You may remember last season when Paul Shirley, the 12th man on the bench of the Phoenix Suns, kept a litte diary on the Suns team website. A lot of players did things like that, and most of them were completely inane… with stuff like, “All this travel sure is difficult. Next, we have to get ready for Portland. They should be tough! Seeya next week!”

But Shirley, with a lot of free time on his hands, put some effort into it… and it was funny, smart, and colorful… and one day, Bill Simmons linked to it, it blew up in popularity, and now, Shirley’s got a book deal, and he’s writing for ESPN.com, which I believe means that he will be contractually obligated to now suck.

Anyway, his first effort for ESPN is here… the good news is that he’s already better than most of the guys on Page 2. The bad news is that… well, I dunno. I just don’t have a lot of faith in ESPN. But best of luck to Paul Shirley in finding an NBA job this year and with the book.