Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Terry is affectionately known as “The Jet” (sorry, Kenny Smith) and he did get to clock some frequent flyer miles during this offseason as he took a trip to China. In the video above, he got a tour of the “Great Wall of China”
It is nice to see that some NBA players in the offseason are still spreading the goodwill of the NBA to the world and it’s nice to see Jason Terry take on one of the Seven Wonders of the World.
My apologizes to Kimberly Locke, I do not think there is an 8th world wonder.
There are many ways to tell that you are getting old from complaining about today's style of music, remembering when candy cost only a nickle and you start ordering from the senior menu at Denny’s.
However, one way I can tell that I’m getting old, famous NBA player Tim Hardaway’s son is going to start playing college basketball. The above video is a highlight reel of him playing for his AAU team, Mac Irvin Fire. He is also ranked on ESPN U’s top 100 prospects and committed to the University of Michigan.
From what I see, Michigan has got a talented player on their hands but still his father created the “killer cross-over.” How can you live up to that if you’re his son?
You know how I know you’re old? You remember Tim Hardaway Sr. playing ball.
The one thing that you can say about the New Jersey Nets, they are on some level creative with their ploys for you to buy tickets.
The latest plan is called their “Ten Game Match-Up Plan” where they offer you a plan to tickets for the hottest ten games at the IZOD center. You also get a subscription to the New York Post for four weeks and in my opinion the cream of this deal, five reversible jerseys with Nets players on the front and top NBA stars on their back.
For those of you that are playing at home, it might the perfect gift for your “bandwagon” Nets fan. Not only does he get to show his team pride of Robin Lopez and Yi Jianlian, but if the teams blow you have Kobe or Lebron on the back.
I will say, what happened to getting a regular Nets jersey in a ticket package? If I was a Nets fan buying a ten game ticket package, that is what I would want. However, the Nets are getting creative now so that when they move to Brooklyn, they can reverse their jerseys again, only this time against the fans in New Jersey.
Most of the time when I think of former Seattle Supersonic Shawn Kemp, I usually associate him when he took the Sonics to the 1996 NBA Finals and then plummeting to Earth with the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Well, he currently resides in Seattle was helping out former Sonic James Donaldson who has been running for mayor of Seattle. Well, Kemp was a “waiter” at a charity fundraiser for Donaldson.
Here is more info from Steady Burn:
On August 9, mayoral candidate James Donaldson is hosting a "fund raising island party" at Island Soul restaurant in Southeast Seattle from 4-7 p.m. (suggested donation, $50). Wings, plantains, salad, coconut corn muffins, and wine will be served. Serving that fare will be none other than legendary former Sonics power forward Shawn Kemp
Yep, I never thought I would hear the terms “waiter” and “Shawn Kemp” in the same sentence but it nice to see that he is doing good for a friend and the community. He is one of the most recognizable athletes to play in Seattle and should have has number retired whenever the next NBA team comes to Seattle.
Dwight Howard was recently on ESPN’s Sports Nation and was asked to do his impressions of his head coach Stan Van Gundy.
I will say this; that Stan Van Gundy impression was pretty damn spot on. However, I have sinking suspicion that everyone could pull off a Stan Van Gundy if they just heighten their voice up a couple of decibels.
When SVG screams like that, only dogs can hear him. For a comparison, here is a clip comparing Stan Van Gundy and Howard Dean's "infamous scream."
For those you that did not know, I am a huge fan of Who Wants to be a Millionaire. It was one of the greatest game shows ever created. The lights, the lifelines, Regis Philbin; there are few game shows like it.
Recently, the show was brought back to primetime for an anniversary with Regis as the host. At the end of these primetime shows, they would bring on celebrities to play for charity. Last night’s show, he had on Phoenix Suns point guard Steve Nash.
Nash had a chance to win $50,000 for his charity and one lifeline to use, did he? Watch the video to find out.
During the NBA rookie photo shoot, some of the rookies decided to have a dance contest and well, let’s just say that it was not pretty. Even Randy Jackson was not feeling this.
Chicago Bulls rookie James Johnson decided to show off his break-dancing skills to the rest of the NBA rookies and on-lookers. It was not a pretty sight to see.
