2 Shows that shouldn't have been cancelled

I dislike shows that are cancelled too soon so I was happy with the effect of the writer's strike because in theory, it was supposed to give freshman shows a better chance to get to a second season with the reasoning that the initial season was cut short and there wasn't enough information to determine if they really were successful or not.

Promising shows like Pushing Daisies, Big Bang Theory and Samantha Who lived to see the light of season 2 but I was hoping for more.

Two shows I was particularly fond of, one a midseason replacement and one a fall debut show have been cancelled and I'm particularly sad to see this news. I'm hoping like the fans of Jerico something could be done with mobilization of fans and letter-writing campaigns, but it's a little too early to tell, but sadly.

The shows are:
Aliens in America-Think of a more upbeat and self-aware version of the Wonder Years meets Perfect Strangers. Dorky teenager Justin lives in the Midwest with a set of parents who were once the Homecoming Queen and Star Athlete and a sister who is one of the most sought-after girls in school. His mom is desperate for him to fit in with his classmates, so she gets an exchange student for him so he'll have at least one friend, but is thrown for a curveball when she finds out that the exchange student is Pakistani. Justin and Raja end up forming an unexpected bond and he slowly grows on his new family (he has a slightly better work ethic than your average American teenager). Meanwhile everyone in school is in a state of culture shock over the new kid. The show is something different in the high school genre: It is just a little bit smarter and more self-aware of the genre's conventions than other shows are. I also like how it isn't just a parody of high school (I'm a little too far removed from high school to really get into a John Hughes movie, for example) but uses the typical high school akwardness genre to be somewhat edgey about racial stereotypes and perceptions. Add to that a good odd couple chemistry between the two stars, an equally rewarding odd couple chemistry between the two syblings who enjoy different degrees of popularity, a good dose of warmth and humor and it was a fanstastic show

Miss/Guided-Another show about high school that was more about the teachers than the students. This past year, I've done some substitute teaching and sometimes I'm just in shock and awe to think of the things that have changed in my status as a member of society that now I can go into a high school and go into the teacher's lounge, for example. It is all so very, very cool. In short, teachers, especially the younger ones are overgrown high school students. A better way to put it might be that they're reliving their high school days whenever they're in the classroom.
When I substitute taught fourth grade on my first day, the thought occured to me that I hadn't been in a fourth grade classroom since the fourth grade and it suddenly gave me a very clear memory of what my fourth grade experience was like.

I generally like to teach middle school because I hated middle school and teaching middle school allows me to work out my past middle school experiences and traumas (of course, I'm not teaching as a means of therapy, but it's just an interesting side effect I've noticed), it also allows me to try to ensure that within whatever influence I might be able to have, these kids have a better middle school experience.

Nonetheless, Miss/Guided is a show based on the premise that most high school teachers are overgrown high school students who are carrying the baggage they had with them in middle school. It's a very sweet (or should i use the adjective "cute"?) look at the high school genre, where the dorky student trying to rise up to become mrs. popular, is actually not a student but the school guidance counselor, Becky Freely. She is played by Judy Greer in what might be her first starring role in any movie or tv show, and she is terrific. Freely goes back to her old high school, where she was a big dork, to become a guidance counselor and develops a crush on a teacher. The problem is she has competition: the english teacher who also attended the same high school and was the most popular girl in school. The show is produced by Ashton Kutcher who makes a hillarious guest appearance and which he mocks himself brilliantly.

