-So I decided to be a tool and play around with the NBA's Playoff Highlight Vault. It is actually pretty cool and they have some nice and obscure highlights to go through. They are sprinkled around the page (trying to get rid of all this boring text, right?).

-A mock draft already? Wow, a little early Tom Ziller of NBA Fanhouse. We have not even had the lottery yet. But I will bight.

-Follow your favorite athletes on Twitter.

-If you ever get the chance to learn more about Red Auerbach take it. I have read John Feinstein's book on Red Auerbach and I am sure I will get around to reading Bill Russell's (one of my all-time favorite players) thoughts on Red.

-Jewish law states that tattoos are rejecting the body God gave you. Now Daily Thunder contends, tattoos are a rejection of the basketball skill God gave you... or a nice way to cover them up.

-Ball Don't Lie ranks the national NBA announcing teams. Really think Jeff Van Gundy, Mike Breen and Mark Jackson should be ranked higher.

-The Magic are 16th in NBA social media. Not having a Facebook is hurting.

-John Hollinger (Insider only) wonders who picked the NBA Defensive Team. There were some fishy votes in there (including who left Dwight Howard off the first team besides Stan Van Gundy, who is required to do so?)

-Introducing the best game of Sporcle ever! Enjoy.

Basketball Book Review: The Punch by John Feinstein

So I realized a while back that I only read basketball books. So I figured I might share the good ones with you.

The first one is my favorite: The Punch by John Feinstein.

This book recounts a horrific night in 1977 when Rudy Tomjanovich (the same one who coached the Rockets to two titles) was seriously injured by a punch from Kermit Washington in a game at the Great Western Forum. It was a moment that transformed the NBA in ways that people probably do not even think about.

Feinstein does a fantastic job re-telling what led up to this event, the characters involved and what happened afterward to the league and to those involved.

It is often thought that Washington was the "thug" in this incident and he did blindly throw that fateful punch. But Feinstein does a great job painting him as the person he was off the court not the guy he was on it.

Washington's role on the Lakers was to protect Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and that sometimes meant laying down the law. The initial scrum that ensued that night was because Kevin Kunnert and Abdul-Jabbar were jostling with each other running down the court.

This is a book for the basketball history enthusiast. You learn that this event led to a bigger crackdown on fighting in the league -- something prevalent in the 70s -- and the introduction of the third referee to trail the play.

It changed two men's lives in immeasurable ways and it changed basketball too.

This is a fantastic read. Feinstein is very conversational and does a good job fleshing out the impact it had on Tomjanovich, Washington and the NBA. He works really well to change your pre-conceived perceptions of those involved in the incident and really delves into its impact.

It was a bigger event than you think and every basketball fan should be aware of what happened that night and its consequences. This book is how you do it.