I do know one thing, they did not teach break-dancing at Wake Forest.
I will say this, there are many things that I believe that I would be reporting on from That NBA Lottery Pick but one of those things would not be Stephon Marbury lip-synching to Aqua’s “Barbie Girl.”
In the above video, (I do not think that my eyes can view the video again) Stephon does some dancing and well, I think some people are starting to question something other than Marbury ball-handling ability or scoring from the perimeter. What has happened to Stephon Marbury? He was an elite NBA player and now he probably should join Gregory House in the mental ward.
I will warn you that the song will get in your head and to watch this video at your own risk. This is like “The Ring tape” except for the fact that it will not kill you.
Since last week was Magic Johnson’s birthday, (he turned 50 years old or the big 5-0) the NBA’s YouTube channel was dishing out the Top 10 Magic Johnson moments.
In this edition, it shows the Top Ten clutch plays during Magic Johnson career. Some of these are absolutely ridiculous and I think fans of the NBA (including myself) tend to forget that Magic had the flair for the dramatic.
For those of you that do not know, Ben Gordon is now a member of the Detroit Pistons and well, it has one Chicago Bulls fan torn up about his departure.
It got to the point where he created a video for him called, “Farewell Ben Gordon” which set to a bumpin' Techno beat. Yep, people still listen to Techno, I guess. Didn't we learn from Eminem that nobody listens to techno?
So, enjoy this looks back at Ben Gordon highlights and pretend that your chillin’ in the club while you do so.
It has been a rather interesting off-season for Quentin Richardson as he has been passed around like a sorority girl at a party. Richardson have been traded a total of four times to four different teams in the off-season.
The latest trade was to the Miami Heat in exchange for center Mark Blount. This has been a pretty weird off-season but just compounds it to where a single player has been dealt more than one time. It’s probably a good thing that Richardson has not decided to move to the current location of an NBA team that has picked him up.
Here is quick review of the trades that Richardson has been a part of:
• June 25, 2009: Traded by the New York Knicks along with cash considerations to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for Darko Miličić. • July 17, 2009: Traded by the Memphis Grizzlies to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for Zach Randolph. • July 20, 2009: Traded by the Los Angeles Clippers to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Sebastian Telfair, Mark Madsen, and Craig Smith. • August 13, 2009: Traded by the Minnesota Timberwolves to the Miami Heat in exchange for Mark Blount
There are many ways to look at this if you’re Quentin Richardson, on one side, you might be happy to be now in Miami. However, you might still be unsure that you might be dealt again.
Seriously, I have never seen a single player being traded a total of four times in an off-season. This might be a record but at this point, I cannot confirm it. You can go ahead make a “Quentin Richardson has been traded joke,” there is still time before he is dealt again.
Let’s be honest, one of the best things to happen to this site is Ron Artest traveling to China. Since then, Artest has not only retold the Malice in the Palace, held a rap concert, and shot a music video in that span of time.
Well, he took it to another level as he gave out his cell phone number via Twitter last week.
Yep, Artest gave out his actual cell phone number. (Here is the Twitter message, the number is disconnected now) The above video actually shows people calling Artest and him replying with, “What’s Goin On?/What’s Poppin’? Then he promotes his new female artist, Shin Shin. Ron Artest is one crazy dude but only he could pull this off.
Very sadly, I did not get the opportunity to get in touch with Ron Artest but at least I do not have to deal with long distance charges.
The New York Knicks have not been that great in the past couple of years and it looks like that there might be a possibility that stars David Lee and Nate Robinson might be out the door via free agency.
However, there is one player who is ready to take on the challenge and that player is forward Danilo Gallinari or known affectionately as “Big Cock.” He spoke with the New York Post and here is a snippet of what he said:
I'm up for that," Gallinari told The Post. "I think it's an honor for me and Will [Chandler] to have this responsibility, so we will work together to be as [good] as we can.
"I know [it's pressure], but it's what I like, because champions come out under pressure. If you are not responding under pressure, you're just a mediocre player, and I don't want to be a mediocre player, I want to be a champion. I want the pressure. Great players need that pressure
Gallinari was selected by the New York Knicks back in the 2008 NBA Draft with the 6th overall pick. The Knicks might have to look towards him if they want to make a playoff run down the line but it nice to see that player wants to take on the challenge of becoming a champion.
