khandor’s sports blog

When the ball actually stops bouncing long enough, in the NBA …

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Ex-Blazer Washington recounts his first aide trip to Congo

In the summer of 1994, I was working with Pete Newell at his Big Man Camp. At the time, his camp was probably the No. 1 camp in the world. Pete was a world-renowned coach and former general manager of the Lakers. He was the gentleman who drafted me to the Lakers out of college [No. 5 overall in 1973 Draft], and was responsible for me earning a spot as a starter in the NBA. I was working on the camp when the situation in Rwanda broke out.

The news was flooded with horrendous accounts of murder and terror, affecting hundreds of thousands of lives. My daughter, Dana, came into the room after watching the news on TV and was incredibly upset. Here was a young girl who was so sensitive and caring that if she saw a dog or cat hit by a car, she would always make me stop and pull it out of the street. She was compassionate for everyone and everything. She told me I better do something about this situation. I saw the broadcasts and it reminded me of the problems in Somalia years before when people were suffering and dying from the drought. I felt as though I should have helped those people and didn’t, and even years later still had residual guilt. I felt like this was my opportunity to change that feeling, so I looked in the phone book for an organization where I could donate money.

I called Doctors Without Borders and the Red Cross. I didn’t have any success speaking to a person, just to an automated teller telling me how to donate money. When I called the Northwest Medical team in Beaverton, Ore., my luck changed. They were operating 10 minutes from where I was living, and got a person on the line that was able to talk to me and give me information. They also knew who I was and were very thankful that I called so I decided to donate to them. I don’t remember how much I donated on my credit card, but I did happen to say to them before I hung up that one day I would like to go and see for myself what the conditions were really like. They said, you can go with us next week, we’re taking a group over.

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There are some truly noteworthy things accomplished in this world.

The Kermit Washington Story – i.e. Parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 – is most definitely one of them.

For the benefit of Raptors fans …

who can’t seem to get enough of Jonas Valanciunas [i.e. Selection No. 5, 2011 NBA Draft].

BTW … The quality of these 2 youtube videos is absolutely terrific!

Things got a tad out of control yesterday, in the 2nd game of Georgetown University’s tour of China.

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Georgetown basketball exhibition in China ends in brawl

There were an estimated half-dozen individual altercations on the court, and eventually some Chinese onlookers joined the fracas, including one wielding a stanchion. As the brawl spilled beyond the baseline, an unidentified Bayi player pushed Georgetown’s Aaron Bowen through a partition to the ground before repeatedly punching the sophomore guard while sitting on his chest.

The turbulent ending to Thursday night’s contest marred what had been billed as the second game of a two-day “China-U.S. Basketball Friendship Match” in Beijing. Georgetown intended for the team’s 10-day trip to China to be an athletic, cultural and educational exchange designed to promote the school internationally.

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Yikes!

As it has been said in this space on previous occasions …

It is most interesting to see just how easy it is for the words and/or actions of some to be misinterpreted by others who work everyday in the on-line basketball community.

To wit:

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Exhibit A

Carl Landry has forgotten that someone named ‘LaMarcus Aldridge’ actually exists

What’s strange is that Landry, in a recent interview with SLAM’s Chris Haynes, doesn’t appear to have any knowledge of something called a “LaMarcus Aldridge.”

Here’s some evidence:

“I think I can fit in with Portland, “Landry told SLAMonline. “They’re in need of a big post presence down low. I’m not taking anything away from (Greg) Oden and (Marcus) Camby. I just know what I can provide. The Blazers are a good team and I know I can help.”

He’s not wrong. He could help. Landry could help just about any team in a pinch with his touch in the paint. The issue here is the presence of LMA, who came through with an All-Star season last year (even if he didn’t make the team), finishing with averages of nearly 22 points and nine rebounds on the league’s slowest-paced team (slowed pace limits your chances to pile up big stats). Aldridge is only 25, and while he isn’t a low-post demon, he is an obvious starting power forward lock that shouldn’t be dismissed.

Much less forgotten. By someone who has had to guard him dozens of times in his NBA career.

Carl?

“I really like Portland,” said Landry. “I’m good friends with Greg Oden, and Wes Matthews is from Wisconsin like me. There are a lot of ties there and I have no doubt that I would blend in fine.”

Again, he’s not wrong. It’s A-OK to really like Portland, especially if you ride a bike and want to know where your dinner was raised. And Landry would blend in fine, as he would with most teams, as a top-notch sixth man, ready to drop 12 points in a second quarter.

