NBA Basketball & Free Comments • Baloncesto NBA & Comentarios Libres

[perel-muter32]

NBA Basketball  & Free Comments •  Baloncesto NBA & Comentarios Libres

Surprising revelations

Some big time surprises have dotted the NBA landscape in the first month of the frenzied schedule.

Not so surprising, of course, are the numerous blowouts, low scores, poorly played games and player injuries which we expected from such a compact calendar after a long lockout and ultra-short pre-season preparation (the money-making show must go on!) but there has been an uptick in the quality of play in the last week from numerous teams especially in the surging Southwest Division.

I'll start there with my list of revelations because, despite a poor start, the teams in the Southwest are putting together some impressive win streaks as teamwork starts to function and players like Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies) and Kyle Lowry (Houston Rockets) are playing at an All-Star level.

Teamwork and the Gregg Popovich system are always the key in San Antonio where a great home record hides the Spurs' troubles on the road while waiting for the return of Manu Ginobili.

The reigning champs Dallas Mavericks have woken up and their revelation is Frenchman Ian Mahinmi, playing almost 20 minutes a game while averaging eight points and five rebounds.

On to the Northwest - which remains the NBA's strongest division from top to bottom - and the dominating performance of the Oklahoma City Thunder, along with the surprising strength of the Denver Nuggets and Utah Jazz where Danilo Galinari and Al Jefferson respectively lead their teams, which are full of useful role players and guys that are willing to share the ball.

I would say that royal rookie Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves ) and explosive sixth man Nicolas Batum (Portland Trailblazers) in a contract year have shown some hot flashes of brilliance. We expected the Thunder to be great but maybe not this great and now that Russell Westbrook has an $80 million contract, he can settle down and play with serenity.

In the weak Pacific Division, it's obvious that the LA Clippers are most improved but they share with their crosstown rivals, the Lakers, a tendency to play poorly on the road.

The big revelations in the Eastern conference are the Indiana Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers. The Sixers are runaway leaders in the sadsack Atlantic division where all the other teams are disappointing, and the Pacers are right behind the Bulls in the Central Division where all the other teams have largely negative records.

These two teams both have balanced scoring with seven players averaging at least 10 points a game and this carries over into some tough team defence and smart play despite young rosters. Bravo! Teams like the Washington Wizards and the Sacramento Kings should take note...

The biggest revelation in the Central Division, individually, is big man Greg Monroe having a breakout season for the lowly Detroit Pistons. He's playing better than Joakim Noah right now, for example.

The Southeast Division has three teams playing at a superior level - Orlando Magic, Miami Heat and Atlanta Hawks - and here it is no surprise that superstars like Dwight Howard and LeBron James are carrying a big load.

In Atlanta, a highly-experienced group is making up for the absence of All-Star Al Horford. But my biggest surprise in this division is the top notch play of Ryan Anderson and Hedo Turkoglu who complement perfectly Superman Dwight.

In the final analysis, there are only six good teams in the whole Eastern conference, while there are 10 good teams in the West!

Don't worry, I am not going to drag back out my old theory that the best 16 teams should qualify for the playoffs regardless of their conference... but then again...I just realised that a majority of my early season revelations are international players, what a coincidence!




Seriously speaking, the biggest revelations are certain TEAMS which have really stepped up on both ends of the court while playing hard, smart and together as Dean Smith liked to say!

What do you think?

George Eddy from FIBA

Go to: eBA-Stats.com  ~ eBA System ~ eBA ONLINE Clinics  ~ eBA Encyclopedia  ~ eBA Store  ~ eBA Blog

[flandersfan]

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Before the NBA season starts with a... Basketball Bazaar

Before the NBA season starts with a bang on Christmas day with five magnificent match-ups, we are going to live through two weeks of trades and free agent signings at a frenetic pace like we've never seen before.

The lockout was supposed to somewhat level the playing field and permit small market teams to compete for high-profile free agents and David West signing with the Indiana Pacers can be considered an example of that.

However, the big media frenzy is revolving around Chris Paul and Dwight Howard who have both told their teams that they will not prolong their contracts so it is in the teams' best interest to trade them well before the March 15th deadline so as to avoid a Melo-type drawn out melodrama and also get something back for superstars that can walk away for free at the end of the season!

In the case of Paul and Howard, only big market teams will be in the running which confirms an age-old tradition in the NBA, a league where adding a superstar can totally change your destiny and having a trio of stars is the best recipe for a title (see Lakers, Bulls, Celtics or Spurs over the last 50 years!).

When David Stern vetoed what seemed like a good three-way trade for New Orleans, which would have sent Paul to the Lakers, the star point guard let it be known that now his priority is the Clippers!

The big cities have always attracted NBA free agent stars because of the attention, the lifestyle and the money. The new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) won't change that in the next two years because the tougher luxury tax rules for the big spending teams only kick in during the third year. At that time nothing can stop a player from signing for less to play in a big city while making up the difference with side income opportunities which are more plentiful in big markets for popular stars.

Small market teams are inevitably condemned to build through the draft and smart management like San Antonio or Oklahoma City.

Howard has set his sights on the Lakers or New Jersey and their rich Russian owner and shiny new Brooklyn arena. This is hurtful news for Orlando, a small market team which has overspent and lost a lot of money the last few years trying to surround Howard with enough talent to win a championship.

They did make it to the NBA finals but the Shaquille O'Neal scenario will play itself out once again in unlucky Orlando! Another highly-prized free agent, Tyson Chandler, will play for the Knicks despite having won the title in Dallas last season. I think he would have had a better chance at a second title by staying in Dallas but it looks like Lamar Odom is going to jump on that opportunity in his place after being disappointed that the Lakers wanted to trade him.

Chandler will bring needed defence to the Knicks but he will be alone since with Chauncey Billups gone, there are no other defensive stoppers on the roster. In Dallas, guys like Jason Kidd, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson helped Chandler with the dirty work last season.

Considering the contenders for the trophy, what interests me the most is who Miami and Chicago will sign as complementary players to go along with an already solid core. I am also curious to see where the Gasol brothers end up playing, whether Jerry Buss' son can manage the Lakers as well as his father did and  what Ettore Messina can bring to the table as an assistant to Mike Brown in L.A.




I'll finish by saying that the compact season with several back to back to backs will certainly not be an advantage for aging teams like Boston and San Antonio and the coaches will have to use their benches intelligently to avoid burning out the old stars' legs, while on the other hand, teams with young rosters like Oklahoma City should benefit considerably from the ultra-tight schedule.

George Eddy from FIBA

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[greek_ball]

NBA Basketball  & Free Comments •  Baloncesto NBA & Comentarios Libres

Pride put aside

Thank goodness cooler heads have prevailed.

The different factions that were blocking the NBA negotiations finally realized how ridiculous they looked to the rest of the world.

They finally realized how much money they were wasting and how many people and communities they were hurting in a time of economic dire straits.

The hardline owners - mostly from small market money-losing non-playoff teams - finally gave the players, who felt backed into a corner and disrespected, a chance to save face and get back to playing the game they love.

These owners paved the way by finally loosening up their position on system issues and player movement.

It was time for the owners to make some concessions after the players agreed to compensate for the teams' $300 million dollar losses last season by accepting a smaller piece of the pie.

If, in the end, this deal permits more teams to compete for a title through increased parity and more teams to become profitable financially, all the better.

I'll leave it to other math experts to explain the details of the agreement that got it done because I am too happy to be able to start writing about games, players, stats, tactics, signings and styles of play and not about Basketball Related Income (BRI), Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), luxury taxes and mid-level exceptions!

I care more about the NBA than the CBA!

All this talk about indecent sums of money leaves me cold because I haven't been caught up (it's a generational thing) in the modern craze of fantasy leagues where everyone becomes a general manager-horse trader dealing with millions.

David Stern saved his legacy and Billy Hunter his reputation because they finally did what they were paid to do - negotiate a deal.

Of course, there is plenty of criticism to go around after a painful, drawn-out proceedure where Stern seemed to symbolize the owners' arrogance and intransigeance dealing from a position of force all along and Hunter seemed wishy washy about letting the players decide their own fate and was too late in choosing to disclaim the union, a move that ended up accelerating the process towards a deal.

I am convinced that a large majority of players would have voted for a deal long ago if they had the chance.

The last few concessions by the owners permits Hunter to defend his own tactics.

Stern and Hunter were inextricably linked in this historic bargaining process because if they had failed and the season was cancelled, that might have signalled the death of the NBA as we had known it and tarnished their reputations forever!

There are still, without doubt, some players and owners who will vote against the agreement out of spite, personal interest and an us versus them macho, competitive mentality that almost put the NBA on its knees but this is understandable when you look at who is involved.

By that I mean elite level, mega-rich and ultra-competitive basketball players and businessmen who finally had a lot more in common than they realized. Let's just say that they were definitely in the one percent group while the rest of us lockout collateral damage victims or fans were from the 99 percent group.




I'd like to finish by paraphrasing Ian Thomsen, SI.com's excellent analyst who drew an interesting parallel between the lockout resolution and recent major world problems by pointing out that our leaders' fundamental role is to negotiate and compromise for the greater good even when it doesn't necessarily fall in line with the vested interest and desires of their constituency.

This is definitely food for thought!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[NBA-Lockero]

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Stern, Magic, Shaq and Kareem

Four icons of NBA basketball have been in the news and it turns out that I have been lucky enough over the years to have known them personally so I thought I would give you my take on what they have said and done lately.

When David Stern was on a fact-finding tour of Europe in 1988, we met several times to project into the future what the NBA might become in terms of international marketing, TV rights and merchandising sales. I was commentating NBA games on TV, serving as a consultant for Spalding and had opened the first NBA-themed sporting goods store in France so we had a lot to exchange.

Stern's trip finished with us attending the first Final Four format of the Cup of Champions won in Gent, Belgium, by Bob Macadoo's and Mike D'Antoni's Milano team. That was a long time ago and when you see how far the NBA has come internationally since then, you can take your hat off to Stern and his men.

When I saw the ugly comments comparing David to a plantation owner as the lockout got more heated, it was a pleasure to read the response of another old aquaintance, Magic Johnson, who valiantly defended Stern's impeccable record on creating opportunities for minorities in roles of power within the NBA.

Magic said that you can disagree with Stern on lockout issues as he plays a thankless role defending the owners' position, but you can't forget what he has done relentlessly in favor of minorities and what he represents as a man (notably as a big Obama supporter).

In fact, who better to represent the success of minorities in American sports and business than Magic as we also celebrate the 20th anniversary of his historically groundbreaking announcement about having HIV.

Former Phoenix Suns owner and USA Basketball visionary Jerry Colangelo said recently in the New York Times that he is sure that this whole lockout marathon is eating away at David inside. He points out how the landscape of NBA owners has changed, how agents control a lot of the players' thinking and how the brave new world of internet and satellite communications and technology will drastically effect the way people consume the NBA in the coming decade.

At the age of 69, Stern is trying to be a bridge between a long period of intense success for the NBA and an upcoming period of greater uncertainty before handing over the reins of power. Despite his outside facade as "Easy Dave", the slick lawyer, I am convinced, is deeply saddened by the bitterness of the negotiations, the intransigence of certain hard-line owners and especially by all the painful collateral damage the lockout has caused to the global NBA family!

