Ball Don't Lie

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: Brew Hoop. What do you value more: your country winning gold or your favorite team winning the NBA title?
PF: Posting and Toasting. The new-look Garden could buy New York its first All-Star Game since 1998.
SF: I Am Not A Witness. Two guys you always meet in pick-up basketball: Mr. Hustle and the Prima Dona.
SG: The Peninsula .... Shawn Marion is an Olympian and All-Star, but some think the Heat are better without him.
PG: The Hoop Doctors. Is Samuel Dalembert a Canadian diva? Or was Rautins' lack of communication to blame?
6th: Ridiculous Upside. Summer league chats with Sean Banks, part deux.
7th: SLAM Online. D-League Commissioner Dan Reed expounds on blogging, Canada and much, much more.
8th: Blue Monkey Disco. "New" Upper Deck cards that contain "memorabilia" from some of the biggest scandals.
9th: Sneaker Files. The Nike Huarache '08, Olympics Birds Nest shoe is scoring just 1.8 out of 5 stars. Ugh.
10th: The Blowtorch. On July 30th, the Cheesecake Factory will be offering cheesecake slices at a discounted price of $1.50. This is bad news.

• 2 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant of the United States men's senior National Basketball Team discuss Beijing, gas prices, So You Think You Can Dance?, window treatments and psychology during an interview in ritzy Las Vegas, Nevada. Best caption or "conversation" wins frozen water.

After the jump, Coach Scott and James Posey make a connection.Read More >>

• 48 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

At one point or another, every basketball fan on the planet has dreamt of owning and operating their own professional basketball team. The excitement of wheeling and dealing players, the satisfaction of building a competent coaching staff, the thrill of answering the phone at 2am to learn your All-Star small forward is in jail for another stripper "incident." It all sounds so glamorous!

Unfortunately, though, the average sports fan not named Mark Cuban doesn't have pockets deep enough to buy a professional basketball team. I mean, we're not talking melba toast here, folks — sports franchises are expensive. Which is why this idea, yoinked from MyFootballClub, is absolutely brilliant.

Clyde Warman — a gentleman who runs a successful paintball website — has started up OwnMyTeam.com. The premise: for a mere $60 you can become a registered member and own a real share in a real International Basketball League franchise.

As part owner of an IBL squad, you will be able to vote on the franchise location, the team name, uniform colors, hiring coaches, signing players, and much, much more. Basically it's like fantasy basketball on drugs.

So, no more complaining about owners and disconnected front offices (unless you're looking in a mirror). Sign up, pay your fees, and let's finally bring that elusive championship trophy home to ... wait. What franchise are we purchasing again?

I vote for the Las Vegas Stars — they have a catchy anthem.

(Thanks for the tip, Brent)

• 15 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

For those of you still not familiar with the basketball action on the other side of the pond, Ricky Rubio is a 17-year-old Spanish point guard who plays for Joventut Badalona in the ACB and Euroleague. He's considered by some to be the best non-NBA player in the world (sorry, Josh), and is already drawing comparisons to Pistol Pete and Magic Johnson. Exhibit G:

So, is Rubio the NBA's future or just Jason Williams 2.0? It's probably still too early to tell, but to have pulled this move off against an elite international team like Lithuania — at the age of 17! — is pretty impressive. I think I was still playing with POGs at 17.

• 110 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

Restricted-free-agent Monta Ellis re-signed Thursday with the Golden State Warriors for six years and $66 million — 6-6-6! Here's what they're saying out in the ether about the deal ...

Talking Points with Tim Kawakami: "Ellis had to get paid. Even before Baron Davis bolted, Ellis was going to get paid–he's a 20-point scorer at a very high percentage and he’s young. You keep those guys if you know what you’re doing. But once Baron bolted, forget about it: Monta was an absolute Warriors must-keep. Without question. Forget his defensive liabilities and size issues and debate whether he’ll ever be a true point guard. He had to be kept or else the Warriors aren’t a real franchise anymore."

SLAM Online: "Monta has the money and the status, now what? As the great philosopher Peter Parker often said, with great power comes great responsibility. Or in Monta’s case, great pressure to deliver the goods. The Warriors have made it clear that they will go only as far as Ellis can take them, and in the loaded Western Conference, it doesn’t appear as though they’ll get very far anytime soon. That’s a lot to handle for a 22-year old. Best of luck to you, young man." Read More >>

• 35 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

This has gone too damn far. 

Life isn't easy, sometimes, but you tolerate things. You put up with them. You move on.

This morning I woke up with a Jimmy Buffett song in my head, and I dealt with it. At least it wasn't the Eagles.

Last night, I couldn't find a bottle of unsweetened iced tea at the local convenience store to save my life, mainly because the whole of the American Midwest can't deal with consuming anything that doesn't come complete with a cup and a half of sugar per serving. I dealt with it. Made my own homebrew out of some crushed trucker pills from the convenience store and some used Irish Breakfast leaves.

