From playing synthesizers in a British Columbian Prog band called Starcubism to being the deciding factor in a game 7 of the NBA playoffs, Kelly Olynyk has come a long way in the world. The man who once contributed keyboards and songwriting to the seminal release “Visions of Mars (Cubistic Journey Part I)”, the first pressing of which was limited to 777 pieces of hand-numbered red vinyl on an obscure Kamloops art label, is now dominating lesser bigmen with his varied array of skills, skills which hadn’t been fully on display in these playoffs until last night.
Let’s be real here: Ian Mahinmi and Marcin Gortat had no answer for the Moog Man. None at all. He looks a little bit flabby and slow, and his beard sucks, but all those awkward outward appearances were just clever deceptions. Olynyk is basically like a slightly lesser version of Horford, and that redundancy reduces his minutes to the point where he is rarely used to his fullest, but his “under the radar” factor combined with his atypical appearance made him the secret weapon in this game.
And, you know, when was the last time Al Horford was part of a genre-defining progressive rock band which combined astral soundscapes with First Nation influences and unbelievable technical showmanship from all members? Never, that’s when.