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Nets Are Scorching has an interesting post today concerning former New Jersey player Bill Melchionni.
From a slightly different perspective, however …
When looking at the following video clip, what exactly do you see happening between Bill’s nephew [i.e. Lee Melchionni, Duke] and Deron Washington [Virginia Tech/Detroit Pistons]?
FYI, the perspective of yours truly, posted earlier today, in the comments sections of Nets Are Scorching.
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.
Georgetown senior center Henry Sims had a chair tossed at him by an unidentified person, and freshman forward Moses Ayegba, who was wearing a brace on his right leg, limped onto the court with a chair in his right hand. According to Georgetown officials, Ayegba had been struck, prompting him to grab a chair in self-defense.
The brawl occurred one night after Vice President Biden, who is in Beijing on a four-day visit to discuss U.S.-Chinese economic relations, attended a Georgetown game against another Chinese club at the Olympic Sports Center. That game, which was won by Georgetown, passed without incident.
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!
Undoubtably …
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Minutes, confidence, wins: Arron Afflalo
Arron Afflalo has long prided himself on his defense. As a player who entered the league with plenty to prove, aggressive D was his preferred method of convincing coaches to notice. Defense is the key to playing time, he says, “unless you’re a high draft pick, or somebody who’s known for coming in and scoring a lot of points.”
In other words, unless you’re something of a legend.
Which, in a funny way, is precisely how Afflalo arrived in the NBA.
In the course of growing up as a shooting guard in Los Angeles, and starring at UCLA from 2004-2007, Afflalo developed no small amount of admiration for Kobe Bryant.
In predraft interviews, executives say Afflalo talked like a superstar. Executives were blown away by Afflalo’s excessive confidence, complete with talk of making the Hall of Fame, patterning his game on Bryant and the like. That kind of talk is great — from stars. But all indications were that Afflalo was on a course to be a role player. Delusions of grandeur among role players is a leading cause of NBA failure.
Some teams were turned off. The Pistons drafted the All-American (who just missed two NCAA championships courtesy of the Florida Gators) 27th, at the tail end of the first round.
Two years later, the former first-round pick was traded to Denver — with Walter Sharpe and cash — for a measly second-round pick.
But there’s more to the Bryant legacy than tough talk. There’s also an off-the-charts work ethic. And Afflalo got that, too. Finishing up his fourth NBA season, he’s a full-time starter who has been improving for four straight years.
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one of the best interviews you will read about what it takes to develop into a championship-winning calibre team in the NBA.
PS. There were very good reasons yours truly was actually cheering for the Mighty Bruins in, both, the 2006 NCAA Men’s National Championship Final and the 2007 Final Four, and their names were:
2006
Ryan Hollins, Cedric Bozeman, Jordan Farmar, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Arron Afflalo, Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya, Darren Collison, Lorenzo Matta, Michael Roll, and Ryan Wright [from Loyola Catholic Secondary School, Mississauga ON]
2007
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Arron Afflalo, Josh Shipp, Alfred Aboya, Darren Collison, Lorenzo Matta, Ryan Wright, and Russell Westbrook
Unfortunately, those two very good UCLA teams had the misfortune of running into the juggernaut that was the Florida Gators, led by Joakim Noah and Al Horford.
The present “guard” is in the midst of change, in the NBA, and whoever disregards the future role which might be played by several of the high profile individuals who participated in those two specific games from the college seasons of 2006 and 2007 would be well-advised to do so at their own peril.
Good things usually take time to percolate and what’s brewing now in Chicago … with Tom Thibodeau, Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah, Carlos Boozer, Luol Deng & Co. … and Denver … with George Karl, Kenyon Martin, Nene, Chris Andersen, Arron Afflalo, Ramond Felton, Ty Lawson, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov & Co. … respectively,
might just turn out to be something special this season.
At the beginning of the season, a No. 10-13 finish was forecast for the Raptors by yours truly.
