Spencer Hawes Loves George W. Bush

Jim Moore of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer spent an afternoon talking with projected lottery pick Spencer Hawes of the University of Washington. Lots of good signs from the account -- Hawes is in the weight room every day, he's still going to class, and he generally seems level-headed.

Actually, some might disagree with that last point.

"Would you put your God Bless George Bush bumper sticker on [a Mercedes]?" [Moore] asked.

"I don't know if I'd put a Bush sticker on a car like that," [Hawes] said. "But if anybody could, it would be me."

Asked if he remained solidly behind the president, Hawes said: "Why not? I'm still pushing for everything he's doing. Everyone else is jumping off his bandwagon, but I still love what he's doing."

Pundits call Hawes the next Vlade Divac. Stylewise, maybe we should call him the conservative Etan Thomas? Or get him onto Pat Riley's roster? Maybe he should avoid pregame chatter with Steve Nash. The NBA is certainly the one major American sports league where supporting the administration can be a major PR albatross... so in that way, it's kind-of refreshing to see a young guy unafraid of the backlash.