On a lighter note, my old buddy Shaquille O'Neal is leaking some juicy passages from his upcoming tell-all book written with the help of the excellent journalist Jackie Macmullan.

In the last 20 years, I have often been Shaq's - or Michael Jordan's for that matter - guide, interviewer or translator on his visits to France and it's true that he loves to speak his mind and take potshots at other well-known personalities.

I remember emceeing Shaq's rap concert in Paris and playing pick-up ball with him and his bodyguard uncles as well as an hour-long talk show interview at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996 accompagnied by Yannick Noah and his 11 year-old son, Joakim. Great memories!

It was no surprise to me to read that the exuberant Shaq never hit it off with the shy and taciturn all-time NBA leading scorer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who was our guest of honor for the 10-year anniversary of the French Canal Plus TV channel in 1994.

Apparently, the eternally outgoing Shaq would have appreciated some advice from the legendary but ultra-sensitive Jabbar, who got the impression that Shaq and his entourage considered his sky hook advice unnecessary because O'Neal was doing just fine dunking on everybody!

It's ironic that Shaq was thirsty for Kareem's consultation when it's common knowledge that he was deplorably reticent to listen to advice (including mine) on his terrible free-throw shooting just as the great Wilt Chamberlain was.




Shaq is great company and easy to approach whereas Jabbar is much more profound and reflective about subjects like religion and African-American culture and history.

Both men are definitely worth knowing. Bill Russell should invite them over for tea and discussion because I'm sure they would all have plenty of things to share with each other!


George Eddy from FIBA

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[chambo12]

NBA Basketball  & Free Comments •  Baloncesto NBA & Comentarios Libres

50-50 start

The one thing that you and I both know is that we hope this is my LAST article concerning the never-ending and eternally boring NBA lockout situation!

The one positive aspect about the lockout is that it has pushed me to become better informed about the economics of the NBA and pro sports in general.

I've learned that in reality the NBA has eight to 10 teams from the big market cities that make good profits thanks to the increased potential for local TV revenues and corporate sponsorship or luxury box income, while 10 to 15 teams hover around the break-even point and five to seven teams are bleeding big money in small markets without much hope in their future.

This breakdown means that the 30 teams which make up the NBA don't have the same priorities and outlook for the future.

The latest proposals filtering out of the behind-closed-doors talks try to address this fact like the increased severity of the luxury tax rule in order to redistribute more money from the rich teams to the poorer teams.

This is probably a good way to permit rich teams like the Los Angeles Lakers or Miami Heat to keep intact their trio of high-paid superstars which is important because the fans want to go to the arenas and watch the home team try and beat these high-profile franchises who are also big ratings draws on television.

The problem in applying a strict hard salary cap to all teams is that it would oblige the Lakers, for example, to break up their roster to get under the cap and render the NBA, in general, more balanced but probably more mediocre too, dragging the top teams down to level of the weaker teams!

The NBA wants to help the poorer teams improve themselves but not necessarily weaken or disarm the stronger franchises for the sake of parity.

Parity and equal distribution of all TV revenues has been a cornerstone of the NFL's success but the NBA is more star-driven with highly-recognisable faces for the fans and the rich franchises are less apt (for the time being) to share their local revenues.

This brings us to the key issue of sharing BRI (Basketball Related Income) also known as one big delicious PIE!

The more recent owners who paid high prices and heavily leveraged their aquisition in order to own an NBA franchise (which might even have lost some value in the last few years) would like to inverse the 57%-43% split that was in favor of the players in the previous agreement and it seems that the magic number for the owners right now is 48% for the players and 52% for the owners to get a deal done.

Excuse me, but a six-year-old child dividing up candy in a schoolyard would clearly see that the final solution is 50% for you and 50% for me and let's play ball on November 1st!

This would flatter the players' egos to be considered an equal partner in the global NBA business picture and this seems perfectly justified to me because the players ARE the business!

If the negotiators could just agree on this basic principle, then all the other issues like salary cap exceptions, length of guaranteed contracts etc... would fall rapidly into place and a lot of the collateral damage that the lockout is producing could be reduced or avoided because no regular season games would be missed.

Apparently, the meeting this Tuesday afternoon could be an opportunity to really make some progress in good faith after months of tactical positionning and doomsday announcements by both sides in an effort to get an edge.




My one hope is that the owners' hidden agenda is NOT to wait until regular season games are cancelled and the players start losing real paychecks in order to be able to negotiate from a position of force because the players have their financial backs to the wall!

Only time will tell.

George Eddy from FIBA

Go to: eBA-Stats.com  ~ eBA System ~ eBA ONLINE Clinics  ~ eBA Encyclopedia  ~ eBA Store  ~ eBA Blog

[gasol+fan]

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Draft and lockout

It was supposed to be an historically weak draft and only time will tell which teams made horrible decisions with high draft picks and which teams found diamonds in the rough with lower picks as San Antonio has become famous for over the years.

For American fans, the big question is whether NCAA superstar Jimmer Fredette can do better than Orlando's JJ Redick or Charlotte's bust Adam Morrison who had about the same profile coming out of college with reputations as big scorers. From an international standpoint, Fredette's case is of little interest since many non-American basketball specialists consider the NCAA basketball level of play extremely overrated!

On the other hand, the international community did notice that seven of the first 25 players chosen in the draft were non-Americans and more importantly four of the top 10! This can be explained by the weakening of the US talent pool over the years - the best players only stay in school for one year - as well as increased respect for the way international clubs develop players around the world.

There is also a permanent research for quality tall players from Europe or Africa, notably, which explains a lot of the high draft picks for international players.

Let's give a special mention to Lithuania, a country like Montenegro in the women's Eurobasket tournament, which squeezes the utmost talent out of a very small population! This, though, was not a good draft for France which had been a big producer of young talent for the NBA over the last decade.

Let's move on to the lockout situation which has the whole NBA planet sitting on pins and needles out of fear of losing a season or games or salaries once the CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) runs out at the end of June.

Let me try and simplify for you a complex negotiation process. In the end, the owners need a deal that will permit all teams to make some kind of a profit by reducing the percentage of revenues dedicated to players' salaries but also by better sharing local TV revenues between big market and small market teams to make for a more level playing field.

There will certainly be a reduction in the length of guaranteed contracts with more optional years non-guaranteed to avoid the costly contract mistakes teams have made in the last decade and a gradual move over the coming years towards a hard salary cap with less exceptions compared to today's CBA.

I doubt the players union will accept a 10-year deal. In this rapidly changing world economic context, a five-year deal seems more likely. The owners could reduce fines and increase pension payments to players to lessen the impact of the bitter pill the players will eventually be required to swallow. I think a 20 percent rollback in players' salaries will probably be close to the final compromise.

An essential point will be a change in mentality where the players will negotiate from a stronger position as future partners of the owners in a global NBA enterprise instead of the conflictual owner-employee relationship of the present.

An interesting parallel can be drawn with the situation concerning labor relations in Germany where an intelligent  partnership between companies and unions has permitted that country to turn its economy around faster than its European neighbors.

For the NBA, we will get a better feel for the outcome of these negotiations at several signpost dates starting with the expiration of the current CBA.




If a deal is not hammered out, the next important date will be the start of the season at the end of October when players concretely start losing paychecks and teams are blocked by forced inactivity!

Since I love covering the NBA, my fingers are crossed that we won't have to reach that extreme which everyone agrees would be detrimental to the image of the league and its players!


George Eddy from FIBA

Go to: eBA-Stats.com  ~ eBA System ~ eBA ONLINE Clinics  ~ eBA Encyclopedia  ~ eBA Store  ~ eBA Blog

[per_de_dos]

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Old School Dallas Victory

Wow! The 2011 NBA Finals were ultra close and hard-fought battles from start to finish, full of comebacks, runs, emotions and diverse story lines!

After five games, just FOUR points separated these two teams that couldn't be more different.

Coach Rick Carlisle of the winning Dallas Mavericks finally let out a sigh and a big smile as he described the victory as a win for old school basketball and teamwork over individual brilliance.

Dallas played close to the floor with old veterans desperate to taste a title and willing to sacrifice and watch each other's backs after years of frustration and criticism (think Dirk Nowitzki), whereas Miami was more of a permanent, airborne, reality TV show caravan starring young divas of a newer generation who teamed up to try and find a shortcut to a championship.

For me, the shared experience and roster continuity over the last few years gave Dallas a decisive edge on the biggest stage during the biggest moments. Their ability to spread the floor, penetrate the Miami Heat defense and hit big shots was crucial.

Carlisle rightly added: "Miami will have their time but this OUR time and it had to be now" because every Mavs player's biological clock was ticking!

As Nowitzki knows better than most, anything worth having is worth waiting for so you have to pay your dues which guys like Jason Kidd, Shawn Marion, Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler, DeShawn Stevenson and J.J. Barea have certainly done, in spades!

Nowitzki, the hard-working and quiet humble leader of this special group shared his Finals MVP spotlight with all his team-mates, pointing out the key contributions of even the most modest role players.

What an irony that Dirk struggled mightily in the first half of the decisive Game 6, shooting one of 12, as Terry, Stevenson and Barea stepped up big time just like in Game 5 and Dallas miraculously led by two at halftime.

It was Dirk's worst half, by far, of the playoffs but the NBA's best bench this season once again showed its resilience to hold the fort until Dirk got himself together in the second half.

Dirk said: "They carried me in the first half when I couldn't find my rhythm".

Some of the other keys for Dallas in the series were: Marion's all-around play and defense on LeBron James; Chandler's energy on the glass, on defense and in the locker room; Kidd's leadership, defense on all comers plus timely shot-making, which is a Dallas trademark along with their ability to play 48 minutes, never say die and always find a way to make a comeback when they are in dire straits.

Dirk pointed out that coming back and winning Game 2 in Miami was the turning point of the series and I will add that that was the starting point for LeBron's gradual meltdown in the last four games (Dallas won four of the last five).

James was heavily criticised for holding the ball to much in the money time of Game 2 and this seemed to provoke hesitation and doubt that became progressively worse as the games became more intense and important.

Dallas' confusing mix of man and zone defense always helping out on LeBron's and Dwyane Wade's penetration was efficient at making James question his own decision-making and threw his outside shot off. Do I pass or do I drive or do I shoot? The look of perplexity on LeBron's face was painful to watch for a heroic Wade who played almost as stratospherically as in 2006.

In fact, the scenario for these Finals was 2006 backwards with Miami seeming to dominate early in the series winning two of the first three games and then letting it slip away after a major turning point which made the confidence level change sides, whereas in 2006 it was Dallas in the bad role after letting Miami come back to win Game 3.

Rumours circulated about problems in LeBron's private life and the 2,000 media members spent more time trying to figure out what was wrong with James rather than talking about what was right with Dallas! This only fueled Dallas' colossal motivation and mental toughness even more.

Dallas had more resourcefulness, unity and experience starting with the head coach and going all the way down the bench to the 12th man.