What the writer's room on SNL might have looked like this past week, based on the end result

A transcript of the show, or at least a summary of it's highlights can be seen at http://snltranscripts.jt.org/:

"Ok, let's start off with you, writer #1" (Kind of stumped)
"That Suze Orman Show skit killed let's do that again."
"Um, ok. How about you, writer #2"
"Well, I was thinking of a skit where everyone stares at a couple of attractive girls at a resturaunt"
"Um, okay, and then what......"
"Oh, that's pretty much it. but they'll have really funny expressions"
"Oh, jesus christ, where did we hire you from?....um (humoring him), yeah we'll get back to you if we don't ahve any better ideas"
"Andy?"
"Oh, well, just another digital short, this time, i was thinking of people walking around with no pants, and here's the added twist, well, pretend that this is an acceptable thing in society" (immature writers in the room laugh...head writer knows that anything that says Digital Short in front of it regardless of how retarded the idea is, will sell, so he jut shrugs and moves along)
"Ok, next" "How about Shia dressed up as a woman"
"Um, hasn't that been done before by Antonio Banderas, Jake Gyllenhall, Justin Timberlake?" "Yeah, but this won't be in the monologue"
"Um, sounds kind of like it's been done before"
"Ok, what if we get Amy Poehler to do a funny voice"
"Ehhh, I don't know"
"You know, we'll try to introduce a catch phrase like "Funky fresh" which Amy Poehler will use to describe her daughters"
"Yeah, but how does it make it any funnier?"
"Well, if Amy Poehler says it funny enough, we'll turn it into a catch phrase like "Making copies" and "That's the ticket" and just keep recycling that skit, and i won't have to come up with any new ideas all year....oops, did i say that out loud?"
"Ohhhhh, i see we're you're coming from. Next"
[Writer presents the one good original idea in the show: A parody of The Match Game intertwined with a murder mystery]
"Nice. What have you got Bruce?"
"Well, guys, me and Bill have been thinking a lot and we all know how Keenan Thomas acts great as a full-of-himself doofus. What if we talk that character he always does and use it as a skit about a guy in the scared straight program...."
"You know, I liked it better when Chris Farley did it. But it seems like a slow week, we'll get back to it if we have no new ideas"
[Head writer goes around the room and no one has any better ideas] "Ok, Bill and Bruce, you guys are in. Let's do that staring thing because it sounds like the easiest thing to pull off, and hmmmm....which recurring skit hasn't appeared in a while, find the script of that Italian TV show host and pretty much retype it word for word....ok, what are we, 5 minutes short...add some MacGruber sketches and..."
"Hey, I was wondering if my MacGruber sketch could involve an ending other than the factory blowing up. Maybe, i can write it for a full five or six minutes"
"Hmmmm....Nah, let's run it into the ground a little more. The audience finds it funny, let's just stick with what works. Tell you what though, try to find a new angle on it. Maybe Shia Le Bouf is his son or something, I don't know. Work with it"

Saturday Night Live keeps going

I think that what's interesting about Saturday Night Live is that while it's not as popular as it was in the Rock/Farley/Spade/Hartman days, it still manages to poke its head into pop culture when you're ready to call it down and out.

I would've actually thought that Saturday Night Live stood a good chance of being killed when youtube started becoming popular since both youtube and saturday night live both cater to the audience who wants their comedy in 5-minute sketches but SNL found a way to jump on board the trend with the digital shorts produced by Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaeffer and Jorma Takome (Andy is the one on camera). "Dick in a Box" and "Lazy Sundae" are two that have gone viral on youtube, but there's also "Iran so Far," Adam Samberg's love song to the President of Iran with Adam Levine providing some of the vocals, and a hillarious one with Tom Hanks singing "Don't Touch my Testicles." The "Iran So Far" is probably the funniest thing Andy Samberg has done in my opinion and it's possibly the best thing Saturday Night Live has done all season.

The other smart thing Saturday Night Live is doing that nothing else on NBC is doing is its not giving away all its content for free on the internet. You can't watch an entire episode of Saturday Night Live online like you can for many shows on hulu or their respective network sites. They usually post about 2 or 3 sketches a week but I recently discovered that the people in charge of posting the sketches online aren't picking the best ones. I think this is smart because SNL isn't like a TV show. It does basically the same stuff as youtube. A lot of the funnier material (the stuff that isn't recycled from past skits) is usually in the show and it's that five-minute stuff that you're dying to see over and over again.

