You might not know Sonny Weems. He’s almost 30, and was drafted by the Chicago Bulls with 39th pick in 2008 before he was immediately traded to Denver. He spent some time in the D-League while appearing in just 12 games his rookie year and was then dealt to Toronto that summer and spent two seasons with the Raptors before heading to Europe. He played in Lithuania for a year and then joined Euro heavyweight CSKA Moscow for the next three seasons, making the All-Euroleague First Team in 2014. That brings us to now.
He’s back in the NBA after signing a two-year deal with Phoenix for $6.8 million this summer. (there’s a team option in the second year.) The 6’6 wing, who has spent time at shooting guard and small forward, won the College Slam Dunk contest while at Arkansas and won the Dunk Contest in his single year in Lithuania. So it’s not that surprising Weems can get up.
What is, however, is how the iron — it’s made of freakin’ iron — in the Phoenix training facility just snaps like Weems was dunking on the plastic hoop that hung above our bed in middle school.
And it’s not like Sonny Weems is Shaq. He’s all of 210 pounds.
Sometimes you’ll cut back door and want to rip the rim off when you collect the pass and the second defender is rotating over just a mite late. But it’s extremely rare to literally do so. Not for Weems.