This result was also satisfying revenge for Mark Cuban, their owner, who put all the pieces together, built around Dirk and who stayed surprisingly and wisely silent during the last two weeks.




This unique series produced a unique, perseverant champion that basketball fans everywhere can appreciate. This beautifully intense sports spectacle also makes our desire even more powerful to see the NBA avoid a destructive lockout in the summer of 2011!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[pepelar]

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NBA Playoffs ~ The Closers:
Miami did the same thing to Chicago that Dallas did to the the young Thunder

A lot of us were fooled into thinking, after Game 1, that Chicago's defense could put a stranglehold on Miami's Big Three but in the end that was just one game!

The Miami Heat came back like a Florida hurricane and swept four games in a row by defending even better than the Bulls, shutting down the MVP Derrick Rose, and closing out fourth quarters beautifully using their advantage in big game experience to the hilt.

Miami did the same thing to Chicago that Dallas did to the the young Thunder.

They would hang around for three quarters then make a decisive surge in the money time profiting from youthful mistakes by their opponents and executing better in the most important possessions of each game.

This concerned most importantly Rose, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant.

Those three young superstars had made the big decisive plays all year for their teams but at this elite level, they were often pushed into bad decisions, lost balls and poor shot selection by two sly and adaptable defenses thrown at them by their opponents.

Miami played Pat Riley-esque man-to-man defense with the incredible LeBron James doing his Scottie Pippen imitation by defending positions one through to four according to necessity.

One game he blocks Carlos Boozer's shot three times and in the last two games he suffocates Rose who played too much and was always worn out when it was time to close out the tight games in this hyper-defensive series where transition buckets were rare and the second chance points "well" went dry for Joakim Noah and Boozer in the last four games.

Tom Thibodeau tried all kinds of different line-ups to attempt to get Rose some help on offense but Miami always had a response.

Notably the Three Amigos making some miracle fourth quarter shots but also periodic help from series-changer Udonis Haslem and Mike Miller in Game 4 in a shortened eight-man rotation well chosen by coach Eric Spoelstra.

Dallas, on the other hand, mixed man-to-man and zone defenses to confuse OKC who, like the Bulls, blew some fourth quarter leads.

Game 4 was the turning point when the Thunder couldn't hold onto a 15-point lead with five minutes to play and lost in overtime after Dirk Nowitzki brought Dallas back with some miracle shots of his own!

For the young guns from OKC and Chicago the future is rosey (especially for the Bulls, haha!) and the disappointment of coming "so close but no cigar" will fuel their motivation and desire to improve.

In the present, the two more experienced teams left will battle it out in the NBA Finals with Miami having homecourt advantage (they are unbeaten at home in the playoffs) while Dallas is in the midst of an incredible five-game winning streak AWAY from home which is the absolute proof that THIS veteran Dallas team is on a last ditch mission for the title and all those past playoff situations where the Mavs choked are dead and buried!




The 2011 NBA Finals oppose a typically American, classic NBA style team full of exceptional one-on-one athletes coming truly together at just the right time against a much more internationally-flavoured squad with tons of height, shooters, experience, a crafty zone defense and THE most unstoppable force of these playoffs, Dirk Nowitzki, the best non-US NBA player, an exemplary gentleman and faithful team-mate that a lot of longtime NBA observers - including myself - would like to see lift the trophy in June because he doggone deserves it!

Can LeBron stop the unstoppable Dirk? Who is the BEST of the Closers? These are the questions!


George Eddy from FIBA

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[mara_dona]

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NBA Playoffs ~ First round-up

The two big upsets of the first round of the NBA playoffs came about for essentially the same reasons - poor three-point shooting by San Antonio and Orlando.

Both teams had built their success from behind the line, but the young and athletic defenders for Memphis and Atlanta closed out quickly and efficiently on the shooters.

Atlanta didn't double team Dwight Howard as much so there were fewer open looks and even Superman couldn't beat the Hawks single-handedly!

Memphis held the best three-point shooting team of the regular season, the Spurs, to under 30 percent for the series while also dominating the paint considerably thanks to Marc Gasol and comeback kid Zach Randolph, the undisputed MVP of the series and even the whole first round!

It's funny how that trade implicating the two Gasol brothers doesn't look so bad for Memphis now.

These two upsets hinged on one rebound for Atlanta in Game 6 and Memphis showed extraordinary mental toughness when the vampire Spurs went ahead with less than five minutes to go in their Game 6.

The inexperienced Grizzlies could have cracked at that moment like they did at the end of that incredible Game 5 in San Antonio, but finally it was the Spurs who caved in as the Grizz stuck intelligently with their game plan and match-up advantage built around Randolph in the half court offense.

If these two series had gone to a Game 7, I am not sure the same two teams would have qualified for the next round!

For me two other major bits of information surfaced in the first round.

Primo, Chris Paul is back in the discussion concerning who is the best NBA point guard along with Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo who were both fabulous in the first round for their respective teams.

Segundo, the key to success in these playoffs revolves around having TWO top notch inside players, which was the case for five of the teams who qualified for the second round.

Boston, Miami and Atlanta, on the other hand, compensated with superior guard and wing play while all the losing teams in the first round lacked that second star inside presence.

Now the question is, for example, can Tyson Chandler and Dirk Nowitzki counter Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum? My response is no.

The old dictom that the playoffs is all about match-ups in a long series is still true, more than ever in today's diluted NBA talent pool after years of expansion. And teams will milk an advantageous match-up until their opponent adjusts.

With a rejuvenated model citizen like Ron Artest playing his best ball of the season and Kobe picking his spots, I see Dallas being ushered out in six.

The duel between those young, midwest whippersnappers in Memphis and OKC should be epic and could go to seven, but in the end Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka can defend Marc and Z-Bo while the explosiveness of Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook gives the Thunder a higher offensive potential that Memphis lacks without Rudy Gay.

These two up-and-coming teams play a european style built on good defense, patience, sharing the ball and limiting costly turnovers. So this series should be a purist's dream!

In the East, the purists will pick Boston while the new-age fans will go with the Miami Hate! I would say that if the games are close that's an advantage for the Celtics, but if there are big leads built up that favors the Mo-Heat-os. I see the NBA youth movement started by Memphis continuing with Miami squeaking through in seven.




The last conference semi-final between Chicago and Atlanta will be an ultra-defensive affair with the winner being the first team to score 85 points! Let's just hope Carlos Boozer's "turf toe" injury reacts well to hardwood!

I'll be back in two weeks to preview the conference finals between Miami and Chicago and LA and OKC.


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Prospect of NBA lockout of mounting concern

Although the collective bargaining agreement does not expire until July 1, and the NBA and players could reach a deal before a lockout, the impact of a labor stoppage is mounting:

•Some NBA head coaches and assistants, especially those hired in the last year or two, have lockout language in their contracts that potentially could prevent them from getting paid.

•National teams set to compete in important tournaments this summer are concerned they won't be able to obtain insurance at reasonable rates on players' contracts, which the NBA has helped to provide via a broker.

•The NBA did not schedule 2011-12 preseason games in Europe or Asia.

•The league's popular Las Vegas Summer League, which offers rookies and young players a chance to learn and impress, runs the risk of cancellation.

•The Los Angeles Lakers did not offer contracts to four training staff members for next season in a cost-cutting move before a lockout, the Los Angeles Times reported.

•A judge's decision Monday to end the NFL lockout is regarded as a win for pro sports unions. The National Basketball Players Association has gotten enough signatures to approve a decertification vote, which could make a lockout wieldy for the owners.

Decertification is "a very serious action, and this is a very serious time for us in these labor negotiations. You have to be prepared to use all of the available means to get something done," Miami Heat forward and NBPA secretary/treasurer James Jones told USA TODAY.




The generic lockout language in contracts states a coach will be paid no less than half his salary if more than 41 games are lost and will be paid on a pro-rated basis if more than 41, but not all, games are played. There also is concern coaches' salaries will decrease as the league seeks a new economic model.

"Coaching salaries have always been a market unto itself," said Michael Goldberg, NBA Coaches Association executive director. "Some coaches may be affected by the overall marketplace. If teams aren't making money, salaries could go down."


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[nbafan]

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NBA Playoff Preview

Well, at least we avoided a coin toss to decide home court advantage in the NBA Finals!

Chicago finishes No 1 and will have homecourt advantage throughout the playoffs even though I feel that their lack of post-season experience together will be their downfall in the second round against Orlando or the conference finals versus Miami.
I love everything about their future though because Coach of the Year Tom Thibodeau and MVP Derrick Rose are on the same page and in fusion with the rest of this talented and disciplined group of players.

My reasoning for Chicago being upset is that players like Lebron James and Dwayne Wade in Miami or Dwight Howard and Hedo Turkoglou in Orlando have already taken their teams a lot further into the playoffs.

The early season favourite, Boston, ruined their chances when they traded Kendrick Perkins,the heart and soul of the team, to Oklahoma City, a team which has become the equivalent of Chicago in the West, an up-and-comer with a LARGE window of oppurtunity. Let's just hope a lockout doesn't clip their wings!

Back to the East where the Boston-New York nostalgia match-up seems to be fueling the net. I see the Knicks making it a series by winning two or three games but in the end Boston will have enough pride to squeak through.

On the other hand I don't think their pride will be enough to stop Wade and LeBron (in that order) from qualifying against Boston in six games in the second round thanks to their trident but also a host of shooters and big men foul-makers.

Rondo has been in a funk since his best buddy Perkins was traded and he would have been the key to Boston winning if he had dominated the point guard matchup dishing out 15 assists a game to the Celtic's Big Three.

I don't see why Indiana or Atlanta will win more than one or two games in their first round duels but for the Pacers making the playoffs is already sufficient whereas Atlanta will once again finish frustrated and puzzled. Hey, maybe Mike Woodson wasn't the problem!

Like Indiana, if Philly wins a couple of games against Miami, then their season can be considered a success.

I may be the only predictor who sees a Floridian derby in the East finals but somehow the logic of it all seems clear to me. Miami with the homecourt advantage should push through and meet the Lakers in the NBA Finals IF Andrew Bynum's knees hold up.
The latest news is encouraging after the scary hyperextension suffered against San Antonio and despite the Lakers limping into the playoffs their inside dominance is still decisive, be it against New Orleans, Dallas or the Spurs... or even Miami; in the NBA finals.

Many observers think Portland might upset Dallas who cringes at first round difficulties and that a rejuvenated Denver team might upset Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. I see the Mavs and Thunder pushing through regardless.

In the following round, the Thunder could create a major shock by eliminating the Spurs on their home floor in a mythical Game 7 that would put Durant - the most underrated superstar - on the historical playoff map.

The Lakers should beat Dallas in six and the Thunder in seven and then win a Game 7 on Miami's floor!

To me, this seems like the only possible conclusion to the fruitful collaboration of the last decade between Kobe Bryant and Phil Jackson before Phil rides his Harley off into the Dakota sunset.

As far as the international players are concerned, Pau Gasol and Dirk Nowitzki will be major factors for their teams' success and in the East Joakim Noah and Luol Deng will be key factors in an eventual Bulls coming out party.

