Obits

On February 17, 2009, 3-time NBA champion, 1-time 2nd team All-NBA, and 1-time All-Star Sam Cassell was traded from the Boston Celtics to the Sacramento Kings. A day later he was waived.


Since this may be the end for Sam-I-Am, I wanted to take a moment to reflect on what he's done for the NBA over his long career.

His physical appearance has always been a big part of how he's been perceived in the league (as Steve pointed out recently). The man has sparked comparisons from Gollum, to ET, to a conehead, and to the Alien. And, according to one douchebag reporter, "[Cassell] has been featured in about 9 rap songs" predictably in similes about ugliness (however, I think we can take whatever the reporter says with a grain of salt since he seems to think that Sam plays for the Lakers).

Sam's legacy doesn't end with his shiny bald forehead though. The one thing that Sam is known for apart from being ugly is for having Gilbert Arenas-sized cojones. Sam took the big-balls dance from the motion picture Major League II and brought it to the NBA. Now, Kobe and Iguodala have taken to performing it after big shots.

These two videos pretty much sum up how Sam Cassell is going to be remembered:

Bringing Sexy Back (the photos repeat after a while)
Vs.

Sam I Am (the background track, coincidentally, is by KRS-One)

RIP Sam