Toronto’s next 5 games will all be played away from the Air Canada Centre, where their W-L record, thus far, is 5-27.
|
March |
Opponent |
Expected Result |
W/L Record |
|
Sun 20 |
@ OKC |
L, 0-1 |
19-50/.275 |
|
Mon 21 |
@ DEN |
L, 0-2 |
19-51/.271 |
|
Wed 23 |
@ PHO |
L, 0-3 |
19-52/.268 |
|
Fri 25 |
@ GSW |
L, 0-4 |
19-53/.264 |
|
Sat 26 |
@ LAC |
L, 0-5 |
19-54/.260 |
If the Raptors should be so unfortunate as to go 0-for-5 through this upcoming west coast road trip, then, the chances will be quite good that they can lock up a “worst 5″ finish in the league standings … and, thereby, earn the right to a relatively high selection in the 2011 Draft Lottery.
At that point, there will be tremendous irony in the fact that this team will have gone full circle, under the direction of Bryan Colangelo [i.e. Raptors' President/GM], over the course of the last 5 seasons.
2003-2004, 33-49, C-Bosh [i.e. No. 4 Draft Pick] added
2004-2005, 33-49, R-Araujo [i.e. No. 8 Draft Pick] added
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START OF THE BRYAN COLANGELO ERA
2nd Half, 2005-2006, 27-55, J-Calderon [i.e. UFA] added
Yr-1, 2006-2007, 47-35, A-Bargnani [i.e. No. 1 Draft Pick] added
Yr-2, 2007-2008, 41-41
Yr-3, 2008-2009, 33-49
Yr-4, 2009-2010, 40-42, D-DeRozan [i.e. No. 9 Draft Pick] added
Yr-5, 2010-2011, 25-57, E-Davis [i.e. No. 13 Draft Pick] added
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Yr-6, 2011-2012, ?-?, H-Barnes [e.g. No. 5 Draft Pick?] added?
Whoever the Raptors select in the 1st Round of the 2011 NBA Draft Lottery will most likely play a fundamental role in the development of their franchise for the next decade, either, positively or negatively.
This is what the entire 2010-2011 season should have been about … in the wake of Chris Bosh’s departure last summer … if the Raptors really do want to be able to compete for the NBA championship in the not-too-distant future.
Kodos to Grant Hill for posting the following letter on his official web site …
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I am a fan, friend and long time competitor of the Fab Five. This should not be a surprise because I am a contemporary of every member of that iconic team. I have competed against Jalen and Chris since the age of 13. Jalen, Chris, and Juwan are my friends and have been for 25 years. At Michigan, they represented a cultural phenomenon that impacted the country in a permanent and positive way. The very idea of the Fab Five elicited pride and promise in much the same way the Georgetown teams did in the mid-80s when I was in high school and idolized them. Their journey from youthful icons to successful men today is a road map for so many young, black men (and women) who saw their journey through the powerful documentary, Fab Five.
It was a sad and somewhat pathetic turn of events, therefore, to see friends narrating this interesting documentary about their moment in time and calling me a bitch and worse, calling all black players at Duke “Uncle Toms” and, to some degree, disparaging my parents for their education, work ethic and commitment to each other and to me. I should have guessed there was something regrettable in the documentary when Jay Williams and I received a Twitter apology from Jalen before its airing. And, I am aware Jalen has gone to some length to explain his remarks about my family in numerous interviews, so I believe he has some admiration for them.
In his garbled but sweeping comment that “Duke only recruits black Uncle Toms,” Jalen seems to change the usual meaning of those very vitriolic words into his own meaning, i.e., blacks from two-parent, middle class families. He leaves us all guessing exactly what he believes today. And, I wonder if I would have suggested to former Detroit Pistons GM Rick Sund to keep Jimmy King on the team if I had known, back then in the mid-90s, that he would call me a bitch on a nationally televised show in 2011.
I am beyond fortunate to have two parents who are still working well into their 60s. They received great educations and use them every day. My parents taught me a personal ethic I try to live by and pass on to my children. They remain committed to each other after more than 40 years and to my wife, Tamia, our children, and me. They are my role models and always will be.