So far, the only sure thing is that John Paxson is a better team manager than his former team-mate Michael Jordan. Less clear is the future of Blake Griffin with the Clips, of Steve Nash and the Suns, the move by the Kings from Sacramento to Anaheim and the effects of an eventual lockout after an excellent NBA season.




I forsee the big winners this summer as being Phil and Kobe but also David Stern who will become a hero if no games are cancelled and an intelligent compromise (by reducing all new NBA player contracts by 20 percent) is negotiated.

Only time will tell... I am waiting for YOUR predictions!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[eurofan]

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International standouts

This week I would like to do a roundup on the international players, especially those players who have showed net improvement while maybe staying under the radar.

Hidden gems, so to speak!

It is a secret to noone that for instance, Dirk Nowitzki is having another MVP type season. The proof being that if you take away the losses during Dirk's absence earlier in the season, then Dallas would be at the Spur's level of performance at the top of the league.

Like Tim Duncan, the problem is that Dirk has been so consistently brillant during his whole career that it makes us take him for granted. Michael Jordan had the same problem.

The other elite international NBA players are the Spurs eternal trio, The Gasol brothers, Steve Nash, Al Horford, Luis Scola, Néné, Luol Deng, Andrew Bogut and Andrea Bargnani.

All these players produce stats and wins although the last two hold the wooden spoon in terms of victories.

The next group would concern players who fulfilled their potential this season but who haven't quite attained elite status yet.

Guys like Frenchmen Joakim Noah - who needs to work on his offence - and Nicholas Batum and three-point gunner Carlos Delfino are all finishing strong as starters for their respective teams.

I include Galinari, a consistent scorer, and Turkoglou, who is making a nice comeback spurt before the playoffs with Orlando, among this group.

Now we move on to players who had devellopped good reputations in the league but seemed to stagnate this season for different reasons.

Andris Biedrins and Andrei Kirilenko have seen a steady drop in their playing time and production, the former over the last five years and the latter over the last two. A steady decline has also been the tendancy for Mike Pietrus and Vlad Radmanovic, two players who have been perturbed by multiple trades during their careers.

Ersan Ilyasova has seen his season ruined by injuries and poor shooting. Rudy Fernandez and Boris Diaw seem to have reached their ceiling in the league too, while Calderon,Barbosa and Casspi are having decent seasons for losing teams.

Let's move on to a more joyful category, the under-the-radar guys who are playing above and beyond their budding reputations.

From eastern europe, much-maligned Darko Milicic is having his best season as he has started all the games while developping into an impressive shot blocker and alter ego for Kevin Love in Minnesota.

Same deal for Marcin Gortat who has become a double-double threat with more playing time as a top sixth man in Phoenix. He has tripled his scoring output with the uptempo Suns!

Omer Asik has also shown big improvement recently backing up Noah in Chicago. Marco Belinelli and Rodrigue Beaubois have become consistent starters for their teams in New Orleans and Dallas.

Same thing for OKC's Thabo Sefelosha who starts all the games for a top flight team as the league's new Bruce Bowen.

From the African continent, which I expect to produce some top notch players in the next decade, two players stand out; Serge Ibaka a thundering shot blocker showing big-time all-around improvement as a starter and from Cameroon, and Luc Mbah a Moute, who has put together three very consistent seasons without getting much attention outside of beer country!

Since there are 88 international players in the NBA now, I couldn't write about everyone but if I must choose one player who will show a big improvement next season similar to Ibaka this season, I would vote for Tiago Splitter in San Antonio who has learned alot backing up Tim Duncan.

Probably the most impressive fact concerning the international players is the number of truly elite standouts. Eleven of the top 50 players in the stats efficiency category on nba.com are international stars! I'm waiting for your comments!




George Eddy from FIBA

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[reve-lator]

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Stretch Run

The NBA thorough-breds are coming down the stretch of this regular season which feels as long as the Belmont Stakes but still can reserve some surprises and suspense up to the 82nd game!

The two biggest questions are who will win the East and who will finish second in the West?

Boston seems to be faltering after the Kendrick Perkins trade put a hex on their chemistry, while Chicago is constantly brilliant thanks to coach of the year Tom Thibodeau's playoff-style defense and sharing offense and MVP Derrick Rose's progress in all aspects of the game. If Michael Jordan thinks Rose is MVP and Chicago a serious candidate for the title NOW, then that's good enough for me!

Miami is making a nice comeback after hitting rock bottom in the "crying game", but their lack of shared experience will be a handicap against the big boys in the playoffs.

Let's say that an Eastern Conference Finals pitting Boston against Chicago looks probable and the home-court advantage looks decisive. The idea of LeBron meeting up with Boston in the playoffs or Joakim Noah duelling with Dwight Howard and Kevin Garnett has me licking my chops already.

Other questions in the East concern whether Indiana or Charlotte will finish eighth and make the playoffs but also, will New York hold on to sixth place despite an improved Philadelphia team that coach Doug Collins has nicely molded into a winning young group.

I applaud the way the Bobcats have not given up despite the trade of their leader, Gerald Wallace, and I applaud my own prediction that Tyler Hansbrough could play at the NBA level despite all the expert doubters.

I'll conclude this Eastern Conference overview by predicting that Ettore Messina will finally be making the jump to the NBA in some capacity with either Toronto or New Jersey next season.

Let's go West,young men, and try to figure out who will finish second behind an untouchable Spurs winning machine.

The Lakers have a string of seven home games coming up and that should be the difference even though Dallas has played great all season except when Dirk Nowitzki was hurt.

French role players Roddy Beaubois and Ian Mahinmi are fitting in smoothly and Dallas has some big bodies to throw up against the Lakers' forest in the Conference Semi-Finals but if Andrew Bynum keeps up his recent level of play the Lakers should beat Dallas and San Antonio (homecourt advatage or not) to go back to the NBA Finals for Phil Jackson's last "Last dance"!

Once again Phil has gotten his team to play its best basketball as the playoffs approach, just like he said he would do.

The five to eight seeds in the West are a toss-up but the top eight seems pretty much set.

I see Kevin Durant finishing second to Rose in the MVP voting because the Thunder beautifully progressed from eighth to fourth in the conference but Rose's Chicago might go from eighth to FIRST in the East.

New Orleans, Memphis, New York, Philadelphia and, of course, Miami have also improved considerably compared to last season.

Let me add that FIBA's decision concerning Great Britain's participation in the 2012 Olympics is a golden oppurtunity for basketball to finally take off there, somewhat similar to the way the Dream Team took the NBA global in 1992.


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My last comment is a message of profound friendship and respect for our Japanese friends in Sendai where I thoroughly enjoyed covering the first week of competition during the 2006 FIBA World Championship.

I discovered Japan, its people and culture at that time and was deeply touched. My heart sincerely goes out to you all.

George Eddy from FIBA

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[papillon32]

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Trade Deadine

What a great All-Star Weekend in LA which saw the revival of the Slam Dunk contest thanks to the innovative Javale McGee and a real hard-fought game Sunday dominated by the ultimate competitor Kobe Bryant in front of his home fans.

If only the participants in the Rookie challenge could copy the All-Stars and play hard instead of continuing to think it's cool to stand around and look bored!

I went on vacation in Guadeloupe after the tiring weekend and almost fell off my jet ski when all those trades went down just before the deadline.

Now let's see which teams were dead on target and which were dead in the water after this pre-collective bargaining agreement(CBA) trade orgy.

First, the never-ending Melo-drama finally ended! The best article criticising the whole soap opera was by Rick Reilly on espn.com and the best article defending the trade was by his colleague Bill Simmons.

Reilly says the NBA needs a franchise player tag like the NFL to prevent mega stars from disappointing home fans by leaving to join other mega-stars in the most attractive cities. This would increase parity, loyalty and avoid Melo or Lebron type dramas while protecting and strengthening small-market teams.

The NFL's hard cap, revenue sharing, return to profitabiity and avoiding the rich just always getting richer is probably as good a recipe for the NBA as it is for the world economy!

Simmons points out that mega stars have been running the show and choosing their destinations since Wilt Chamberlain in the 1960s and that having a few teams loaded with talent isn't bad for the NBA.

I tend to agree with Reilly that Melo and Amare Stoudamire go together like microscopes and peanut butter- funny line - but Simmons is also right to say that in general the team that gets the best player in a trade is usually the winner but at least Denver got more than Cleveland or Toronto last summer in a similar situation...

I see Melo being motivated since he got his contract AND the team he wanted and the Knicks will be a little bit better but their severe lack of defense will hurt them in the playoffs and the new CBA won't permit them to sign a third superstar in the summer of 2012 when Chauncey Billups will be 35!

This all adds up to a blip on the radar screen but not a fundamental change in the NBA hierarchy.

One major move that might is the trade of Kendrick Perkins to Oklahoma City. The Celtics look to the future getting Jeff Green but risk losing their amazing chemistry and the low post defence that Perkins provided against Pau Gasol or Dwight Howard.

Those qualities now reinforce the Thunder's chances in the playoffs as they continue to out-think their opponents proving that Sam Presti, the GM, learned his lessons well in San Antonio!

Utah decided to avoid any chance of a Melo-drama concerning Deron Williams by shipping him to New Jersey who gets an excellent consolation prize but maybe only until the summer of 2012. This looks a lot like the Melo trade with both teams re-shuffling their rosters but not really improving by leaps and bounds.

Moving unhappy players was also the goal of Houston trading Aaron Brooks while saving money was Michael Jordan's motivation by giving away Gerald Wallace to a much-improved Portland team which might also get some help from Brandon Roy.

I think that playoff teams in the West are going to try and avoid the Thunder and Blazers come April and May, preferring to play Utah or Denver.

In the East, Chicago missed out on improving their shooting guard position while Boston rolled the dice, so wait and see.




By standing pat the Lakers and Heat improved their chances of meeting in the NBA Finals.

I'll finish by re-assuring all the Blake Griffin fans out there because Mo Wiliams knows how to throw lob passes too and he is younger,cheaper and in better shape than Baron Davis who is the unfortunate and over-paid recordman for being traded from one bad team to another!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[caRrO32]

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Jerry Sloan

Jerry Sloan always did things his way, the right way, and his way of walking off into the Utah sunset was no exception.

The longest tenured coach in all of pro sports had had enough. It is too simplistic to put all the blame on Jazz star guard Deron Williams who vehemently denied having asked the team to get rid of the legendary coach.

"Sloan has done a lot more for this franchise than me," he rightly stated and he doesn't want or deserve the label of coach-killer!

Sure Deron wanted to play faster and call more plays himself. Sure he felt this would lead to more victories and now it is the equally competitive Deron who is going to be under pressure to prove he is correct.

But Williams didn't push Sloan out because nobody pushes Jerry around. As a player he practically invented sacrificing the body to take a charge and he got the most out of his limited physical talent as the "Original Bull".

I remember watching Jerry and Norm Van Lier on black and white television putting belly-up pressure on opponents and thinking that it must be hell trying to score on those guys. Years later, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen used this tactic to win six titles.