I would have thought that the show would have suffered because about 2 years ago they had some serious budget cuts and had to cut 5 or 6 people, and now their cast is much smaller and less experienced. Then again, an astoundingly high number of the members of the current cast are capable of doing a Christopher Walken impression. Check out this skit where you will see 8 seperate members of the current Saturday Night Live cast impersonate Christopher Walken: http://www.hulu.com/watch/16389/saturday-night-live-meet-the-family#x-4,cClips,1 After watching this, I can reach two conclusions: 1) It's very easy to impersonate Christopher Walken or 2) The cast is, in fact, a talented group of comedic actors All I can say is I tried seeing if I could talk like Christopher Walken for a few minutes by playing this skit and trying to mimic the way they talk. It's harder than it looks.

At the same time, one of the show's weaknesses is that they seem kind of lazy in the writer's room. In my next post I will present what I imagine their pitch meeting went like last week:

If you check the news on most internet outlets or listen to the radio right now), you'll see news about the film Iron Man having had a $100 million plus weekend. Specifically, boxofficemojo has the number at about $750 thousand over the 100 million mark. This is somewhat of a big deal as only a small handful of films have ever grossed that much in a 3-day period. Spiderman was the first to do it in 2002 and since then, I believe 6 other films have done it (Matrix Reloaded, Pirates of the Carribean II and III, Star Wars III, Shrek II and Spiderman III, correct me if I'm wrong).

Does anyone ever wonder how the reports of the box office weekend can come out before the weekend is over? Movie theaters around the country are just beginning to close at this hour and the general managers are counting up the revenue produced at the box office for the day. That's an entire third of the weekend. Well, what actually happens is that the box office gurus predict the weekend count based on Friday and Saturday's take and extrapolate for what Sunday is supposed to be. On Monday afternoon and even on Tuesday, studio estimates will continually be updated as returns come in. So the actual figure of whether Iron Man grosses $100 million dollars is a very loose figure, but it still is one that newspapers will take and run with tomorrow morning. Keep in mind, the actual figure could be higher or lower than the current estimate, but either way, $750 thousand is a small enough margin of error, that newspapers should mention because if they don't, it wouldn't be an entirely honest headline that will line the top of the arts/style/life sections of newspapers nationwide tomorrow morning.

So whatever happens, Iron Man is pretty much now a hit and has made history as the first non-sequel film since Spiderman to gross $100 million in a single weekend, even if it really hasn't. Five years ago, Matrix Reloaded was given a very low exit score by dissapointed viewers walking out the theater, and it's not particularly well-remembered today but as far as the studios are concerned, it will always be known as a commercial success for its historic first weekend and history is likely to repeat itself tomorrow morning.

On a side note: The opening number for a weekend box office gross is very important, as movie theaters make a mid-week decision as to what to run the following week, based on weekend box office figures. As a result if a film doesn't have a good opening weekend, it haseven less of a chance of doing well the second weekend and each subsequent weekend thereafter, so be sure to see a film you want to support between Friday and Monday.

