Leandro Barbosa is Back In The League, Let's Enjoy Some Old Videos Of Him.

It was announced today that Leandro Barbosa is back in the NBA. Barbosa signed a 10-day contract with the Phoenix Suns (his second stint with the team - the first being from 2003-2010).  Since it happens to be Thursday, I thought it would be appropriate to do that #throwbackthursday thing by reminding you all about the time that Barbosa made a video where he was one of the blue people from James Cameron's Avatar.



Or maybe you're a fan of something less fictional, than I present Leandro and one-time teammate, Reggie Evans, casually linking palms after a game:



and you probably didn't think that the Brazillian blur could purr out some Lionel Richie.



thats all.  happy thursday!

Everyone Was Messing With Demarcus Cousins Last Night

First, Demarcus had his taxi 12's stroked by Slamson the mascot with the most awesome name in the NBA because it is half pun and half of my name.



Then Cousins got videobombed by Isaiah Thomas when Little Isaiah was lifted in the air by Quincy Acy during his post game interview.  Someone (i suspect it was isaiah again) even dared to jack Demarcus' trademark headband.  

Cousins tied his season high for points last night with 35 and the Kings held on to beat the division-leading Blazers despite damian lillard almost literally making all the threes he took at the end of the game.  An overall, very entertaining game for the Kings big scary dude.

Nickname Suggestions For Three Brooklyn Nets Players

If you haven't read about it already, the first of three "nickname jersey" games will be played this Friday between the Brooklyn Nets and the Miami Heat.  Players from both teams will wear nicknames on their uniforms rather than the names their mama's gave them.

If this sounds like a cheesy way to sell some extra jerseys and sound strangely similar to what Chad Johnson voluntarily did for himself when he was on the Cincinatti Bengals, then I completely agree. But it could be worse.  It could be more sleeved jerseys.

This afternoon the Sun-Sentinal reported what the 15 nicknames the Miami Heat players will wear.  I've copied over the list for your enjoyment:

Joel Anthony: "Doc"
Shane Battier: "Battle"
Michael Beasley: "B Easy"
Chris Bosh: "CB"
Mario Chalmers: "Rio"
Norris Cole: "Cole Train"
Udonis Haslem: "UD"
LeBron James: "King James"
James Jones: "JJ"
Rashard Lewis: "Sweet Lew"
Roger Mason Jr.: "MoneyMase"
Greg Oden: "G.O."
Dwyane Wade: "D.Wade"

Since the Nets haven't released a similar article of their own, I guess I will have to wait in suspense about what guys in the locker room call Tornike Shengelia or if Tyshawn Taylor goes by "Ty Ty" or "Tay Tay". I did come up with the three best nicknames I could make up for the Nets players that don't already have well-known nicknames of their own. They are...

1. Alan "Alan" Anderson

Cause thats his first name but also because thats what you get when you combine the first two letters of his first name with the first two letters of his last name.

2.  Mirza "Bear Hater" Teletovic  

Cause he once joked about tearing apart the huge mammal on his twitter account. Figuratively, of course.

3. Mason "Jar of" Plumlee

Cause Roger Mason already has "Money Mase" on his jersey and only a guy who went to Duke could pull off having a preposition as a nickname.

Chris Andersen and Greg Stiesma Face Swap

Sometimes two guys can be basically be the same height (6'10" and 6'11") and the same weight (245 lbs and 260 lbs) and have faces that totally look normal when applied to either players' bodies.

One, Chris Andersen Twins

Two, Greg Stiemsma Twins

Then with some help from my fiance, the below images were put together to help me conclude that the Birdman and Big Greg could totally be brothers or just guys with really interchangeable faces.

image originally accessed on nba.com
Credit: Issac Baldizon/NBAE/Getty Images