I listened to Jerry a lot during the two Finals (1997 and 1998) he lost to Jordan's Bulls and his down to earth, humble, country style was a breath of fresh air as was his way of answering questions honestly and with no holds barred.

His teams played that way too, using tried and true double high-post systems with lots of back picks and sharing the ball for a good open look.

He was a throwback coach who didn't use the pick and roll or iso game as much as other coaches even though John Stockton and Karl Malone turned the pick and roll into an art form under his management.

Watching young whippersnappers force a lot of one on one play wasn't his cup of tea and in the end this eternal conflict between old school and new wave finally wore him down to the point that he said "whoah, horsey" at the ripe age of 68 after head coaching Utah for 23 years!




A lot of disappointing home losses this season exacerbated the simmering dissensions that all coaches deal with in their careers (Larry Brown this season or Kobe pushing Phil Jackson out in 2004 are examples) and Sloan, humbly and truthfully, said through sincere tears that he didn't have the necessary energy to continue and that younger, faithful assistant Ty Corbin deserved a chance to try and do better.

What a classy exit! As I fly off to tinseltown for the All-Star Weekend, the ultimate modern marketing and partying madhouse, I will keep an image of Mr Jerry Sloan, the ultimate competitor and his old school values in the back of my mind.

George Eddy from FIBA

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Australia shoots high to bring an NBA game Down Under

Basketball Australia wants to bring an American league game Down Under.

BA chief executive Larry Sengstock said the National Basketball Association wanted to bring games to Australia, and he would do everything he could to make it happen. ''It is our ultimate goal,'' he said.

"There is a lot of work to do and we would need a lot of support but I am confident it will happen.
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"For now we need to work on smaller events in the build up to having an NBA game."

Sengstock said BA officials had met with NBA Asia officials who have already taken NBA games to Chinese cities.

NBA international visits usually involve two teams playing each other twice over two nights.

He said the main obstacle was the cost of hosting a visit which he expected to be more than $10 million.

The other major issue is which stadiums could host games with BA needing to find the biggest indoor venues available.

"It would be like when soccer brings David Beckham out here," he said.

"You want to play him on the biggest stadiums so you can get the biggest crowds."

Sengstock could not say when he expected to host the NBA.

Sengstock added the NBA could play a vital role in the battle to keep emerging players from moving to other sports, especially AFL.

''I think we need to promote the NBA more especially while we have players in it,'' he said.

''We can say to kids that you can come through our programs and make it all there just like these guys did.''

Victorians Andrew Bogut (Milwaukee Bucks) and David Andersen (New Orleans Hornets) along with Canberra's Patty Mills (Portland Trail Blazers) all play in the NBA.

Sengstock also announced BA officials would make their final presentation to FIBA in Lyon, France on March 13 to win the right to host the 2014 World Championships for Women.

Australia and Turkey are the only countries bidding, with Melbourne to host all matches.

Sengstock said the National Basketball League was also making progress on adding a second Melbourne team and a Brisbane team.

Sengstock said he expected the second Melbourne team to enter by the 2012-2013 season.


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Mid-season awards time !

It seems evident that, at the half-way point of this NBA regular season, we are more likely to see a Celtics-Spurs finals then an LA-Miami battle.

Boston proved last season that it is possible to have a tough regular season campaign and still go to Game 7 of the NBA Finals but it's not easy!

This is good news for a struggling Lakers team which often seems disinterested this season while Kobe and the bigs dispute supremacy on the offensive totem pole à la the Shaq-Kobe era.

They have to go back to playing inside- out within the triangle instead of outside in with Kobe overdoing the one-on-one stuff; getting the bigs involved and implicated early in each game because otherwise they are going to stop moving on offence and stop hustling back on defence.

Ron Artest is in a deep funk and Phil Jackson keeps insisting this is his last season as if he wants OUT! All of these factors were on display Sunday as the Celtics collectively outplayed LA at both ends showing why they are the best shooting and passing team in the league along with, surprise...

...San Antonio.

Why are these the two best teams so far?

They play great team ball making the extra pass for a better look systematically while also helping out like clockwork on defence. They both have a veteran starting five full of Hall of fame candidates who just want to win and young benches full of players coming into their own and jelling at the right time for their clubs.

The players totally buy into what the coaches are preaching and the leaders guide by example but also with a good yell now and then! The Lakers are like a gourmet who has just plain had too much to eat; they are fed up and want to jump straight to the dessert of the playoffs but things don't work that way.

This well-known phenomenon makes the run of Bill Russell's Celtics,winning 11 titles in 13 seasons, all the more remarkable!

Let's move on to individual mid-season awards, because you twisted my arm, starting with my MVP, Kevin Durant. He is once again the NBA's leading scorer and despite the spectacular emergence of Russell Westbrook, I feel he is the superstar player with the weakest supporting cast in the league-along with Derrick Rose and Chris Paul- who is still putting up good results.

Even Amare Stoudamire has deeper talent surrounding him in New York. Once you look beyond Westbrook, you see Nenad Krstic and James Harden in the starting five who, thank goodness, are complementary and well-used by the coach and stars but they are role players at best.

My mid-season All-NBA top five would put Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose and LeBron James next to Durant and Stoudamire.

My international top five would be Dirk Nowitzki, Manu Ginobili, Steve Nash, Pau Gasol and Al Horford.

The top coach is either the mentor, Greg Popovich or the student, Monty Williams, but Doc Rivers and Scotty Brooks deserve kudos too.

Most improved is Kevin Love, best sixth man is Big baby Davis, and Howard is still the best defender.

Blake Griffin has as much a chance of not being rookie of the year as I have of becoming a runway model! In fact, he would be the first to state that individual awards don't mean much when you look at the big picture and for the time being that photo consists of the two best TEAMS, San Antonio and Boston.




George Eddy from FIBA

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[murat derin]

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All-Star choices

Today I would like to attempt to beat the media competition to the punch and be the first one give you the upcoming All-Star selections for the West and the East.

I feel that a simple formula mixing individual stats and team performance should give us a fair idea of who deserves to be chosen but you must also take into account career success for all-time great players like Tim Duncan or Big Shaq.

The natural evolution in the last twenty years for the coaches who choose the bench players has been to give more weight to team success which is logical because a coach's job is to win games as a team! It's also true that it's easier to put up big stats on a weak team that only plays offence because their are less quality players surrounding you to share the ball and stats with.

This tendancy might hurt brillant individuals ranked in the Top 6 in efficiency rating like Kevin Love or Blake Griffin in the west who, in my opinion, deserve to be selected despite poor team results even though the Clippers are playing better.

The problem is that there are so many high-performance forwards and guards in the western conference that some players with merit won't be chosen and Phil Jackson might be right in saying that the fairest method is to do "eeny-meeny-miney mo"! The best way to make space is to not choose ANY true center in the west and open up an extra spot for a power forward.

As usual, David Stern will repair the biggest injustice when he chooses Yao Ming's replacement after the west coaches have done their shopping.

The final result should look something like this,Chris Paul-Kobe Bryant at guard,Kevin Durant-Carmelo Anthony at forward and Pau Gasol as replacement center for Yao in the starting five chosen by the fans.

My only qualm with this is that the season-long Melo-drama in Denver has really hurt their team and I would rather see Dirk, Love or Griffin starting.

The west coaches will add Dirk Nowitzki, Love,Griffin, and one of the following list between Tim Duncan (fabulous career), Zach Randolph (9th in efficiency rating),Lamar Odom (for the reality-TV crowd!), Paul Milsap or LeMarcus Aldridge.

This leaves three or four spots for the west guards who are also plethoric in terms of deservedness.

Deron Williams who merited a starting spot as much as Paul is a sure-fire pick as well as Russell Westbrook.

Beyond them, it's difficult to know if Steve Nash (brilliant career) or 3rd leading NBA scorer Monta Ellis can pass in front of the Spur's tandem of Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker who are playing for the NBA's number one team.

Manu,San Antonio's leading scorer, seems the most likely pick out of the four.

On to the east where,once again, alot of forwards are deserving so I would only choose one true center, Dwight Howard, even though the Aussie center Andrew Bogut is playing well.

The fans' starters will be Derrick Rose-Dwayne Wade at guard,Amarè Stoudamire-LeBron James at forward and Howard at center.

Now that Rose and Stoudamire have passed Rajon Rondo and Kevin Garnett in the fan voting, I agree with their choices.

Those two Celtics will lead the coaches' bench selections accompanied by Paul Pierce,Boston's leading scorer.

Carlos Boozer and Chris Bosh will round out the forwards unless an Al Horford or Danny Granger can create an unlikely surprise.

There are less dominating guards in the east so I feel Raymond Felton, Joe Johnson or Ray Allen have a chance to squeeze in, with Felton the favorite thanks to the Knicks' resurgence this season.

In general, the east is all about Miami, Boston and Chicago and the west,once again, has a bigger international presence with alot of Spurs and Lakers in the mix.


So, plenty of great players will be on the court and a bumper harvest of super-celebs will be surrounding the hardwood to make for a memorable All-Star weekend in LA-LA land.

The last time the big show was in LA, I remember having to tap Gisele Bundchen and Leonardo DiCaprio on the shoulder in order to ask them to sit down so that I could see the court!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[converseGa]

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New year's lockout resolution

To ring in the new year I want to do nothing less than save the NBA from itself!

How?

By giving a simple, intelligent framework that allows the league to avoid a destructive lockout this coming summer.

Why am I so concerned?

Because the NBA took several years to eliminate the ill will and tarnished image that the '99 lockout created, notably for the fans. As the world economy tries to rebound, this is the worst possible time to shoot oneself in the foot, especially since the league is still flourishing in terms of TV contracts and ratings but needs to find a way to become profitable again for the majority of the franchises, who are paying dearly for some bad contract decisions.

Here's my plan. The players need to give back 20 percent on all new contracts, which isn't so painful when you are making millions, because this would give the franchises the margin necessary to become profitable again. This would avoid killing the goose that lays the golden eggs!

Maximum length of contracts could be dialed back to five years instead of six, with four years guaranteed, which would make future bad contract decisions less lengthy and costly for teams.

The NBA needs to follow the highly profitable NFL's lead and gradually move towards a hard salary cap in 2 or 3 years but also increase revenue sharing between big market and small market teams in order to give everyone a chance to compete.

David Stern has been waving the threatening possibility of contraction in front of the players' noses which would mean less jobs for marginal players, and even Lebron James fell into the trap saying it would be good for the league to have the talent less diluted.

This is negotiating strategy and pure rubbish for me because even when there were only eight teams in the league in the early sixties, there were still some weak sister franchises, as there always will be, with 8 or 35 teams!

I say 35 teams because I agree with Stern that one day there will be a European division which would create jobs and this could be another argument to sway players to make some neccessary concessions.

The world reservoir of players is much bigger now with 88 non-american players in the league and with the African continent waking up to opportunities, the idea of contraction is a heresy.

Now that I've gone through what the players need to concede to keep the magnificent NBA machine running at full throttle without work stoppage, let's also look at what the league can do for the players to make the bitter pill easier to swallow.

To avoid injury and prolong players' careers the NBA must eliminate back to back games which often provide a poor brand of ball because one of the teams is exhausted.

