Fantasy basketball

Its that time of year again and our league's fantasy basketball draft is tomorrow night. Its come around so fast and I've yet to do any work ... no pre-rankings done, no team or player research. Its time to get to work!

There can be a little east coast-west coast rivalry (can you tell I just finished watching Notrious on DVD?) in our league as most of the GM's are in Brisbane but a couple of the players (including the dominant force in the league) reside in Perth.

Last year saw the start of a cash prize for the top 3 teams and I didn't finish in the money. I struggled with injuries, made some bad trades and finished 7th out of 12. This year, its time to get paid.

The draft is the best part of the fantasy season. The plans for tomorrow night are six of us are catching up for Mexican and drinks down at Bulimba and then they're descending upon my place. As we have Perth GM's in the league, our draft is a late kick-off at around midnight our time so there will likely be more drinks here before things get underway.

Note to self: stop drinking before the draft starts so I don't make the same mistake as last year in thinking it ends in round 10 (it actually ends round 14).

Bounce Magazine

I often mention and read Dime Magazine every day but I sometimes forget or only check their offshoot Bounce Magazine weekly, if that.

Catching up on their stuff today tho they had some true GOLD.

First they preview an underground, low-budget basketball movie Streetballers.

Next they had what looks to be a European, almost artistic basketball commercial.

And last but not least they have an in depth look at Cheryl & Reggie Miller. Reggie is one of my favourite shooters and I thoroughly enjoyed his book "I love being the enemy" (until my mum threw out a box of my stuff). If you've never heard the catch-cry "Its Miller time!!" or if you never saw Reggie play ... watch and learn from the below. He was much more than this game but it encapsulates all he was as a player.

One HD ... I love you

Aussie NBA fans were in heaven on Friday night when One HD showed the first of its NBA: Hall of Fame Tribute games. They started with Chicago Bulls vs Utah Jazz in game 5 of the '97 NBA Finals Series ... better known as "the flu" game. FaceBook was full of comments from my basketball friends who were loving Michael Jordan's heroics.

Having been starved of NBA action over the last couple of years I am so looking forward to One HD showing at least three NBA games per week. The classic NBA games are a great way to get fans warmed up for the upcoming season.

If you don't know or somehow don't remember this game, check the footage below.

On a side note, I stumbled across a fashion article earlier. Could this be the only time the phrase "Jordan-esque" has ever been used in derogatory way?

"There were some truly hideous fashion faux pas. Silver sequinned 'pasties', for example, belong in a lap dancing club unless you subscribe to a Jordan-esque dress code."

Thankfully I know they are referring to the British model Jordan (Katie Price), rather than the G.O.A.T, otherwise it would be sacrilegious!

Gold Coast Blaze update

I didn't get a chance to post this on the weekend but it was great to see the Gold Coast Blaze get their first win of the NBL season on Friday night at home against the Wollongong Hawks. I'm sure it was dedicated to team manager Big Joe's birthday the next day!

I didn't make the trip down the freeway this week but the game looked fairly close for most of the night according to the FIBA live stats. It was pleasing to see a more balanced scoring attack from the Blaze this week, not solely relying on James Harvey to get it done. Four players in double figures this week led by import Michael Joiner with 18 and Ayinde Ubaka with 15. Mika Vukona was also active with 10 points, 13 boards.

Now it was good to see Joiner put some numbers on the board after a terrible opener, but I got the news on Twitter last night that he was the first import cut. So it seems his performance on Friday night was too little too late. I put up a story last week about how NBA players get in shape during the off-season and Joiner's lack of fitness was likely the reason for his axing. Click on the title below to read about his replacement.

Blaze make import switch

The Gold Coast Blaze have signed a new US import for season 2009-2010.

Former college and California Pro League player Erron Maxey has arrived on the Coast to replace the departing Michael Joiner.

At 100kg and 6’6”, Maxey is a strong rebounder with a handy outside shot who uses ‘outstanding leaping ability’ to beat taller and heavier players to the hoop.

'We put our team together this year from scratch and, quite simply, the eventual line up left no place for Michael,” said Blaze Coach Joey Wright.

'We've brought Erron in knowing that he is a strong forward and someone who has the leap and reach to block shots all over the court.

“He’s a hard working small forward who can knock down the open perimeter jump shot.

'With our team still developing our own playing style, we knew the sooner we could get him out here, the better,” he said.

Maxey comes to the Gold Coast with a solid reputation as an exceptional athlete, able to dominate bigger players at the post when needed.

Off-season ... time to go to work

I was on Dime this morning and they had a story including a video about Gilbert Arenas and the work he's been doing this off-season to get back in shape after being sidelined for much of the last two seasons.

After that I stumbled across a series of videos on YouTube from what was obviously a TV show last year called "NBA Fit". Its essentially a behind the scenes look at the work-outs that rookies and NBA players did to prepare for last season.

The first series follows the rookies: Derrick Rose, Brook Lopez, Robin Lopez, Jason Thompson and Ryan Anderson. The second series follows Loul Deng, Gilbert Arenas, Jordan Farmar and Glen Davis. Each series consists of 3 episodes, I've just posted one from each series but you can find the others on YouTube. They're well worth checking out in full when you have time. If you're an up and coming player there are a lot of great lessons you can learn from them ... success leaves clues.

I've put up the second video from the second series because it starts with Gilbert Arenas working on his shooting. 100,000 made shots in 70 days ... it takes that sort of dedication to be the best.

Brisbane Bullets ... 1987

When I was on the Wollongong Hawk's YouTube page grabbing the link for the Hammer Drill, I noticed they had some Brisbane Bullets footage from WAY back in the day. It would be remiss of me not to share it as it truly is historical gold.

Key points from the footage:

• I saw Glenn Palmer at the Gold Coast Blaze game on Friday night, I'm not really sure he's aged!
• Darren "Spank" Perry ... ha ha ha, need I say more
• A very young Brian Kerle!
• "The Mushroom" working the Boondall crowd, which by the looks of it is pretty close to full. Kids, that's well over 10,000 fans and listen to them really getting in to it ... ahhhh, those were the days

Basketball shooting

As well as reporting on the NBL and the NBA, the focus of this blog is basketball shooting. Today we have two shooting related stories from the NBL. The first is from the team at the Wollongong Hawks interviewing Larry Davidson about a basketball shooting drill they use. Full credit to Asa and Joel for the video work they've been doing with the team.



And just reward for one of the best shooters in the league, CJ Bruton from the New Zealand Breakers picked up the Player of the Week award for the display he put on in the first game of the season against the Cairns Taipans. CJ was a red-hot 10 of 11 from the field and 8 of 9 from downtown on his way to 28 points. After off-season surgery I expected CJ to ease back in to form on court but he's come out with a bang!!

Bruton wins Player of the Week

New Zealand Breakers star CJ Bruton has ridden a hot shooting streak to capture the National Basketball League’s Player of the Week award for Round One.

Opening the Breaker’s quest to become the first Kiwi team ever to capture a championship in a major Australian professional league, Bruton was instrumental in guiding New Zealand to their season-opening 95-75 win over the Cairns Taipans at the North Shore Events Centre in Auckland on Thursday.

The popular point guard scored 28 points and added five rebounds, two assists and one steal but it was his sizzling shooting performance that really caught people’s attention. Bruton went 10-of-11 from the field, including an amazing 8-of-9 from three-point territory, to form a lethal one-two punch with backcourt partner Kirk Penney.