Josh Childress left for Greece this week, and did I overreact? Hell no. Played it cool.

(There's your answer to the Jimmy Buffett conundrum, by the way. Go looking for a clip of Freddie King's "Play it Cool" on YouTube, and end up discovering some random 80s German pop group.)

Ricky Davis, rumored to be next? You deal with it. You wonder if he's going to bother to learn how to say "nausea-related symptoms" in Greek.

("ναυτία που συνδέονται με συμπτÏματα," as far as I can tell.)

But this news? Too much.

"Lakers reserve guard Sasha Vujacic, a restricted free agent, is prepared to leave the team and accept an offer from a European team in the next few days if the Lakers don't make him an offer he deems fair, according to a source in the Vujacic camp who spoke only on the condition of anonymity."

First of all, Machine has a "camp," and you know for damn sure that regardless of the subject it will ALWAYS speak only on the condition of anonymity.

Secondly, and most important? We can't afford to lose this guy.Read More >>

• 270 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

I have a large and poorly-organized collection of NBA games on DVD. As the summer moves along, we here at BDL thought it a good idea to perhaps go through a game or 12 as if it were a live blog, throwing out some insight while never passing on a chance to act a right smart aleck.

In case you missed it this morning, here's part one of today's game.

3^rd Quarter

In a halftime interview with Cheryl Miller, George Karl feels a need to qualify which Miller he is referring to:

"We have to make better reads on Miller, er ... your brother."

11:15: With the Bucks up three and a bit of momentum on Milwaukee's side, Glenn Robinson throws up a 25-footer with no Bucks underneath the basket, and 22 seconds on the shot clock. It clangs off the front of the rim. You can kind of see why this never worked out.

10:22: An example of how important Mark Jackson was to that Pacer offense:

Jax posts up, draws the entire defense, but still dives through the double-team for a five-foot banker. It misses, but both Dale Davis and Rik Smits have open looks at the offensive rebound and put back. Jackson was such an offensive threat at times, when he had the right matchup offensively, and even without piling up the assists.

Davis misses the put-back, of course, but a few passes later Jackson nails an open three-pointer with George Karl whistling at him.

8:53: Darvin Ham comes to set a screen for Ray Allen at the three-point line, and because nobody has to guard Ham, Allen gets an immediate double-team a good 26 feet from the basket. The play is shot.

Somewhere in Arizona, Scott Skiles thinks, "hmm, potent."

7:56: Because Jackson has to give him so much room, Sam Cassell is just killing the Pacers with the pull-up jumper. Six points in the quarter, 16 in the game, tied at 55 apiece.

5:47: Cassell hits another jumper, this time it's banked in. Both teams are trading buckets, and I'm absolutely convinced that these were the best two teams in the East that year. The Knicks made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2000, and we all saw a lot of that team (thanks to Turner and NBC, we had no choice), but this Bucks team is much better.

These are two deep, potent teams. By the time I finished typing that last paragraph, Jalen Rose and Ray Allen just traded jumpers.Read More >>

• 14 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

As you know, the great BDL Photoshop Starbury Tattoo-Off of 2008 is closed. The flood of submissions has ceased, the virtual ink on Marbury's skull has dried, and the "you're an idiot, Skeets" comments have, for the most part, reached a steady calm.

But before we officially say goodbye, there's one more Starbury tat-job that really ought to be shown. From Mike in Michigan:

Once again, thanks to everyone that contributed — we received over 200 submissions — as well as hyped this effort into the "success" that it became. Especially you, Stephon. Especially you.

• 2 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry

A look around the league and the web that covers it. It's also important to note that the rotation order and starting nods aren't always listed in order of importance. That's for you, dear reader, to figure out.

C: The Sporting Blog. Question of the day: Are the new Nike ads homophobic or simply misunderstood?
PF: YouTube, via TrueHoop. Thanks to Fat Joe, Josh Childress looks to be adjusting to the Greek lifestyle nicely.
SF: Cuzoogle. Seven feature films that will be coming to an NBA arena near you soon.
SG: Supersonicsoul. Your first Supersonicsoul Hall-of-Fame inductee is ... Gary Payton.
PG: The Blowtorch. "So this one time I was wrestling an alligator ..." Life lessons with "Brad Miller."
6th: The Denver Post. Ornithologists beware. Chris "The Birdman" Andersen is back in the Mile High City.
7th: SportsHubLA.com. Complete audio of the Marcus Camby and Clippers introductory press conference.
8th: Hoops Addict. An excellent summary of moves done by Portland GM "mastermind" Kevin Pritchard.
9th: Hardwood Paroxysm. The Arbitrarian explores some of today's relevant basketball stats.
10th: SLC Dunk. A sad look back at some of the stiff white guys to whom the Jazz have provided refuge.

• 7 Comments
• Permanent Link
• Email this Entry