on the knicks' signing of jared jeffries:

from ESPN's John Hollinger player profile (subscription required):

Jeffries discovered a role in his third NBA season, taking over as the Wizards' perimeter defensive stopper. Because he's 6-11 and has decent quickness, Jeffries proved a real headache for high-scoring small forwards. He also was among the Wizards' best help defenders, which is important on a team whose guards gamble so much.

The downside is that he's still a huge stretch as a starter because he's so ineffective on offense. Jeffries averaged only 10 points per 40 minutes and couldn't take advantage of all the easy opportunities that Hughes and Arenas gave him because he is such a terrible finisher. The Wizards can live with him scoring infrequently, but they need him to convert a higher percentage of his shots to justify his presence in the lineup. With the arrival of Butler and Daniels, Jeffries is likely to be pushed into a reserve role this year, and that usage is more consistent with his talents.

Duaner.

How is our boy Duaner Sanchez an idiot? I don't know. Gothamist calls him out for no reason, after his season ending car accident. The accident happened late night in Miami, as he and his brother were looking for some Dominican food and were rammed by a Crown Victoria that had swerved through 4 lanes of traffic.

All of the commenters on Gothamist have come to Sanchez' defense. Some are calling the post racist, which I don't see; Dora agrees on the tone:

I think the tone is kinda racist; the biggest problem was when the writer wrote:

"a move that wouldn't have been necessary if Sanchez didn't have a craving for late night Dominican food. Note to Jose Reyes and Pedro Martinez: if you have cravings like your fellow Dominican, please don't go on a futile late-night search in a city you don't live in. Thank you."

Why is he warning Jose and Pedro? That implies that it was a stupid DOMINICAN thing to do. If Sanchez didn't foolishly crave food from his home country, this wouldn't have happened! Silly Dominicans, ruining everything with their need for rice and plantains.

Certainly, athletes go out after the game. They're on a different schedule; their work day ends at 10, 11 pm. He wasn't coming from a strip club or out with a gun in his belt-- he was looking for frickin' comfort food. In a city likely to have Dominican food. Should he have stayed in his hotel? Hotel food actually does get a touch old after a while. It misses that home-cooked feeling.

I'll also take this moment to note that NBA players make sojourns to find soul food in places like Indiana and more famously, in Sacramento-- where Chris Webber griped about the lack of soul food. Croatian and Serbian players have spots in Los Angeles and likely, in New York for their home cooking. Et Cetera.

Good luck on his surgery for a separated shoulder-- he braced himself with his pitching arm so he wouldn't hurt his head-- and recovery. Here is a blog wishing Duaner well.