NBA 2K11 commercials

Thanks to the crew at Dime for pointing out the latest series of NBA 2K commercials. I didn't bother watching the first when it came out, but checked out the second one today and they're pretty funny.

Josh Smith: "Can't eat sushi in Utah brother ... land locked" ... funny stuff

(Edit: added another two vids today)

Kirk Penney gaining international attention

Good to see one of our blog favourites getting some respect on the international stage. After an impressive performance in the World Champs, Kirk Penney has people thinking he can get back in the NBA.

I was pleased to see the following story on Dime this morning, unfortunately no mention of his feats in the NBL, but hey, can't have everything.

Kirk Penney Is Back Banging On The NBA’s Front Door | Dime Magazine (dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

By Aron Phillips

If you look at the Top 5 scorers from the World Championship this summer, it probably wouldn’t surprise you that all of them currently play in the NBA. That is, all of them except one. So while Luis Scola led the field with 27.1 points per game, it was New Zealand’s Kirk Penney (24.7 ppg) who scored more buckets than even Kevin Durant.

You may remember Penney from his All-American days at Wisconsin. But after brief stints with the Heat (2003) and the Clippers (2004), along with stops in Israel, Lithuania and Germany, he found his way back home.

This past season, Penney (6-5, 212 pounds) joined up with the Sioux Falls Skyforce in the D-League right before the playoffs and rained murder on his opponents. For example, in only his third game back, Penney dropped 40 on 16-23 shooting (5-6 from three) to go along with eight rebounds and two assists. After his impressive outing in the Worlds, he definitely deserves another look from the NBA.

2010 NBA Free Agent movement

In what has likely been the biggest summer of free-agency in the NBA ever, its easy to miss a few names changing uniforms. Sure, everyone knows about the LeBron and Bosh decision, Amare moving to NY but there are so many other less well-known stars whose change will impact the upcoming season. If you haven't been following the NBA news closely, Dime have you covered. Click on the title below to read the full breakdown on the contracts signed and who has gone where.

Dime’s 2010 NBA Free Agent Tracker | Dime Magazine (dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

By Dime Magazine

Just how many NBA free agents will be on the market this summer? Put it this way: Even if two of the three best players in the world weren’t part of the pool — i.e., LeBron James and Dwyane Wade — 2010 might still qualify as the most important free agent class in League history. Look around the NBA right now; most teams only have a handful of players actually under contract, while everyone else is either looking for work or having work come find them.

So if you need help keeping up, we’ve got your back.

For Dime’s 2010 Free Agent Tracker, we put together the master list of every free agent in the League, then we broke them up into tiers: From the franchise-caliber superstars down to the guys scrapping for jobs who could find themselves in Europe or the D-League next season. Throughout the free agency period, we’ll keep the list updated with info on who is talking to which teams, who’s signed, who’s sealed, and who’s delivered.

TIER 1
Franchise superstars. You don’t just build teams around these guys, you build championship-caliber teams. They aren’t just the face of your franchise, they’re the icons who may end up with their statue outside the arena someday.

* LeBron James — Signed 6-year, $110 million deal with Miami
* Dirk Nowitzki — Signed 4-year, $80 million deal with Dallas
* Paul Pierce — Signed 4-year, $61 million deal with Boston
* Dwyane Wade — Signed 6-year, $107 million deal with Miami

All hail the champs

Yes, I know it was over a week ago ... but I'm a Celtics fan and it was hard to watch the Lakers come from behind to win the NBA championship. Games recognises game tho and the Lakers were the better team.

Boston had their chances but some cold shooting and a lack of rebounding saw them lose the final two games and miss their shot at another title. Full credit to Boston for making it this far and pushing the champs to game 7, no one expected the Celtics to go deep in the playoffs, let alone having every chance to win.

So what's next for the aging Boston Celtics? Aron Phillips from Dime breaks it down here.

If you haven't been on NBA.com recently, they've really stepped up their video footage and highlight packages and are producing "mini movies". Here is the mini movie for game 7 and the Lakers winning of the title.