How to make a top 100 Films of All-Time List

I think the film critic community is fairly consistent about what they can agree upon are the classics. It you want to make a top 100 films of all time list, and this is a widespread of hobby among people and an obligation by any media outlet remotely related to the coverage of the entertainment industry (a great deal of film lists can be found at www.filmsite.org), this is the recipe:
First, put Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Godfather at the top, next be sure to include the following: Wizard of Oz, Gone with the Wind, All About Eve, Schindler's List, Pulp Fiction, Grapes of Wrath, Streetcar Named Desire, Apocolypse Now, One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest, Amadeus, Chinatown then be sure to throw in:
-No less than 4 Hitchkock Films (the preferred entries include Rear Window, Psycho, Vertigo, and North by Northwest
-2 or 3 John Huston films
-2-5 Kubricks
-The 3 definitive Capra films (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, It Happened One Night, It's a Wonderful Life)
-Some mention of Robert Altman, Howard Hawks and John Ford
-2 or 3 David Lean films (Must include Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence)
-Kazan and Brando's 2 masterpieces (Streetcar Named Desire and On the Waterfront)
-3 or 4 films from the Arthur Freed MGM musical era and a couple other musicals (suggestions include Cabaret, Swing Time, Moulan Rouge, Chicago, Yankee Doodle Dandy, or Oliver!)
-3-5 Scorsese films
-4 or 5 Westerns
-A horror film or thriller of some sort
-A couple of the classic blockbusters (Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rocky, Back to the Future, etc)
-About 6-8 war films
-Some of the counter cultural films of th 60s and 70s (good examples include Network, Bonnie and Clyde, Days of Heaven, Easy Rider, Badlands, Midnight Cowboy, and Cool Hand Luke)
-Film noir
-Some silents, including Chaplain and hopefully DW Griffith and Buster Keaton
-At least 4 Billy Wilder films
-Two or three Sidney Lumet films
-Some comedic films but must keep it appropriately high-brow: The Marx Brothers, Woody Allen, Tootsie, some of Mel Brooks' early work is permissible here, Ernst Lubitsch, Preston Sturges, Cameron Crowe, and as of late, Coen Brothers entries have become acceptable. Kevin Smith, the Farrelly Brothers, and most Saturday Night Light films will disqualify your film from any level of credibility. Don't even think about including Garden State or Napoleon Dynamite. Some Like it Hot, Dr. Strangelove, and The Apartment should be mentioned.
-A mix of Spielberg's heavier and lighter films (i.e. an acceptable combination might be Munich, Schindler's List, ET, Jaws, Raiders)
-Some sci-fi: Star Wars, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and Metropolist (if it's including non-English films) are musts, but other entries could include Blade Runner, Brazil, Aliens, etc.

Other guidelines:
-Any film with an Oscar nomination except Around the World in 80 Days is acceptable to put on your list
-Ernst Lubitsch and Preston Struges are optional but help to fill out the comedy entry
-A cartoon, likely produced by Disney, won't hurt
-Other recommended films but not required: Amadeus, The Great Escape, Manchurian Candidate, Do the Right Thing, King Kong, The Jazz Singer, Platoon, Shawshank Redemption OR Forrest Gump (rarely should you include both since their fan bases are mortal enemies of each other), The Third Man, The Lost Weekend, Philadelphia Story, American Graffiti, Conversation, Giant, Network, French Connection, Ben Hur, Mutiny on the Bounty, Adventures of Robin Hood, and Tootsie.
-There should be room for some of your personal favorites as long as they're not too outlandish

The best of 2007 from a guest blogger

Guest blogger Brian, a University of Minnesota freshman and cinematic studies major, had these rankings on the best of 07. I am going to make comments in addition to Brian's picks, but that's only for the chance for some point-counterpoint and to encourage further discussion. Credit for the post is all Brian, though:



Tops in the last Oscar Year:
Actor:
Tommy Lee Jones (in No Country For Old Men): Jones’ performance in the Best Picture Winner Film, has been totally overlooked, and should have at least gotten more attention with in the Cinematic Community. Jones’ performance is simple, yet chillingly haunting, providing the foundation for the film’s now famous ending.
Daniel Day-Lewis (in There Will Be Blood): Lewis definitely deserved the Best Actor award: I can’t think of another actor that deserved the award as much as he did. His performance in There Will Be Blood may very well have been the most amazing performance I have seen in years. From beginning to end, Lewis’ acting filled the screen and sent shivers down my spine. His performance during the famous baptism scene will forever be remembered as masterfully powerful.
Johnny Depp (in Sweeny Todd): Depp provided an extremely intense performance of the infamous musical star. And who knew that Depp could sing?? His singing provided an even deeper depth to his already intense performance.
Glen Hansard (in Once): From this “little film that could”, which even won Best Original Song at the Oscars, came his amazing performance. Hansard’s simple, yet powerful performance is extremely natural and life-like, and, like Depp in Sweeny Todd, provides intensely beautiful singing to his character. From his trademark “t’anks” to his trademark costume of jacket, scarf, and short beard, Glen Hansard will always be remembered as “The Guy” (The name as it is stated in the credits). Unfortunately, Glen Hansard has publicly stated that he is going to concentrate on his music career rather than his acting career.
Jonah Hill (in Superbad): Despite the fact that Superbad is anything but a cinematic masterpiece, Jonah Hill’s performance was what made the film so enjoyable to watch. Hill’s acting, albeit mostly improvised, is hilarious. It was the improvisational style to his acting that really brought out the humor in the script of the film. For a film like Superbad, you need someone who can really act out a funny script and ad-lib at the same time; and Jonah Hill was that man.
My opinion: Tommy Lee Jones is my #2 for best supporting actor behind Tom Wilkinson, so aside from a different category placement, I am pretty much in agreement on that. "Chilling" is indeed a good word to describe Jones' stoic style and blank stares into space as he seemed so consumed by the threat of Anton Chirgurh. I agree as well on Day-Lewis: Samuel L. Jackson once said that Oscars (for acting at least) are won not by movies but by moments, and the baptism scene is the clincher for Day-Lewis.

I'm pretty much on the other side of the fence on Hill, mainly because I didn't find Superbad particularly enjoyable because he's right, it takes a great actor to rescue a mediocre comedic script and bring those jokes to life (think Tom Hanks with Ladykillers or Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels with Dumb and Dumber), and at the end of the day, it still felt like a mediocre script to me. I basically have Superbad as hovering around 2 1/2 stars which in other words, is a mixed bag. I thought the dialogue wasn't particularly anything of note despite setting the record for most 4-letter words per minute (according to the claims of writer Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg) and it's saving grace was the turn of events in the storyline and its larger themes.


Actress:
Ellen Page (in Juno): Ellen Page is Juno. She was perfectly cast as the part. Page’s performance was way beyond her years, and was definitely worthy of the Oscar nod, and most likely should have won the award, despite the fact that she is so young and that this was her first widely successful film. Her performance was so lifelike that I thought I was watching one of my friends in real life. Page’s acting style is such that she seems to take the script and make it her own and in doing so, she lights up the screen. I was smiling throughout the whole movie (with the exception of the crying scene of course) because it was so enjoyable to see her act.
Evan Rachel Wood (in Across the Universe): Similar to Johnny Depp and Glen Hansard, I am huge fan of the singing-performance. I believe that if you can sing on screen or stage, then you can most likely act as well. This is certainly true of Evan Rachel Wood in Across the Universe. Wood’s singing provides a beautiful backing for her beautiful performance. Her acting reminds me of a stage performance, which, in some cases can be construed as more authentic acting, since stage acting is non-stop on stage (whereas films stop for each take).
My take: I have another Oscar nominee, Cate Blanchett from Elizabeth and the Golden Age as my #1, followed by Evan Rachel Wood (so we're on the same page there), Naiomi Watts from Eastern Promises, and then Page, so we differ a little there. I agree that Paige was perfectly cast in the part, but than in that case, doesn't that significantly lower the degree of difficulty? Although Oscars aren't supposed to be a body of work, it will be interesting to see Paige on screen with words not written by Diablo Cody coming out of her mouth. I do agree, Wood stole the show and gave a performance I will remember for years to come.