But unless SLAM left some musings about Aldridge out, this seems like a curious oversight. And with the lockout leaving most of us filled with alternating bouts of ennui and anger, could this be the NBA’s newest passive/aggressive feud? Because, with nothing else going on, we’re ready for it.

LMA? Your turn.

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It’s your turn, LMA?

Hmmm …

KD … Evidence?

Really?

This is what you meant to say, in this instance?

How incredulous is it that several other observers – btw, who are not paid a full-time salary by Yahoo! to cover the goings-on in the NBA on a regular basis – in the comments section actually have the ability [insight?] to see CLEARLY what Carl Landry is actually talking about … i.e. the possibility of Landry joining the Trail Blazers, either:

#1. As a back-up PF, in arrears of current starter LaMarcus Aldridge/PF [i.e. with a combination of: A) Marcus Camby and Greg Oden patrolling the C position, plus B) Nicolas Batum and Gerald Wallace at the SF position]; or

#2. As a Starting PF, beside current starter LaMarcus Aldridge/C [i.e. with Camby at the back-up PF spot, Oden as the back-up C, plus Batum and Wallace at the SF position];

when the League’s free agency signing period occurs next …

and, seemingly, Kelly Dwyer does not?

Sometimes it is vitally important that certain people in this world just give their own head a darn good shake … perhaps, to dislodge the cobwebs.

This is one of THOSE times for the usually terrific editor of Ball Don’t Lie.

It may be YOUR turn, Mr. Dwyer … and, the person owed an abject apology is none other than Mr. Carl Landry, who happens to be a prototypical role player for a high-end team in the NBA.

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PS. If the Blazers organization is in fact smart enough to execute this specific signing, whenever the lockout happens to end, then, Portland would create one of the deepest and most talented rosters in the entire league:

STARTERS
PG – Raymond Felton
OG – Wes Matthews
SF – Nicolas Batum
PF – Carl Landry
C – LaMarcus Aldridge

KEY SUBS
PG – Patrick Mills [or Armon Johnson, Elliot Williams, and Nolan Smith]
OG – Brandon Roy
SF – Gerald Wallace
PF – Marcus Camby
C – Greg Oden

RESERVES/EXTRAS/OUTS
PG – Noland Smith [i.e. Selection No. 21, 2011 NBA Draft]
PG – Armon Johnson [i.e. Selection No. 34, 2010 NBA Draft]
PG/OG – Elliot Williams [i.e. Selection No. 22, 2010 NBA Draft]]
OG – John Diebler [i.e. Selection No. 51, 2011 NBA Draft]
F – Luke Babbitt [i.e. Selection No. 16, 2010 NBA Draft]
F – Tanguy Ngombo [i.e. Selection No. 57, 2011 NBA Draft]
C – Earl Barron

For the benefit of those who think that Lawrence Frank is someone that will struggle to earn the respect of the veteran players with the Detroit Pistons, due to his lack of NBA playing experience:

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His Own Words: Ben Gordon on the NBA Lockout

Grantland: You obviously haven’t been able to talk to your new coach, Lawrence Frank, but what is your impression of him?

Gordon: “I have a lot of game experience playing against him when he coached the Nets and was a Boston assistant. He always seems to be very, very prepared, very meticulous and has an astute attention to detail. That may sound cliché for a head coach at this level. But I think it’s very important to know what your guys can do, putting them in the best situation possible. I think he’s very capable of that. He’s very defensive minded and that’s something our team lacked a lot last year. I’m looking forward once this stuff is sorted out to learning from him.”

Grantland: Last year was a tough year for the Pistons and the bottom hit with reports of players boycotting a shoot-around in protest of the former coach John Kuester. What’s the backstory behind that situation?

Gordon: “Last year, everything that possibly could have went wrong, went wrong. We had a lot of talent. There were a lot of issues in the front office, on the floor, with coaches, with players. It was just a mess. People from the outside looking in don’t realize how bad it was. It wasn’t conducive for playing basketball at a high level and it showed. It was pretty much what everybody saw. Some guys showed up to play. Some guys didn’t show up to play. Whatever point people were trying to prove by showing up or nothing showing up, those points were taken. Six guys showed up. Six guys played and a few other guys decided not to play that night. That was one of the uglier moments during the season. Moving forward, I don’t see that happening anymore. That was probably one of the lowest basketball moments I’ve ever been a part of. Because we’re all a team and we all shared that negative light. Regardless of who played that night, it was bad. But moving forward, I think the emphasis will be much different.”