Teams play between 15 and 20 back to backs a season and the NBA could do away with or reduce the pre-season schedule to recuperate some dates. The league could also reduce some of the heavy fines they impose on players to put some money back into their pockets and most importantly, the league needs to create efficient and obligatory financial counseling for the players in order to avoid the personal dramas we've seen lately with former millionaires like Scottie Pippen or Antoine Walker going broke.




Get these players out of the casinos and into business school, please!

Last but not least, the owners could, over time, significantly increase what they contribute to the players' retirement fund because this way the players would recieve money later in life when they are older and smarter to manage it and probably more in need of it, too.

Best wishes in 2011 to all our readers!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[nammage]

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Let's give Lebron a Le- break!

I will concede to you that Lebron James has done a lot of dumb things over the last year or so to make you hate him. Over-celebrating vs. easily-beaten opponents, rarely seeming to take the game seriously then quitting when the going got tough against Boston in the playoffs,followed by poor handling and communication concerning his desire to take his skills to South Beach after having been poorly advised by his omni-present and poorly prepared entourage but also by the Miami franchise which overdid the marketing presentation of the arrival of the Big Three Amigos ! These things were hyper-mediatized and sent James from most popular status to most-despised status in record time.

As with everything concerning Miami right now, all of this is a bit too much for my taste and the pendulum has excessively swung in the wrong direction for the "Chosen One"(that monicker was already a bit too much to begin with and very hard to live up to out of high school).

If you look at Lebron objectively all of these errors were merely bad judgement or bad taste.

He has committed no heinous crimes compared to a long list of pro athletes starting with the beloved Kobe Bryant or the re-born Michael Vick.

James has been a good father and companion so far with no gun or doping scandal or money laundering or gambling problems.

He gave Cleveland the seven best years in franchise history and it was his perfect right as a free agent to choose sun-shiny Miami over chilly Cleveland anyway! After a bumpy(hah hah!) start with Miami and their young coach,Eric Spoelstra, Lebron has led the Heat to a four-game win streak and won the war with the Cleveland haters by popping 38 points while crushing the Cavs in the early season hype-fest last thursday.

Of course Lebron couldn't keep himself from stupidly trash-talking with his former teammates during the game which was once again in bad taste but, hey, that's part of his makeup.

In the future, if James wants to avoid having a disappointing career like Pat Ewing or Allen Iverson, he'll have to hunker down and get serious about supporting his coach,sharing the ball with his teammates while making them more confident and just simply better.




If he wants to move to a higher level where titles are won by beating repeatedly the likes of Boston and LA, he will need to develop a new,tougher,mind-set in order to dominate monsters of competition like Paul Pierce or Kobe Bryant the same way Michael Jordan became steely determined vs. the Bad Boy Pistons or Knicks after seven years of waiting.

Pat Riley could help things move faster by flatly stating that he will not replace Spoelstra this season no matter what which would oblige the players to learn to play together and stop looking for excuses.

One thing is for sure, talking about all this on the court soap opera is more fun than talking about a dreaded lockout!

George Eddy from FIBA

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[faNBA]

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Let's get it started again: The New NBA Season ~ Here's my take on 2010-2011 !

Will the new NBA season be remembered as the "looming lockout season" or the "Phil Jackson's fourth threepeat season"?

Will it be the "three amigos budding dynasty season" or the "Spurs fading dynasty season"?

Will it be "old Boston's last gasp season" or "Orlando's first title season"?

Here's my take on 2010-2011.

The Lakers will threepeat again because their players are at the peak of their careers where brains and brawn mix together beautifully between the ages of 28 and 32 years old. In two years they will start declining, especially Kobe Bryant and Lamar Odom, but that time isn't here yet and Kobe can pass Jordan by winning seven titles as he leans more and more heavily on a dominating Pau Gasol.

I bet Phil Jackson even hangs around one more season after this one to help Kobe do it! Then it will be Miami's turn after two season's of losing and growing together if the amigos and their bosses are patient enough and the supporting cast is drastically improved. This season for Miami will be all about learning how to play together and managing the media hype and unrealistic expectations thown upon them.

Maybe Doc Rivers will move closer to his home in Orlando next season to help. Now, who will meet the Lakers in the Western conference finals considering that Denver, Phoenix and Utah seem weaker than last season for different reasons?

I think the Spurs can whip up a last hoorah together because their big three rested this summer and Tiago Splitter is a player. Tony Parker is playing for new contract at the peak of his career and will be motivated to shine.

Dallas is the other potential West finalist with a copious roster and Jason Kidd or Dirk Nowitski's biological clock ticking down! If you add an ever-improving, possible MIP, Nicholas Batum's Portland squad and future MVP and leading scorer Kevin Durant's Thunder youth movement, that makes eight playoff teams even though Houston, with the return of Yao and the brillance of Scola and Brooks, might be able to oust one of the weaker sisters aforementioned.

The NBA is the opposite of the NFL where unexpected teams like New Orleans last season can surprise everyone and win the title. In the NBA there will always be a limited number of true candidates for the throne, five or six maximum and these are usually teams that progress from year to year in the playoffs and finally break through one day.

This is why a sudden recruiting phenomenon like Miami doesn't impress me at all and I'm still trying to figure out what Jeff Van Gundy was drinking the night he said that Miami would beat Chicago's regular season record of 72 wins, never lose two games in a row and waltz easily to the title. No way, Jeff!

Miami's weakness at point guard and center is evident and with Mike Miller out until january opponents will be packing the paint and the feeble and elderly bench will be huffing and puffing just trying to keep up. The three amigos will alternately play isolation ball to profit from matchup advantages but to be a real champion they will need defence, ball movement and an offensive hierarchy like the Lakers with their triangle offence and that will take time.

I would bet on a Boston-Orlando East final with Miami and Chicago as losing semi-finalists which would still represent a net improvement for both teams. Chicago would be content and Miami probably not! Joakim Noah's Bulls will start really clicking when Carlos Boozer comes back and the Frenchman's new contract totally liberates him to attack the rebounding title and a spot on the East All-Star roster.




I see Atlanta stagnating or dropping off a bit after severely over-paying Joe Johnson this past summer. Their may be a little suspense in the East about which teams round out the top eight for a playoff berth and a team like Charlotte might have trouble holding off challengers like Rookie of the year John Wall's  Washington or Stoudemire's New York especially if Milwaukee confirms their surprising 2009-2010 campaign with a highly internationalized roster.
 
Teams like Detroit, New Orleans, Sacramento and Indiana will once again show how difficult it is to recuperate recent but bygone glory in today's NBA! As I've stated all along, all this posturing should still lead us back to the usual supects and an LA-Boston or LA-Orlando NBA Finals in june, which would be fine with me. What do you think?

George Eddy from FIBA

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[cristo+fer]

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What about LeBron James’s definition of loyalty ?

LeBron James played a blinder at the 2008 Olympics.

He was breathtaking in a Team USA jersey.

He commanded a press conference like no other.

I remember that presser after the USA’s gold-medal win against Spain on August 24, 2008, as if it were yesterday.

There was so much pride and relief for LeBron that he'd finally won something, a title, unlike in his NBA career.

Dwyane Wade, the leading scorer of that USA team, and Chris Bosh, the side's best defensive player and most valuable reserve, were also in that press conference.

LeBron did all the right things and said all the right things after the win over Spain.

He praised the defending world champions for their battling performance in the gold medal game, but proclaimed that the USA were back on top.

The gold medal seemed to re-energize him and his teammates.

It meant something.

The American basketball icon, LeBron, hasn’t put on his best performance this week.

His advisors scheduled an hour-long program called 'The Decision' on ESPN on Thursday night for LeBron to announce to the world where he was going to play in the NBA next season.

With the fans of his team, Cleveland, watching, hoping and praying that their favorite free agent would remain a Cavalier, LeBron revealed he was going to Miami.

If he had hoped for well wishes from the Cleveland Cavaliers, he got something else entirely.

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert let fly with the mother of all open letters to criticize his former star.

He wrote to the fans: “As you now know, our former hero, who grew up in the very region that he deserted this evening, is no longer a Cleveland Cavalier.

“This was announced with a several day, narcissistic, self-promotional build-up culminating with a national TV special of his ``decision'' unlike anything ever ``witnessed'' in the history of sports and probably the history of entertainment.”

The rest of the letter, it’s fair to say, was not complimentary of LeBron.

It’s the right of all players, at least once they’ve put in the years of service as LeBron has, to choose where they want to play.

He had the opportunity to go, and has.

He wants to win a championship.

But then again, the Cavaliers haven’t been a bad team.

In fact, they’ve been one of the Eastern Conference’s best sides with LeBron.

I think LeBron has blown it.

His self-belief, or lack of it, and his decision to rub Cleveland’s fans noses in it with that TV broadcast, are the real issues.

If Michael Jordan stayed in Chicago because he believed he could lead the Bulls to the top, LeBron chose not to stay in Cleveland because clearly, he did not believe he could lead the team to the top.

What about LeBron’s definition of loyalty?

It’s strange because in his show, ‘The Decision’, LeBron used the L word.

"It was a tough decision because I know how loyal I am,” he said.

His decision to go, no matter how you slice it, was not a show of loyalty to the people of Cleveland, Akron and all of Ohio.

Cleveland needs its heroes, and LeBron was a hero for a place that’s known as the ‘Mistake by the Lake’.

What about Team USA? Where is the loyalty to them, and that burning desire to be the best?

Weren’t LeBron, Wade and Bosh in that American team that lost 101-95 in the Semi-Finals of the 2006 FIBA World Championship, arguably the most famous game in the history of the event?

He did play the following summer at the FIBA Americas Championship and helped the USA reach the Beijing Games, and then helped them win gold in China.

But the pride that LeBron felt playing for Team USA at the Olympics, where is it?

They didn’t play last summer because the USA didn’t need to qualify.

They’re not going to play this summer, either.

They have other things on their minds.

Oklahoma City’s Kevin Durant, this season’s scoring champion in the NBA, is going to play for Team USA .

He has just, very quietly, signed a five-year extension with the Thunder.

Looking ahead to the FIBA World Championship, I want to see Durant more than any other player because he’s an exceptional talent at the beginning of his career.




It’s going to take some time getting used to seeing LeBron, Wade and Bosh playing together for the Heat.

What happens if Team USA, led by Durant, do win the gold medal in Turkey?

They will be the best team in the world and they will not then need to go through qualifying in Argentina to play at the London Games.

If that happens and Durant does lead the Americans to the gold medal, that is the team that I want to see play in London.

Jeff Taylor from FIBA

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[nbafan]

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That fabulously intense NBA Finals Game 7 in Los Angeles: A True Grit

I got back to France after covering that fabulously intense NBA Finals Game 7 in Los Angeles where Phil Jackson's Lakers squeezed the last drop out of their home court advantage and improved their defense to just barely scrape by a courageous wild bunch of aging Boston Celtics veterans who watched their last window of opportunity close before their crying eyes.

What a glorious and rare moment these two valiant teams offered us, as multi-millionaires played their hardest until there was absolutely nothing left in the tank, played together because the defenses were so good there was no other way to score, and played smart because their two brilliant coaches gave them no choice!