Gallinari has also become a spokesman for Wii Sports Resort. Gallinari is featured as the basketball athlete in a couple of the commercials for the game. You can check out more about that story at this link.
Let’s hope that the “Big Cock” is ready for his close-up with the Knicks or he might be playing somewhere else in the near future.
I’m pretty sure that the Mayans were confused when they found a prediction saying that a bespectacled one would lead the Timberwolves. However, I think I have figured out that prophecy at least, former Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis is believed to be the new head coach for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor confirmed a report that Rambis will sign a deal for four years up to eight million dollars. Rambis who was an assistant with the Los Angleles Lakers during their championship run last season. Rambis coached the team in 1998-1999 after Del Harris was fired to a 24-13 record and that team eventually lost in the semifinal round of the NBA playoffs.
The one positive in the gig for Rambis is that he has a fair amount of talent around him from Kevin Love, Al Jefferson, etc. So, he is not completely going to a rebuilding project but the Timberwolves has been oh-so awful even since Kevin Garnett moved to Boston. He also has to deal with whether or not Spanish sensation Ricky Rubio will be playing with the team this year or not.
However, this might be a solid jumping-off point for Rambis who was part of those great “Showtime” Lakers teams in the 1980’s. He might inherit a situation much like Nate McMillan did with the Portland Trail Blazers a few years ago when the team was desperately trying to piece together a contending team and now they look to be a perennial contender in the West.
One thing you can say about Rambis is he will install a “toughness” that he once had in his playing career which I something that the team desperately needs. The Timberwolves can only be better under Rambis and it would not surprise me to see this team down the road, make a solid playoff run.
There was once a time in the world that the NBA was more popular than the NFL and honestly it was not that long ago. However, the lock-out in 1998 attributed to the growth of the NFL and how popular it became.
The NFL has the biggest television contract, NFL teams make the most money, and if you check out an online betting site, they see an influx of people on their sites when the NFL is season and asking for their picks.
Can the NBA get back to its prior glory? It definitely possible with stars like Kobe Bryant, Lebron James, Dwight Howard, Dwayne Wade and a host of other up and coming talents. However, the NFL has shorter schedule and has the biggest sporting event known to man, The Super Bowl.
The odds of the NFL continuing to increase their revenue and fan-base seem absolutely endless. There is one small gain that the NBA has over the NFL and that is the international fan-base. The NFL is not that big overseas and the NBA still has a loyal fan-base in most countries.
However, I just do not see the NBA passing the NFL anytime soon, barring an issue between ownership and the players association since the NFL giant will continue to grow. The NBA will have a chance to be the number one sports league in America again, it just going to take some time.
The New Orleans Hornets recently showed off their new acquisition Emeka Okafor to the press on Tuesday. Okafor was acquired from the Charlotte Bobcats for “Mr. Trade-Bait” Tyson Chandler, a couple weeks ago and the deal still does not make any sense to me. This saga for the New Orleans Hornets started back before the NBA trade deadline when the Hornets tried to move Chandler to the Oklahoma City Thunder which ended up falling through due to Chandler failing a physical.
Although this looks like a basketball move, it is more of a cash move since the Hornets want to rid themselves of Chandler’s $12.7 million dollar contract with a player option. The issue is the Hornets acquired Okafor who still has five years left on his 72 million dollar deal. For a team that was trying to save money, this just seems to puzzle me.
The Hornets continue to puzzle me with this move. Why did they make it? Are they trying to save cap room or trying to make a team better? Okafor is a solid talent who a 20-10 player when he was playing for the Bobcats. However, he does not strike me as a guy who makes the New Orleans Hornets that much better and Chandler was a defensive threat.
They have also signed forward Ike Diogu to a short-term deal to shore up their front court. Let’s be honest, Diogu is average talent at best and is a cheap option to improve their front court.
