What did elicit some interest, however, was that MSG's broadcast provided me my first chance to watch Miami guard Chris Quinn play for 40 minutes, which is oh, 30 or 35 more than I'd been accustomed to seeing in the box scores beside his name over the course of his two NBA seasons. As a few folks have noticed this morning, the Heat are knee-deep in implementing a "rebuilding" strategy that involves introducing fans to some less-than-household names. Would-be D-Leaguers, not only giving New York's finest a solid run for their money, but getting a better shot than most players in their position to demonstrate why they belong in the same rarified air as the NBA's many millionaire athletes.
Quinn had been in my radar ever since I saw him in action a little over two years ago, against Marquette at Notre Dame's Joyce Center. My empathy for his game may seem like your standard Irish-alum fanaticism, but I felt more simpatico for the fact that at just over six feet and 170 lbs (he's since bulked up to 185), I was watching a player with approximately my physical attributes with a chance to make it big.
Two years later, and Quinn's still collecting a little under $700K, and occasionally even outscoring strict gunner Ricky Davis (who makes almost exactly ten times Quinn's contract). Though it's not all about money, the difference between Quinn and Davis is not nearly as interesting to me as the difference between Quinn and say, Garry Hill-Thomas, a former Nevada standout who, after dominating various leagues in New Zealand, Venezuela and other distant shores, has returned to the vicinity in the humblest of triumphs, getting picked up by the Utah Flash of the NBDL earlier this year.
My experience watching Hill-Thomas in action is in fact limited to summer league play; the SF Pro City games played just off the panhandle provided ample material to convince me that at a moment's notice GHT has the skills and will to take over a game. At 6'4", however, his powerful small forward approach runs into trouble matching up against the upper echelon employed in that position professionally. I believe he can conquer the odds and spend some time in the NBA, driven by the same internal fortitude which helped him lead his East Bay squad to consecutive championships, in 2004 and 2005, against Pro City's 5%NBA/50%NCAA YayArea best. I think Garry Hill-Thomas believes it too, and that's why he's been at this relentlessly the past several years, regardless of the time zone.