Ah, Dean Smith's old formula for success is still very contemporary, the proof being that Jackson and his counterpart Doc Rivers must have said some version of "play together and share the ball" during EVERY single timeout in the 2010 NBA finals!

The crazy series of made three-point shots in the last minutes was delicious frosting on a concrete cake of impenetrable defense. The triumphant trio of Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol all learned precious lessons from their whupping in 2008 by these same Celtics.

Phil did not let himself get out-coached this time as he showed with great adjustments in Game 6 that completely reversed all of the Celtics' favorable key tendencies of Game 5.

Pau put on eight kilos of pure muscle in the Laker weight room since 2008 that came in useful to dominate the boards and as he aggressively attacked his primary defender one on one throughout the series to relieve a lot of the pressure on Bryant to create and finish plays.

Only Kobe can compete with Gasol's extraordinary worldwide results in the last four years, but Pau was much more open and analytical than Kobe in the post-game press conferences showing his total mastery of the game but also the English language. Hat's off to you Pau, nice guys DO finish first!

Kobe was less taciturn with the media after the immense relief that came with his fifth NBA title and he admitted then how much his numerous injuries were weighing him down. Despite those and his Game 7 overly pumped up jitters, Kobe played more of a team game than in 2008, good examples of this being his defense on Rajon Rondo but also that assist on Ron Artest's enormous and decisive three-point shot at the end.

These Lakers and Celtics were true pros with true grit and we can only hope and pray that Phil Jackson leans towards keeping everyone together for a shot at an unprecedented FOURTH three-peat because as Kobe says, without his calm coaching attitude, things just wouldn't be the same.

These wonderful images of what pro sports can be clashed violently with the sad spectacle of the French national soccer squad at the World Cup and the disastrous effects on their image among French sports fans upon my return to Paris.




Money isn't the problem because the NBA guys make more anyway. On the other hand, they didn't play hard, smart or together! The absolute irony being their one goal scored in the competition in their last game when all was already lost thanks to Franck Ribery at long last making the simple extra pass which leads to easy goals instead of the preceding long litany of overly individualistic attempts.

Between poor chemistry, idiotic preparation and weak management of the team, the French soccer team could learn a lot from studying Jackson and the Lakers !

George Eddy from FIBA

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[gasol+fan]

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NBA Basketball: Where in the world will the next Pau Gasol come from?

Mr. Gasol, a Spaniard drafted in 2001, comes from Western Europe – the source of many of today's best international basketball players.

Fellow top players Dirk Nowitzki (drafted in 1998) and Tony Parker (drafted in 2001) come from Germany and France, respectively. All three are among the few non-Americans with repeated appearances on the NBA All Star Team in the past decade.

Sasha Vujacic, the Los Angeles Lakers' shooting point guard, is from Slovenia, but started his professional basketball career at age 16 in Italy. And teammate Didier Ilunga-Mbenga was born in Congo, but fled at an early age to Belgium.

Such Western European dominance is a trend of the past decade, whereas in the 1990s and 1980s the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia provided the wellspring of basketball greats.

And now, scouts are trying to gauge where the next shift might appear.

In May, the National Basketball Association (NBA) opened its first office in Africa, in South Africa’s capital of Johannesburg. In the past year, the league launched the NBA in Arabic and the NBA in India. In addition to 16 offices already in major cities including Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, the league plans to set up offices in India, Russia, and Brazil by the end of 2010. While most offices are geared toward bringing in new NBA fans, there's nothing that draws fans like a star from their own country.

“We’re doing a real big push right now in India,” says an NBA spokesman.

Some see something special in Africa.
The next hotbed for basketball stars?

“To me, the most interesting thing is Africa,” says Jack McCallum, who has covered the NBA for Sports Illustrated since the mid-1980s and is now writing a book about the 1992 Dream Team. That year, the NBA had only 21 international players. Now, it has 79; one in five NBA players is from outside the US.

Mr. McCallum says NBA scouts are constantly searching in Africa for the next Hakeem Olajuwon or Dikembe Mutombo. “It’s just unbelievable. There, you’re literally working around revolutions,” he says.

It may well be worth the hassle. As basketball has gained international popularity, foreign players are now recognized for having a deeper skill set than American players – and are of increasing importance to NBA franchises.




“The players in Europe tend to be raised with a team-first mentality, while the US players tend be raised with a me-first mentality,” says Ian Thomsen, a basketball columnist and senior writer for Sports Illustrated.

In the United States, says Mr. Thomsen, the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) dominates teenage basketball, but it's more focused on playing games than building skills. Many players then leave college early to join the NBA (or, like Kobe Bryant, skip college altogether).

from FIBA Today

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[coach-NBA]

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Doc, Phil and John: the coaching match-up in the 2010 NBA Finals

The coaching match-up in the 2010 NBA Finals is an interesting duel between two men who respect but don't particularly like each other. This is understandable at such an intense level of competition where reputations, money and historical positioning are all at stake for coaches, owners and players alike.

The sometimes not-so-subtle psychological warfare between Phil Jackson and Doc Rivers is reaching a peak as we move back to Los Angeles for Game 6 on Tuesday.

In general, Rivers is more outgoing, down to earth and communicative whereas Jackson is more manipulative, sneaky and mysterious when he tries to score points with the media or the referees. They are great spin doctors and probably good dinner companions. When dealing with their players, Doc is more direct and honest with his guys using the same “We don't need no heroes out there, let's do it as a team” spiel throughout the playoffs compared to Jackson's continuous silences, mind games and even insults that go against his Zen Master image.

Jackson, known more for his psychological talents than for his mastery of X's and O's, has made a brilliant career for himself as a management genius when dealing with superstars who have mega-egos like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.

On the other hand, you could make a case for his poor handling of Lamar Odom's fragile confidence level in the Finals and the fact that he is overusing Andrew Bynum, who is playing on one leg and producing feeble stats since Game 3.

When Phil doesn't like a reporter's question, he passively talks about some other subject or simply doesn't comment while Rivers, a former TV commentator, likes the give-and-take repartee that animates post-game press conferences.

If we compare the two coaches' NBA results over time, it looks to me like Jackson is the greatest coach of all-time – followed by his nemesis Red Auerbach – thanks to his 10 titles. In fact, Phil and Red shared a similar arrogance and serenity about their own omnipotence even though Auerbach was more fiery in the vein of Phil's mentor, Red Holzman, his coach with the Knicks and Auerbach's arch-enemy!

Phil and Red both profited from having the best players but also from knowing how to make them play together. Doc Rivers should by far be considered the best coach of this year's playoffs and he was one of the few coaches in NBA history (along with Larry Brown in 2004) to have out-coached Jackson in the Finals back in 2008.

Both Doc and Phil bait the referees about overly physical play, moving screens and rules interpretations. This is a big part of their jobs, but the real controversy cropped up when Jackson took offence to the Celtics super-subs over-celebrating and trash-talking in the crucial fourth quarter rampage of Game 4. Phil didn't feel it showed a positive coaching philosophy and Doc said he didn't care what Phil thought!

Trash-talking, arrogance and being hated by opponents are also a Celtic tradition going way back so this is nothing new, but Rivers knows there is a fine line between playing with emotion and going overboard and getting technical fouls called!

Jackson's comments can be considered either hypocritical or ironic when you remember that he has coached and given a loose leash to two of the dirtiest players in NBA history in Dennis Rodman and now Ron Artest.

All of this verbal jockeying adds spice to these exciting and hard-fought Finals where Rivers is using his bench better and juggling the ups and downs of his Big Four (Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Rajon Rondo) skillfully compared to Jackson who rides his veterans as usual and will need to squeeze every last drop out of the home court advantage to squeak through to an 11th NBA title.




My only regret is that the legendary college coach and American philosopher John Wooden is no longer around to give his humble but pertinent take on this battle between two top flight coaches! Wooden knew better than anyone that high moral values and technical excellence will go a long way but to win titles you really need the better players! I'll finish with my favorite Woodenism: “He who is through learning, is through”. Amen!


George Eddy from FIBA

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Finals preview time:
Here we go for a remake of the greatest rivalry in NBA history

Greetings! Here we go for a remake of the greatest rivalry in NBA history, as the Lakers meet the Celtics in the NBA Finals version 2010.

Since I predicted a repeat for the Lakers before the season even started, I'm happy, but I admit I never imagined Boston would be the opponent after the mediocre second half of their regular season.

As far as aging teams go, Boston did better than San Antonio by finding their rythmn, defence, shooting and togetherness at just the right moment, which means coach Doc Rivers pulled a Popovich on us by bringing his players to top form just before the playoffs without being too concerned with the regular season standings, bravo!

Rajon Rondo is competing with Steve Nash and Deron Williams for the title of best point guard on earth right now and the Big Three of Boston is clicking like in 2008, when the Celtics outmuscled the Lakers on their way to the crown.

Will Boston's wide- body inside players once again be able to discombobulate the long and lanky tandem of Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom?

This will be the key! If Paul Pierce or Ray Allen can oblige Kobe to play a lot of tiring defense and therefore reduce Bryant's stratospheric level of play of the last few weeks, then Boston has a chance.

After the way they first surprised and then dominated favorites Cleveland and Orlando, you have to give them their due and maybe even fear them, and knowing Kobe, he's not going to let the Lakers under-estimate Boston.

The Lakers showed they can get a little too cocky vs. Oklahoma City and Phoenix whereas the wild inconsitency of Ron Artest can certainly give Phil Jackson headaches and Boston hope.

After six days rest, Rondo should dominate the point guard position and Boston's bench seems to have a real advantage in this series. An interesting tactical point might be that Rivers will be tempted to use more zone defence than usual after the success Phoenix had with the zone against LA.

The Suns, the other big surprise in these playoffs, came within a hair of taking game 5 in LA and Alvin Gentry, Steve Nash et al deserve nothing but colossal kudos for proving that their run and gun style added to a bit of defensive savvy can take them deep into the post-season.

Regarding Orlando, the loss of Turkoglou and the feeble production of Vince Carter and Rashard Lewis weighed heavily in the balance. Their series with Boston swayed with their poor management of the last few possessions in games one and two at home. Little details had big consequences for the Magic!

In the end, I feel that the triad of Jackson-Bryant-Gasol are going to impose their science, will and all-around brillance and experience along the lines of what president Obama recently predicted!

The Lakers will win in seven with Kobe authoring the coup de grace!




George Eddy from FIBA

[marce_bol]

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Ricky Rubio’s, Wolves’ top pick, will someday suit up in Target Center !

As David Kahn gears up for this year’s draft, he sounds more excited than ever about … last year’s draft.

Kahn had dinner in Paris earlier this month with Ricky Rubio’s parents and a representative of his agent, then watched the Wolves’ top pick from last June lead his team to the European championship. Minnesota’s basketball boss sounded nothing like a man looking to trade Rubio’s rights.

“He was arguably the best player on the floor” in the semifinals, Kahn said. “There’s been a lot of talk over the last couple of years about his outside shot. He stepped up and shot a couple of threes that really looked natural. He’s really worked on that, and you can see it.”

