We can thank Clifford Ray for Dwight Howard

Photo from reader Jesse Haley's parade photos on Flickr

Clifford Ray and Robert Parish run a big man camp every year... and one of Cliff's former pupils is Dwight Howard.  With Dwight now in the spotlight and about to lead his team to a sweep of the Lakers (hey, I can dream), Cliff has reason to brag.  But he won't... and he's trying to pass that attitude on to Dwight.

"He's totally excited," said Ray. "I also talked to his mom and his dad. He's worked hard. I've told him to stay humble. Humility is everything. He deserves this."

Dwight still has work to do... but he's only 23 years old.  In a couple of years, this kid is gonna come up with a couple of offensive moves and it will be game over.  He's so damn quick for his size, if he can harness that and not focus on trying to overpower everyone every time, he'll be unstoppable.

Staying with the Magic, this whole mess with Jameer Nelson possibly (or according to the players, probably) playing in the Finals is getting nuts.  It's sounding a LOT like the Celtics and the games they were playing with KG and his injury situation.  How a guy can miss half the season and then suddenly slid into the rotation in the NBA finals is beyond me.

Elsewhere, David Stern says he's upset with LeBron skipping the postgame media session after getting bounced by Orlando.  Funny, he's not upset enough to fine him... which the league has a history of doing.  Maybe LeBron will come out and blame the growth that was just removed from his mouth next.