I come from a strong legacy of black Americans. My namesake, Henry Hill, my father’s father, was a day laborer in Baltimore. He could not read or write until he was taught to do so by my grandmother. His first present to my dad was a set of encyclopedias, which I now have to remind me of the importance of education. He wanted his only child, my father, to have a good education, so he made numerous sacrifices to see that he got an education, including attending Yale. This is part of our great tradition as black Americans. We aspire for the best or better for our children and work hard to make that happen for them. Jalen’s mother is part of our great, black tradition and made the same sacrifices for him. [more ...]
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in response to what was said in this documentary about the players who attended Duke University …
and developed a rivalry with the Fab 5.
As Coach K states eloquently, at the end of this 2nd video clip, regarding the legacy of the Fab 5, at Michigan University:
“We felt that WE were more of a TEAM. It wasn’t 5 of us; it was 12 of us. I’m not sure that a TEAM should ever take on the character of a group within the team. I felt that that was one of the reasons that it never achieved a National Championship.”
- Mike Krzyzewski [Head Coach, Men's Basketball, Duke University]
Basketball … when it’s played best … is truly a beautiful TEAM game.
According to certain “stat gurus” who dominate the basketball landscape today, either of the following two formulae reflects the proper way to calculate/estimate the number of “possessions” a team has in a specific basketball game:
A. Possessions = .96 * (FGA + 0.44*FTA + TO – OR), or
B. Possessions = FGA + 0.4 * FTA – 1.07 * (OReb/(OReb + OppDReb)) + TO
with:
FGA = Field Goal Attempts
OReb = Offensive Rebounds
OppDReb = Opponent Defensive Rebounds
TO = Turnovers
FTA = Free Throw Attempts
The use of these two formulae is fundamentally flawed, however, since each one fails to represent accurately what occurs in a basketball game … which is composed of three [3] distinct phases:
1. Offense [i.e. what happens when your team has control of the ball];
2. Defense [i.e. what happens when your opponent has control of the ball]; and,
3 Rebounding [i.e. what happens when neither team has control of the ball].
The correct formula to use for calculating/estimating ”possessions” is:
C. Possessions = FGA + TO + FTA*.44
… although different “stat gurus” will try to tell you that Formula C simply represents the number of “plays” in a basketball game for each team.
Until ”possession” totals are calculated/estimated based on Formula C a statistical representation of what occurs in a given basketball game will not be wholly accurate.
Many people spend a considerable amount of time asking the following question:
What does it take to become ‘the best’ in a particular field of endeavor?
Well …
The most complete answer yours truly is aware of includes a rather simple set of 17 character traits:
1 Faith
2 Patience
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Walton has starring role on Kings’ airways
“You can never get to the top if you think it’s just a job,” said Walton, whose son Luke plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. “It has to be your life, and it has to be the most important thing in the world to you as an individual and leader of your team.”
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Coach Wooden’s “Pyramid of Success”
3 Competitive Greatness
4 Poise
5 Confidence
6 Condition
7 Skill
8 Team Spirit
9 Self-control
10 Alertness
11 Initiative
12 Intentness
13 Industriousness
14 Friendship
15 Loyalty
16 Cooperation
17 Enthusiam
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Make these the Guiding Principles of your life and success is sure to follow.
As inocuous as this event may seem to be … at least, on the surface … in reality, it just might prove to be the leading edge of an iceberg.
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Isiah Thomas to serve as Knicks consultant
Thomas, a Hall of Famer with the Detroit Pistons, had a dismal run as team president from December 2003-April 2008, with the Knicks never winning a postseason game despite often having the league’s highest payroll. He was also the coach the final two seasons, getting dismissed after a 23-59 season in 2007-08.
Despite all that, plus that lawsuit brought by former team employee Anucha Browne Sanders that cost MSG $11.6 million, Thomas has remained close to Dolan and Walsh, even while coaching Florida International University, a job he will keep.
In fact, even when he was fired, he didn’t even fully leave. Walsh kept him on in an unspecified role until Thomas took the FIU job.