Supporting Actor:
Javier Bardem (in No Country For Old Men): Obviously, Bardem’s performance will be forever remember as the new perfect villain. His performance was hauntingly perfect in every sense of the word, even down to his now trademark coin flip.
Paul Dano (in There Will Be Blood): Dano’s performance in There Will Be Blood was unforgettable. The acting of this charismatic clergyman was hauntingly masterful for being so young and in relatively few films.
My comments: Whether Bardem was the perfect villain is a whole other discussion but I agree that Bardem nailed the part and had a certain rhythm and consistency in style to his character that made it come to life. It was such a competitive year for this category that I had to put Tom Wilkinson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Tommy Lee Jones and Forrest Whitaker from the Great Debaters before Bardem, and I was almost considering Ben Foster who I feel was able to paint a portrait of an equally intriguing villain with few words. From the 85 minutes of There Will Be Blood that I saw, Paul Dano showed quite a bit of versatility in this role as opposed to his role in Little Miss Sunshine last year. It's almost as if he grew up.
Supporting Actress:
Helena Bonham Carter (in Sweeny Todd): Carter’s performance in Sweeny Todd was perfect. It was so enjoyable to watch. There is just something about her acting that makes movie watching so much fun. It must be the juxtaposition of her facial expressions and her hilarious comments in that British accent.
My comments: Unfortunately, being only a part-time film critic I don't see every movie to come out, and Sweeny Todd wasn't something I had the fortune of catching.


Director:
Paul Thomas Anderson (There Will Be Blood): There Will Be Blood was without a doubt a cinematic masterpiece and would not have been so amazing with a different director or cinematographer for that matter. Any viewer can see the amount of work that Anderson put into making the film.
Joel and Ethan Coen (No Country For Old Men): No Country is this Oscar year’s other cinematic masterpiece. From the start to its anti-conventional ending, the film screams amazing directing, which is nothing but understandable from two of our generation’s best filmmakers.
My comments: Interesting fact about Brian: He went to the same high schol as the Coen Brothers in Minnesota. I agree from what I saw of There Will Be Blood and what I know of the storyline that Anderson deserved a best director title over Coen. It was a more ambitious project that acheived its potential


Picture:
Once: The music alone from this film is amazing, but this anti-conventional love story is a beautiful reconnection to the French New Wave style of filmmaking.
There Will Be Blood: A hauntingly beautiful, epic, difficult cinematic work of art.
No Country For Old Men: A genius film with exciting action and a brilliant ending, but a surprising film coming from two amazing (usually comedic) directors.
Sweeny Todd: A sinister masterpiece from the dark mind of Tim Burton, which encompasses all that is great about the Musical/Film hybrid world.
Across The Universe: The best and worst film ever made. A genius idea to create a new narrative with Beatles’ music, however, it seemed too forced at times. On the other hand, the other large majority of the film has some of the most beautifully photographed scenes I have ever seen, where the visuals matched the music perfectly and sent shivers down my spine.

My comments: Whole-heartedly agree with the Across the Universe comment. The idea was genius while the execution was sloppy

Final Four participants playing in the NBA

In the spirit of March Madness here's a compilation of final four participants in the NBA for the 2007-2008 season (as well as those who retired in 2007) by team:

Atlanta: Shelden Williams (04 Duke), Royal Ivey (03 Texas), Al Horford (06 07 Fla), Marvin Williams (05 UNC), Mike Bibby (Arizona 97)
Boston: Glen Davis (06 LSU), Tony Allen (04 Oklahoma State)
Charlotte Bobcats: Derek Anderson (96, 97 Kentucky), Jake Voshkul (99 UConn), Nazr Mohammed (97, 98 Kentucky), Jason Richardson (00-01 Michigan State), Sean May (05 UNC), Raymond Felton (05 UNC), Jeff McInnis (93, 95 UNC), Emeka Okafor (04 UConn), Alan Anderson (05 Michigan St), Summer League Team: Jawan Terry (05 UNC)
Chicago: Ben Gordon (UConn 04), Loul Deng (Duke 04), Chris Duhon (Duke 04), Kirk Hinrich (Kansas 02, 03), Joachim Noah (Florida 06 07), Tyrus Thomas (LSU 06), Drew Gooden (Kansas 02)
New Jersey: Josh Boone (UConn 04), Maurice Ager (Michigan State 05), Richard Jefferson (Arizona 00), Vince Carter (95, 97, 98), Jason Collins (98 Stanford)
NYK: Jared Jeffries (Indiana 02), Zach Randolph (Michigan State 01)
Milwaulkee: Charlie Bell (Michigan St 99-00), Michael Redd (Ohio State 99), Charlie Villanueva (UConn 04)
Minnesota: Wayne Simien (02 03 Kansa), Antoine Walker (96 Kentucky), Michael Doleac (98 Utah), Rashad McCantis (05 UNC), Mark Madsen (98 Stanford), Corey Brewer (06 07 Florida), Chris Richard (07 Florida), Summer League Team: Luke Schnesser (Ga Tech 04)
Miami: Dwayne Wade (03 Marquette), Udonis Haslem (00 Miami), Jason Williams (94 Florida),
Utah Jazz: Carlos Boozer (01 Duke), Deron Williams (05 Illinois), Jarron Collins (98 Stanford)
Denver Nuggets: Taurean Green (06-07 Florida), Carmelo Anthony (03 Syracuse), Marcus Camby (96 UMass)
Orlando: James Augustine (05 Illinois), JJ Reddick (04 Duke), Summer League Team: Tony Skinn (GMU 06)
New Orleans Hornets: Hilton Armstrong (04 UConn), Morris Peterson (99, 00 Michigan State)
Houston: Shane Battier (99, 01 Duke), Bobby Jackson (97 Minnesota), Luther Head (05 Illinois), Steve Novak (03 Marquette), Summer League Team: John Lucas (04 Oklahoma St), Ivan McFarlin (04 Oklahoma St)
Pheonix: Jalen Rose (92, 93 Michigan), Grant Hill (91, 92, 94 Duke)
Dallas: Jason Terry (97 Arizona), Juwan Howard (92, 93 Michigan), Erik Dampier (96 Mississippi State), Jamal Magloire (98 Kentucky), Jerry Stackhouse (95 UNC), Summer League Team: Reyshawn Terry (05 UNC)
LAC: Paul Davis (05 Michigan State), Corey Maggette (99 Duke), Elton Brand (99 Duke)
LAL: Jordan Farmar (06 UCLA), Luke Walton (01 Arizona)
Sacramento: Shelden Williams (04 Duke), Fransisco Garcia (05 Louisville)
Portland: Greg Oden (07 Ohio State), Jarret Jack (05 Ga Tech), Steve Blake (02, 03 Maryland)
Cleveland: --
Memphis: Mike Miller (00 Florida), Hakim Warrick (03 Syracuse), Rudy Gay (04 UConn), Mike Conley Jr (07 Ohio State)
Seattle: Jeff Green (07 Georgetown), Nick Collison (02, 03 Kansas), Chris Wilcox (02 Maryland)
GSW: Chris Webber (92, 93 Michigan)
SAS: Damon Stoudamire (94 Arizona), Matt Bonner (00 Florida)
Toronto: Joey Graham (04 Oklahoma St), TJ Ford (03 Texas)
Indiana: Stephen Graham (04 Oklahoma St), Mike Dunleavy Jr (01 Duke), Travis Diener (03 Marquette)
Detroit: Rasheed Wallace (95 UNC), Richard Hamilton (99 UConn), Juan Dixon (01, 02 UMD), Arron Affalo (06-07 UCLA)
Philly: Shavlik Randolph (04 Duke), Andre Miller (98 Utah),
Washington: Gilbert Arenas (01 Arizona), Brendan Haywood (98, 00 UNC), Antwain Jamison (95, 97, 98 UNC), Summer League: Lee Humphrey (06, 07 Fla)