Rubio remains the property of Regal Barcelona and will for another year or two, so Kahn limited his contact to a couple of text messages while he was in Paris, in order not to distract Rubio from the Euro Final Four. But he sounded delighted by the progress the point guard has made, and optimistic that he will someday suit up in Target Center.

“This kid’s different. You just don’t accomplish what this kid’s accomplished at this age without being really special,” Kahn said. “He’s 19. The notion of him wasting away over there is far-fetched. He’s actually getting better over there, on somebody else’s dime.”

Chad Ford theorized on espn.com Monday that the Wolves would be reluctant to draft John Wall, should they win the No. 1 pick on Tuesday, because they “may not want to scare (Rubio) off any more than they already have.” He also said he had heard that the Wolves have indicated to Evan Turner that he would be their choice.

But Kahn, though he cautioned that Wall’s status as No. 1 “isn’t open and shut,” didn’t sound afraid to pick the point guard if he’s available, either. “It’s only problematic in that we may have to make some roster moves down the road. But I don’t see those as problems, I see them as opportunities,” he said. “Especially in a league that seems to be gravitating toward guard-oriented, I don’t see how we can get hurt” taking Wall.

Meanwhile, Kahn also met with the agent for Nikola Pekovic, and said the 6-foot-11 Montenegrin center “wants to come over.”

“We are not anywhere close to a deal. The next step is, I want to take Kurt (coach Kurt Rambis) to take a look at him, and in June, we need to plug him into our plans and figure out if his future is with us, or is it to wait a little longer, or is his future for us to trade,” Kahn said. Pekovic is a good low-post scorer who can play with his back to the basket, Kahn said.

Perhaps making that decision more complicated: Darko Milicic has also informed the Wolves that he wants to play in Minnesota next season. “He had a really enjoyable two months, he likes the way we play and he responded well to Kurt,” Kahn said of the free-agent center, who averaged 8.3 points in 24 games after being traded to Minnesota in February. “And he sees that even though we’re not winning yet, there are some pieces here to build around and other pieces to come.”




From FIBA

[nbafan]

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Elbows and heads:
This spring's NBA playoffs are turning into a bizarre bazaar!

This spring's NBA playoffs are turning into a bizarre bazaar! Several major questions with complicated answers are trotting around in the heads of many NBA fans, especially those in Cleveland!

What happened to LeBron James and the Cavs? What the heck are Phoenix and Boston doing in the conference finals? How do you explain San Antonio eliminating Dallas fairly easily and then getting swept by the Suns? Who could have imagined that the turning point in the series would be the last 14 minutes of Game 3, with Steve Nash and Amar'e Stoudemire on the bench and Slovenian back-up playmaker Goran Dragic turning into Dracula and sucking the life-blood out of the Spurs in their arena with 26 incredible points? Why did Atlanta play so listlessly against Orlando, seeming to tune out their fatherly coach completely? Will Utah EVER eliminate the Lakers again?

Of all these interrogations, the Cleveland question is the most complex. Okay, if LeBron's elbow was the main reason for his poor play, how do you explain his performance in Boston in Game 3 where he hit eight out of 10 jump shots on his way to 21 first-quarter points and a commanding lead? The Celtics looked cooked at that time. We all thought that the Cavs had woken up from their over-confident lethargy of the first two games at home and were ready to get SERIOUS.

Then something goes completely awry with the team's mindset, James plays like a one-armed man whose head is elsewhere and his team-mates lose confidence in themselves, their star as well as their coach in record time on the way to three straight and unbelievable losses! The "Lebacle" Game 5 was an all-time record loss (minus 32) at home in a seven-game series and once again we are amazed at how fast overconfidence can turn into doubt in basketball.

The fans watched the series, the season, and possibly LeBron James himself fade away into oblivion on that fateful, dreadful night for the sadsack sports town of Cleveland! The multiple changes undertaken and heavy investments made by the Cavs' in order to keep James were all for naught as were his two MVP trophies and two pole positions in the past two regular seasons.

The over-dependence on LeBron to do everything as a one-man wrecking crew was far from enough to beat a revived Celtics squad led by young gun Rajon "Ragin" Rondo, their best player now and the "Old" Three who backed him up a lot better than LeBron's supporting cast did for him!

For me, the difference between LeBron and Michael Jordan is the triangle offense which obliged Jordan's team-mates to participate and take on responsibilities instead of just standing around and waiting for the superstar to create something. This is the one giant and justifiable criticism that we can levy against Cavs head coach Mike Brown who also had a tendency to panic and over-shuffle his rotations when things didn't go his way against Boston.

In the end, Cleveland had the same problem as Dallas - lots of talented players who hadn't been together long enough to beat an opponent with more shared experience in tough playoff games. Shaquille O'Neal and Antawn Jamison didn't help Cleveland any more than Caron Butler and Brendan Haywood helped Dallas to reach a higher level because these things take time - just ask Jordan!

So now you can ask me, if shared experience is so important, why did the Spurs get swept by a Pheonix team that didn't even make the playoffs last season? My answer: speed, great shooting, depth, youth and, surprisingly enough, defense!

In all these aspects, the Suns were superior and when the Spurs give up around 110 points in each game, they are not the real Spurs and they won't win much. Against Dallas, they looked experienced and against Phoenix they looked old, whereas youthful subs like Dragic, Jared Dudley or Channing Frye gave old geezers Steve Nash and Grant Hill some extra bounce in their step!

I'd like to finish by pointing out that some sweeps are more painful and destructive than others. Just compare what happened to Atlanta and Utah. The Hawks were swept by an NBA record average margin of 25 points a game, seemingly giving up even before they had played a game at home. They watched the stock of their star, Joe Johnson, plummet for this summer's free agent market while the coach who helped them steadily improve, Mike Woodson, was shown the door. Ouch!

On the other hand, Jerry Sloan and Deron Williams are not going anywhere after the depleted Jazz put up a hefty fight in each game against the Lakers but just fell slightly short each time.

I guess the last questions we need to ask are: will the bizarre turn of events continue now that Boston has taken home court advantage away from Orlando? Is there one person on the planet earth that predicted a Suns-Celtics remake of that mythical 1976 NBA Finals before the season?




George Eddy from FIBA

[pepebasquet]

NBA Basketball  & Free Comments •  Baloncesto NBA & Comentarios Libres

Twenty years of cooperation between FIBA and NBA

This past weekend marked the 20th anniversary of the first cooperation agreement between FIBA and the NBA that opened the path for many players under contract with NBA clubs to participate in FIBA World Championships, Olympics and FIBA continental championships.

“When the agreement was signed on 9th May 1990 by Borislav Stankovic and David Stern, FIBA and the NBA put in place the most important protocol in the history of basketball after the rules written by James Naismith,” said FIBA Secretary General and IOC member Patrick Baumann.

“The agreement gave all basketball players the right to play for their national teams and still to this day regulates player transfers between both organisations. That was the start of a fruitful cooperation that helped tremendously the promotion of our sport on a global level.”

The appearance of the unforgettable Dream Team and other basketball stars such as the late Drazen Petrovic and Detlef Schrempf at the 1992 Olympic Games was only made possible through this agreement and provided a tremendous boost to the global outreach of basketball and their stars.

Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson became idols for billions of kids around the world, who wanted to follow in their footsteps. FIBA's member federations witnessed a tremendous increase in player's registrations in the following years.

“When we approached the NBA in 1987 with the request to give the opportunity to NBA players to play for their national team in the Olympics and the World’s we thought it was a great vision,” said FIBA Secretary General Emeritus Borislav Stankovic.

“Why should the 350 NBA players, who belong among the best in the world, not play with the best in the world?”

'Only if you play with the best, will you improve your game' – this was the common understanding that led to a constant development of the sport and its protagonists.

Since the agreement was signed, more than 300 players from around the world with valid contracts with NBA clubs have been able to represent their countries in FIBA World Championships, Olympics and continental championships.

The first NBA players appeared at the 1990 FIBA World Championship in Argentina – Vlade Divac and Petrovic for Yugoslavia and Alexander Volkov for the Soviet Union.

At the same time, many international players have gone to play in the NBA to perfect their skills and earn top contracts, allowing FIBA and the NBA to turn basketball into a truly global sport.

Currently 83 international players from 36 countries are under contract with NBA clubs and up to 50 could represent their countries at the upcoming FIBA World Championship in Turkey that will tip off on 28th August 2010.




FIBA

[mondiale]

NBA Basketball  & Free Comments •  Baloncesto NBA & Comentarios Libres

When stars collide - NBA players getting injured
before the World Champs

Merhaba! I just watched Nene getting injured in the last game between Denver and Utah and I immediately thought:
Who is going to be left when the World Championships are going down in Turkey in late August?

Guys, please play carefully so I can see you on the court in Istanbul, Izmir, Kayseri or Ankara!

Andrew Bogut might be back in time after his horrible crash to the floor in a recent Bucks-game.
I won't post the video here as it's really not fun to watch how he twisted his whole arm under his body while falling to the floor after a successful dunk. Now, he might be joining Australia after recovering from a broken hand but Mehmet Okur most certainly won't.
Okur tore his achilles tendon which means he is not going to represent the host-country which is a big blow for the ambitious Turks.

It also looks like Nicolas Batum could be pulling out as well, as his injured shoulder might need some rest.
Fellow French Tony Parker is also thinking about passing up on Turkey while Spanish basketball star Pau Gasol wants a break off hoops this year and is officially out.

Chinese Yao Ming did not play all season long for the Rockets and told the press already that he won't travel to Turkey.  That leaves China with Yi Jianlian as the sole NBA-player within the team and may blow China's chances significantly to advance out of the group stages.

A big question mark is the U.S. team as a whole, as some players decided that they rather want to play in movies (Lebron James, Dwight Howard) while others might be resting due to injuries (Kobe Bryant) or because of a marriage /divorce (Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade).
Wade might still play and I wouldn't rule out Anthony as well, as their situations are less critical. Same goes for Chris Bosh, who is going to be a free agent this summer

If Kobe makes it to Turkey, then it would definitely make up for the loss of Lebron in my eyes, as he is by far the best player around (Now I'm awaiting a lot of critics here). With guys like Danny Granger and Kevin Durant eager to represent his country's colors, the U.S. might send a really motivated team under the tutelage of Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, who is coming fresh of a NCAA Championship under his belt.

Thanks to all these deflections mentioned above, there will be plenty of room for upcoming players like Ricky Rubio, Goran Dragic or Ersan Ilyasova among others to use this opportunity to present themselves to an even wider audience than before.

Plus there will be no shortage on touted international stars like Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Kaman, Hedo Turkoglu, Andrei Kirilenko, Luis Scola and probably Leandrinho Barbosa who all will be turning heads of basketball-fans while showing why they truly belong to the best what basketball has to offer these days.

So I still look enthusiastically towards Turkey as even with a few guys not making it over the ocean, the World Championships will be offering premium-quality basketball action and I bet we will be witnessing again a lot of hard-fought games paired with several highlights such as dunks, blocks and assists from the best players around!

I'm out like movie projects as an excuse.




Kris SANTIAGO from FIBA