Issue: While NBA teams are allowed to have as many [...]
Dallas Mavericks Cleveland Cavaliers Miami Heat Shaquille ONeal
יום שלישי, 1 בנובמבר 2011
NBA ?Change the Game?: Allow all 15 on roster to dress
(As NBA owners decide how many more games they’re willing to lose to the lockout, perhaps it is time to consider gains that can be made when the league returns. In our latest lockout series, we look at changes that could produce an improved product.)
Issue: While NBA teams are allowed to have as many [...]
Issue: While NBA teams are allowed to have as many [...]
Michael Beasley?s charity game lost key players, went very poorly
Enigmatic forward Michael Beasley has a not-undeserved reputation as a bit loopy, the sort of guy who's as likely to drop 25 points with ease as he is to check out of a game mentally and allow his team to lose comfortably. There's still hope that he can become a consistent contributor to a winning team, though, so every time he makes a move towards maturity it can be considered a positive.
Beasley's scheduled star-studded charity game was supposed to be one of those steps in the right direction. Instead, it went off this weekend about as poorly as it could have. From Jerry Zgoda for the Minneapolis Star-Tribune (via EOB):
Billed as the "Michael Beasley All-Star Classic," the evening instead became something more like "Michael Beasley, Friends and Acquaintances." Organizers promoted the appearance of NBA stars Kevin Durant, Kevin Love, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, but Beasley's Wolves teammates Wes Johnson, Anthony Randolph, Anthony Tolliver, Wayne Ellington, Lazar Hayward and lone other NBA player Dorell Wright showed in support instead. [...]
Organizers originally priced tickets at between $60 and $300, then changed them to $40 general admission, $100 for VIP reserve and $300 for court seats when it became clear Durant, Love, Wall and No. 2 overall pick Derrick Williams wouldn't play.
Net proceeds will go to St. Jude's and three Twin Cities area charities.
Organizers estimated the audience at 1,200 fans, which might have been a bit generous. Those fans watched the six Wolves players, Golden State's Wright, former WNBA player Tamara Moore and a smattering of summer-league players run and shoot until the Beasleys prevailed over the Visitors 179-170.
Given the apparent turnout and changes in price, let's hope the four charities end up with a decent haul. I'm not terribly optimistic, but that's never been a reason to lose hope.
Beasley's heart was in the right place with this charity game, and that's probably enough to put him in the good guy camp for at least a few months. But the fact that the event went so poorly in so many ways -- from exorbitant prices to high-profile no-shows -- doesn't bode well for Beasley's business acumen. Which, while it has little to do with emotional maturity, does suggest that Beasley has a long way to go before people stop treating him like a trusted veteran.
On a more general note, the difficulty of pinning down participants and logistics for the game should serve as a reminder that any ideas for a union-sanctioned professional basketball league depends on far more than just having players on board with the idea. Venues, cost structures, and commitments all take a long time to figure out. The NBA needs its players to survive, but the players need the league's infrastructure to earn the salaries they now believe they deserve. It's more of a give-and-take relationship than either side seems willing to admit.
Chris Andersen encourages children to solve Rubik?s Cubes
Some players choose to keep their hands busy by playing in high-scoring exhibition contests. Others prefer filming commercials in which they dunk over cars. Denver Nuggets forward/center/iconoclast Chris Andersen, though? This weekend, his hands were full with encouraging Colorado schoolchildren to fill their hands with Rubik's Cubes.
From Kristina Iodice's advance story in the (Colorado Springs) Gazette:
Those who want to see real puzzle solving can check out a contest that's all about Rubik's Cubes and the kids who solve them ? without peeling off stickers.
Students from 14 schools across the Front Range will test their Rubik's Cube skills Saturday morning at the state's first "You CAN Do The Rubik's Cube" competition at the Colorado Springs City Auditorium.
The competition features a little star power. Denver Nuggets player Chris "Birdman" Andersen will offer commentary during the tournament and will present awards to the winners. Andersen is a Rubik's Cube fan and he supports an in-school program designed to foster students' science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills.
I appreciate the diligence of Iodice's reporting, but I'm sure we all already knew that Chris Andersen is a Rubik's Cube fan, because it is very obvious that he is committed to problem-solving.
When faced with the hypothetical problem of being stuck on a desert island and having to identify only one item he could bring with him, he solved that problem. When faced with the all-too-real problem of children having to meet an insufficiently boss Santa Claus, he solved that problem. And when faced with the realest problem ever ? the problem of having undecorated throat skin ? well, you know.
So, as the greatest tactical mind the NBA has ever seen, it is no surprise that Chris Andersen is a very big fan of Rubik's Cubes. Nor is it a surprise that, according to the parent of a student who participated in the event, which was part of the second annual Colorado Springs Cool Science Festival, Birdman "signed t-shirts, hats, jackets and Rubik's Cubes for all the competitors" and "did a great job rooting the kids on and joking along the way." After all, if he doesn't encourage the next generation of Cube-heads, who will?
Luke Walton reportedly contemplating retirement
http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/7147880/nba-most-likely-amnesty-candidates
Amnesty Clause flexibility could give Gilbert Arenas a chance
In Sunday’s NFL action, Michael Vick threw two touchdowns for the Philadelphia Eagles, Frank Gore ran for 134 yards for the San Francisco 49ers, and Steve Smith totaled 100 receiving yards and a touchdown for the Carolina Panthers.
Vick spent three years away from football because of legal trouble. Gore’s knee has been reconstructed twice. Smith [...]
Vick spent three years away from football because of legal trouble. Gore’s knee has been reconstructed twice. Smith [...]
Video: Watch Brian Scalabrine doin? work in Italy
Few American basketball players get mocked more than Brian Scalabrine: He stays at the end of the bench, is only sort of in shape in a league full of athletic specimens, and has red hair. When you think about it, he never had a chance.
This season, however, Scal is plying his trade in Italy with Benetton Treviso, one of the most successful clubs in Serie A history. Unlike in America, he's not warming the bench. In fact, it looks like he's starring.
This highlight video, taken from a recent game against Avellino, shows Scalabrine at his best. He hits open shots from the perimeter, drives by defenders, and even plays some impressive defense. He looks like an all-around (if unathletic) talent on the order of Larry Bird, and I don't entirely mean that as a joke. The European style suits him well, and their announcers pronounce his name with considerable flair.
It's enough to make you wonder if he'll even bother coming back to the NBA when the lockout ends. A fat paycheck is nice, but people also like to be appreciated for things other than their skin tone and general goofiness. Follow your dreams, Scal. There's more to life than high-fiving Derrick Rose after a dunk.
(Via PBT)
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