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Best try thinking, again.

Unfortunately, far too many people in this world think that “the very best” at a particular occupation MUST BE those who are actually getting paid the highest salaries to fulfill that specific function at a “pro” level.

Well … the simple fact is:

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The Good Ward Giveth: A former Knicks’ post-basketball odyssey

This fall will mark Ward’s fifth with the Wildcats (and his fourth as Head Coach), a position he took after leaving his post with the Houston Rockets, with whom he’d been an assistant since retiring from the NBA in 2004 . Despite a number of other job offers from around the league, Ward decided instead to take on the dual role of Assistant Football and Basketball Coach at Westbury, a 500 student K-12 Christian school in Houston.  Surely, the opportunity to spend more time with his family, and to watch his young children grow up, were motivating factors. But the chance to lead again was anything but a distant second.

“I wanted to have a more hands-on experience,” explains Ward in his characteristically even, calm Southern drawl. “I wanted the chance to put game plans together, implement those game plans, and really mentor kids. Those are the main reasons I am where I am today. That’s my focus.”

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in many instances this just not the case, at all.

REALITY IS …

Highly accomplished individuals the world over can – and, frequently, do – decide to ply their chosen trade, and exert their considerable influence, at many different levels of “the game,” whether in sport, education, or industry, etc.

Kudos to Charlie Ward! … for doing precisely what he happens to think is “right” at this particular time in his life.

Behold …

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Rodman cut his own path to Hall of Fame

There was no doubt I’d be there for the crowning moment of Rodman’s career – not because it was a cool journalistic opportunity or a chance to reconnect with the old crew, but for one simple, paramount reason: He asked me to come. Seventeen months earlier, at a party a few days before Super Bowl XLIV, the most compelling athlete I’ve ever covered told me he wanted me there when he went into the Hall, and from that point on my presence was a slam-dunk.

I consider Worm a special friend in the way that you have blind and guttural love for your best buddies in elementary school, feelings stemming not solely from the fact that he twice stuck up for me to David Letterman on national TV, when I was a young Sports Illustrated writer and we’d just emerged from a four-day, three-state bender that would change both of our lives for the crazier.

When Rodman, in the midst of that jaunt, talked about gay sex fantasies, his ex-girlfriend Madonna’s ability to make him “feel like King Tut” and his desire to play his final NBA game au naturale – and posed for an iconic SI cover in a zip-up tank top, tight metallic hot pants, a rhinestone dog collar, with an exotic bird on his shoulder – the mainstream sports world wasn’t ready for the fallout.

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What should rightfully qualify as, “The best piece of writing about sports you will read this year.”

It really is quite interesting to see how the internet actually works, especially in the world of sports.

If you take a look at the following two links:

#1. Basketball on Paper WAR and the Best Peak Regular-Season Players Since 1978 [Wed-Jul-27-2011];

and,

#2. Real minutes played [Mon-Aug-15-2011].

then, you should be able to tell that:

i. Henry Abbott is a regular visitor to Basketball-reference.com;

ii. At least some of what actually gets written on the subject of “accurate player evaluation, in the NBA,” across the blogosphere, by other “reputable” sources, may in fact, have it’s point of origin properly associated with yours truly [e.g. including, the ridiculously simple concept of assessing “like” individual basketball players according to their:

PS. In fact, it should come as no surprise, at all, to see yet another “one-size-fits-all” metric soon developed by someone else, to capture this exact information in a handy-dandy table.

Bradley wins 1st major tournament

If you happened to miss this weekend’s PGA tournament, well …

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Keegan Bradley’s PGA CHampionship win ‘a dream’

Your winner of the 2011 PGA Championship left his rented townhouse Sunday with a batch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches made fresh by his mother, Kay. Just before he drove away, Keegan Bradley told her, “I’m gonna do it, Mom.”

“I know,” she said. “Yes, you are.”

And then he drove to the Atlanta Athletic Club, teed off at 2:30 p.m. local time, overcame a five-stroke deficit with just three holes left to play, somehow squeezed his way into a playoff and made the kind of golf history that lasts forever.

Bradley not only won the PGA Championship, but he won it in his first majors appearance. That’s not too big of a deal, except for the part where it’s only the third time in nearly the last 100 years that someone has done that.

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you missed dramatic golf history in the making.

Stirring stuff, to be sure! … even without names like Rory, Tiger, or Phil in the mix at all.