Steve Nash's top 10 assists

Thanks to the crew at Dime, I stumbled across this Sports Illustrated "Hot Clicks" highlight package of Steve Nash's top 10 career assists. Its my boy Steve Nash so I had to share it ...

WWTSM

While reading Dime this morning I came across a post about a new Steve Nash shirt in honour of his one-eye game. Looking a little deeper in to the website selling the shirt I came across this comedy GOLD!

Who Wants to Sex Mutombo?

$20-$25

One night Dikembe Mutombo walked into a Georgetown bar and the place went silent. Dikembe responded, “WHO WANTS TO SEX MUTOMBO?!”

Available Colors: Black, Navy Blue

Available Styles:
Men - Fruit of the Loom Classic, American Apparel
Women - Gildan Classic, American Apparel Slim Fit

Top 10 NBA plays of the year

Thanks to the crew at Dime for pointing this out, the NBA have announced their top ten plays of the year:

MVPuppets - Mystery of the missing VII

The MVPuppets are back in a new series of Nike commercials. Thanks to the crew at Dime for bringing them to the attention of those not in the US.

Nick Van Exel

Its been a good month or so of stories for "my boys". First there was the "where are they now" story of Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf, then Tim Hardaway gets his number retired by the Miami Heat and now there is a story about Nick Van Exel.

Dime has it in the "where are they now" section but its more just a story about him and the player he was. He never really disappeared but click on the story below and you'll see that he's now coaching. There's also a good highlight package but Nick was in the days before YouTube so the quality of it isn't great.

I fell in love with Nick's game from his days in college at Cincinnati when the NCAA used to be shown late at night on the ABC. Even tho I'm a Celtics fan and Nick played for the Lakers, I just loved his swagger, ball handling and his clutch, no-conscience shooting.

Where Are They Now: Nick Van Exel | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers:

“Soprano the rock, handle like Van Exel” – Jay-Z

There was a reason why Hova would name drop Nick Van Exel’s name in a verse. Nick the Quick was everything you wanted out of a small guard: a smooth south paw stroke, crafty dribble moves, great court vision and money in the clutch. And best of all, everything he did, he did it with style.

Van Exel had swagger, played with flash and loved to talk trash on the court. You either loved him or hated him. Like Tim Hardaway and Isiah Thomas, he could fill out highlight tapes without going above the rim.

A second round pick out of Cincinnati in 1993, it wasn’t long until Van Exel was a starting guard in the NBA. In his first five seasons with the Lakers, Van Exel and Eddie Jones brought back “Showtime” to the L.A. by forming one of the most exciting young backcourts in the NBA at the time. Van Exel was also on the Lakers during the early part of the Shaq and Kobe era. He made the All-Star team in 1998.

So instead of a highlight package, here's a good story about Nick I hadn't seen before:

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.

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.

NBA tidbits

Its still the off-season in the NBA but its not long to go until pre-season and the date for our league's fantasy draft is now being discussed.

Here are a few tidbits from the NBA over the last few days and they are about a few of our favourite shooters.

1. This from the FIBA European Championships:
... Ersan Ilyasova continues to outshine Hedo Turkoglu for Turkey, putting up 22 points and 11 boards in a win over Serbia, while Hedo had four points (1-16 FG), four steals and seven rebounds
1 of 16 Hedo? OUCH!! Having owned him in my fantasy team last season I know he's a slow starter but that's baaaad even for the off-season.

2. Thanks to Twitter I found out Ray Allen is playing hide-and-seek with his fans, hiding pairs of shoes around the place and leaving clues on Twitter as to their location. He has said he'll be doing this all season ... if only Ray would come to Australia.

3. Last but not least, our boy Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf got a mention on Dime today. They've been doing a "where are they now" story each week on former NBA players and it turns out Mahmoud is off to Japan next. Even at the age of 40, its great to know that Abdul-Rauf is still doing what he loves and no doubt still searching for perfection. Click on the title below to read the full story.