As much as I love Chris Paul, this is a terrible situation for him to be in. He is in a rebuilding city and stuck on a team that does not know if they want to be a buyer or a seller in the next couple of seasons. The Hornets appear that they are making moves to improve their team but in the end, they are really just trying to make good of a bad situation.
The Hornets have played in three different locations for the past seven seasons and it would not surprise me if they might be in a different location in the next five seasons. The only thing that irritates me more than a team not trying to build around their star player is a team trying to their star around by trying to make it look like they are.
In closing, I have no idea what the Hornets are doing but at least they did not "Tyson Roll" us this time.
The NBA schedule was released yesterday and we got to know all of the amazing matchups that come to us in the upcoming NBA season. Opening Day, which is October 27th leads off with the Cleveland Cavaliers against the Boston Celtics with Shaq’s debut in Cleveland and the night-cap of the Los Angeles Lakers receiving their rings against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Then there is also a smattering of holiday games with five of them specifically on Christmas day alone. However, I have never been an individual to get excited with the release of the NBA schedule. Hell, the Philadelphia 76ers chose to show the possibility of owning a signed Jonas Brothers basketball jersey rather than hype up their first game of the season.
I always like to make comparison to one’s journey in life to the NBA and the release of the schedule always made me think of Senior Prom. During the entirety of your senior year in High School, you look forward to Senior Prom. Sure, it was your chance to score with that girl you coveted for three out of the four years, your chance to bro out with your friends before college ruins everything or just to make fun of the rest of your classmates dance to Ludacris.
For the ladies, Prom Night virtually became their Super Bowl, their NCAA Championship, their NBA Finals; it is the climax of high school for them. For most guys, we tried our best to get our date in and out of their dress. However, senior prom is pretty much the most-hyped occasion that happens in your high school years.
The first hour is much like the beginning of the NBA season, you are excited and pumped to get the first dance down and possibly pour some Vodka into the punch to get your date off-kilter. Everyone is excited and ready for the party to continue on into the night. These are the Lakers receiving their rings and the matchup of Kobe and Lebron on Christmas day.
However, nearing the end of the prom it gets to the point that you cannot wait for this to end and get your date home to do your business. If you’re a girl, you cannot wait to leave and do something else rather than listen to bad 80’s rock. It’s almost like looking at the schedule to see that matchup between the Memphis Grizzlies and the New York Knicks in January or the Washington Wizards take on the Cleveland Cavaliers without Gilbert Arenas and Antawn Jamison. These games never live up to the hype that the schedule gave them.
After the night ends, you realize that everything went by so fast and that it did not live up to expectation.
That is the reveal of the schedule; it is the tease of the upcoming NBA season. The hype of the upcoming season never lives up to the billing that we gave it back in August, when we saw the schedule for the first time, just like Senior Prom.
Well, that’s not exactly true (this does give me the opportunity to show the trailer for NBA Live 2010) but the Memphis Grizzlies downsized their college scouting department from five people to none. Yep, there is currently no one specifically in charge of grading collegiate talent.
It is believed to be the job of General Manager Chris Wallace and the rest of the coaching staff. Let’s be honest, I know the economy is pretty bad in most parts but when was the last time you heard a professional sports franchise fire their entire scouting department.
On one hand, the Grizzlies are a consistent lottery team, so I figure that do not necessarily need five scouts covering the college game but still to fire the whole staff seems to be a little extreme.
There have been many terrible sports franchises in recent memory but the “Grizz Kids” are the only team that I remember to fire their entire college scouting staff. I guess moving from Vancouver to Memphis was not that good of a decision to begin with.
This makes even the Pittsburgh Pirates look good and that amounts to something.
During a “friendly” match between team Canada and team Italy which occurred over the weekend, turned into a mini-brawl which pretty much sent most of the players into a scrum in the middle of the court.
The culprit was Italian forward Stefano Marcinelli for hitting Canada’s Aaron DoorneKamp in the back of the head. The cheap shot occurred away from the play and well, you can figure out the rest that happened after it.
Current Toronto Raptors Marco Belinelli and Andrea Bagnani who were playing the game escaped injury by getting in the middle of the fight.
One thing I will say though, if you would have told me that a fight occurred between Team Canada and Team Italy, I would have called you crazy.
