Cannady's Back

One of TigerBlog's favorite stories in all the time he's worked here was the one about when he, Mark Eckel, Tom McCarthy, and Vinnie DiCarlo went to Bobby Valentine's restaurant in Stamford, Conn., for lunch.

McCarthy was the radio play-by-play man for Princeton men's basketball at the time. Eckel was a writer for the Trenton Times. DiCarlo used to work in the Office of Athletic Communications.

TB is pretty sure it was a trip to Brown for a men's basketball game on a Friday. DiCarlo was working near there and suggested it.

If this story sounds familiar, then that means you and TB go back to at least 2013, when he first wrote this about it:

It was probably around 2 or so when TB and company arrived, and the lunch crowd had emptied. In fact, there was almost nobody in the place, and there was one of those "Please Seat Yourself" signs that you see during off-peak hours.

As the group of four settled into a table, there was a guy with a hammer fixing the carpet a few feet away, and he was kneeling down facing the other way.

Then he stood up and walked over to the table, pulled out a pad and said "My name is Bobby, and I'll be your waiter."

Great guy, Bobby Valentine. You get extra credit if you know that he went on from managing in the Major Leagues to being the Director of Athletics at Sacred Heart University. TB has a picture of Valentine as he presents a scholar-athlete award to TigerBlog Jr. when TBJ was a senior lacrosse player there.

That story came up again yesterday, when McCarthy told it during the broadcast of a spring training Philadelphia Phillies game. He even mentioned TB by name. It made TB smile. 

McCarthy has gone on from Princeton to a big-time broadcasting career. In addition to the Phillies, he also does NFL games and NCAA basketball. 

Tom McCarthy was long gone from Princeton when Devin Cannady played here. Tom's son Patrick had replaced him on the radio broadcasts, so there was a McCarthy who called games of Cannady's.

These days, if you want to do that, you have to be calling NBA games. Cannady is back in the NBA, having signed a 10-day contract with the Orlando Magic last week. 

Last night was Orlando's third game since Cannady moved onto the roster, and he scored 10 points in a win over the Cavaliers. TB isn't really all that sure about the specifics of how NBA contracts work, but he's guessing that the Magic, who have been wiped out by injuries, are looking to give Cannady a real shot.

He was on the Magic roster once before, a year ago, after he was the MVP of the G-League playoffs while leading the Lakeland Magic to the title. That was when he made his NBA debut, and when he was first starting to look like a player who had a real future in the league. In fact, he'd scored 17 points in one game, only to suffer a savage leg injury that looked like it might have ended his career just when it was getting started.

Instead, he worked amazingly hard to get himself back, not only in shape but in the kind of shape that would enable someone to play in the toughest basketball league in the world.

Even if you're not a Princeton fan, you can't help but root for Cannady after that comeback. He averaged 15.7 points per game for Lakeland this year, but that's not the number that will keep him in the NBA.

No, this is the number that will: 46.8. That was his three-point percentage with Lakeland.

Cannady can shoot it, that's for sure. He has limitless range and, even better than that, he has the perfect shooter's mentality. Good night. Bad night. Doesn't matter. He shoots every shot with the same confidence. 

As TB said, he has no idea about the intricacies of how NBA rosters are put together. He does know that he's always thought that Cannady's game translates so well to how the game is played these days. His G-League numbers – and highlights – suggest that.

Just getting to where he is in the first place is a huge accomplishment. 

TB hopes he's there for a while this time.