“I’m excited to once again be a part of the New York Knicks organization,” Thomas said. “I was honored to have been asked to help during the recent free agent recruiting process, and believe that this new role takes full advantage of my skill set as an evaluator of basketball talent.”
The Knicks said Thomas would “assist the team’s senior management in various capacities, including player recruitment.”
He helped the team in that area during free agency, when the Knicks landed Amare Stoudemire. He also was sent to Ohio to talk to representatives from LeBron James(notes), who eventually signed with Miami.
Walsh thanked Thomas during the press conference for Stoudemire, sparking reports that Thomas would return to the organization, perhaps even as general manager.
Before his failures in New York, largely a result on overspending for big names that didn’t work out, Thomas was known as a good evaluator of talent. He drafted Tracy McGrady(notes), Marcus Camby(notes) and eventual Rookie of the Year Damon Stoudamire(notes) in Toronto. Walsh has used him to scout in New York, sending him to Europe to see current Knicks forward Danilo Gallinari(notes).
The Knicks will call on those skills in Thomas’ current role.
“He will provide valuable insight and analysis of young prospects from around the world,” the statement said.
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You Make The Call …
Loading ...Please feel free to explain your answer further in the comments section.
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Update:
#1. Seems as though Jeff Eisenberg was thinking in a similar way to this corner, about this situation with Zeke and the Knicks, when this news first broke [on Friday].
#2. Thomas won’t return to Knicks, afterall.
… and, this small corner of the world mourns today.
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John Wooden, the ‘Wizard of Westwood’ dies at 99
Wooden’s legacy that of an innovator
Legendary John Wooden dead at 99
Wizard’s influence went beyond basketball
Former UCLA coach John Wooden dies
Lakers coach remembers John Wooden
Reaction to John Wooden’s death
“It’s kind of hard to talk about Coach Wooden simply, because he was a complex man. But he taught in a very simple way. He just used sports as a means to teach us how to apply ourselves to any situation.
“He set quite an example. He was more like a parent than a coach. He really was a very selfless and giving human being, but he was a disciplinarian. We learned all about those aspects of life that most kids want to skip over. He wouldn’t let us do that.”
– Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
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We shall not see his kind again.
Kudos, John.
It was a pleasure to have had the opportunity to speak with you in-person.
Your life’s work has taught each of us, “How to become ‘the best’ we are capable of becoming.”
Life Lessons From Coach Wooden
In all the world, there is no greater, or more meaningful, gift than THIS.
Sources: Rick Pitino makes himself a candidate for Nets’ coaching job
As snow swirled outside the Meadowlands on Wednesday night when the Nets played the Bucks, talk about Rick Pitino making overtures to the Nets about their coaching job circulated inside the arena.
Sources close to Pitino said that the Louisville coach has reached out to Nets brass in recent days, making himself a candidate for the job now held by GM and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe, and due to open after their woeful season is completed in April.
According to sources, Pitino had intermediaries recently contact Nets president Rod Thorn on his behalf. Thorn himself is in the final year of a contract, and is looking to get a new deal from incoming owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
A source close to Thorn said the Nets’ president has denied that he spoke to Pitino, while Pitino’s camp insists that “no direct contact” was made between the coach and team. Earlier this week, Pitino and Thorn attended the funeral of Knicks Hall of Famer Dick McGuire.
“Pitino is interested in the job,” said a high-ranking team official, who added that the interest is all one way, coming from Pitino’s side.
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Yikes.
After reading this story earlier today, and then considering that there were all of 1016 actual people in attendance at last night’s Nets/Bucks contest, in the swamp … due, mostly, to the blizzard that hit New Jersey yesterday … these are the thoughts which came to mind:
University of Massachusetts, 1970
University of Hawaii, 1974
Syracuse University, 1976
Boston University, 1978
New York Knicks, 1983
Providence College, 1985
New York Knicks, 1987
University of Kentucky, 1989
Boston Celtics, 1997
University of Louisville, 2001
“The Real Life Story of Frank & Carl“, 2002
?, 2010
At some point … after all the shenanigans are finished … there really does become, “No one else left to call.”