Where Are They Now: Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

Nobody who followed basketball in the ‘90s could ever forget the name Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. Some may remember him as the high scoring, diminutive guard with the silky-smooth shooting touch. But chances are, most just associate him as the guy who refused to stand during the national anthem in 1996. At that time, he was possibly the most controversial and hated athlete in all of sports.

Abdul-Rauf, born Chris Jackson, had overcome enormous obstacles to get to the NBA. Growing up, he had battled extreme poverty and Tourette’s syndroume, which is an inherited neuropsychiatic disorder that results in uncontrollable body movements and tics.

Basketball Hall of Fame

The big news in the basketball world was the induction of Michael Jordan in to the Basketball Hall of Fame. Joining the great one in this year's class were John Stockton, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan & Vivian Stringer.

The crew over at Dime spent much of the weekend talking about the entrants and the ceremony. Most of the articles are 2 or 3 pages deep now.

John Rillie was one of the few that wasn't so focused on MJ, instead talking about his fellow Gonzaga, alumni John Stockton. Click here to read his thoughts about one of the best point guards to ever play the game.

Twitter ... I didn't want to, but

I've previously said I would avoid the Twitter fad but today I relented ...

Prompted by a post from John Rillie about his trip to Darwin to follow the Top End Challenge I decided to take the step and sign up. It seems that if you want to stay up to date with what's really happening, especially in the sporting world, Twitter is now a must have. The crew at Dime virtually fill half of their off-season smack with Twitter updates from players.

After "following" JR, I tagged a number of others in the basketball world (both NBL & NBA) to keep up to date with. So far I have:

• Patty Mills
• Kevin Garnett
• Shaq
• Stephen Curry
• Steve Nash
• Mark Cuban
• Andrew Bogut
• Big Joe
• Joe Ingles
• Shawn Marion
• Troy Murphy
• Luke Schenscher
• Chris Webber
• Kevin Durant
  

Speaking of Luke Schenscher, its great to see that he's just signed with the Perth Wildcats instead of heading to Europe. He had a great season and I'm looking forward to seeing him build on that this year.

I'm getting a new mobile within the next week so I'll now make sure I can get one that I can tweet from.

Shaq on WWE Raw

After my post yesterday about the off-court action of Rick Fox, today is about a present-day NBA star and what he gets up to during the off-season.

Sure, he should be spending more off-season time at the free-throw line than visiting the White House or tweeting so often, but Shaq is a born entertainer and did what he does best, hosting WWE Raw on Monday night.

I used to be right in to wrestling, back in the days of The Rock, Stone Cold and Bret Hart. Yes, I think its one of those stages that guys go through in their 20's and eventually I grew out of it. I justify my enjoyment of it by explaining that its sports entertainment and its the male equivalent of a soap opera (characters you follow, story lines, drama, etc). I still watch it occasionally, just not as regularly as I used to.

For the wrestling fans out there, a few of my favourites were: Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Diamond Dallas Page, Bret Hart and The Rock.

Anyway, thanks to the crew at Dime for pointing it out, here's Shaq being the guest host of Raw:

Stephen Curry

Coming in to the draft, I'd heard about Stephen Curry. He was described as the "best shooter" in the draft and that's probably when I started to take a bit more interest in him. I've mentioned it before but a good basketball shooting tip is to watch great shooters in action, success leaves clues.

As I don't get to watch college basketball (although with One HD now I will be able to next season) and I tend to follow the NBA from a fantasy basketball perspective, I don't usually take too much interest in rookies until they have proved themselves in the big show. I didn't even realise until last week that Stephen is the son of former NBA great Dell Curry.

As mentioned last week, I was able to watch the NBA draft for the first time and heard the angry NY crowd go nuts as Curry was drafted by the Warriors, who got to pick before the hometown Knicks. I heard Dickey Vitale numerous times throughout the coverage shower praise on Stephen and say that the team's who didn't draft him were crazy and that he would definitely win Rookie of the Year.

So today, with the phone not ringing in the office, I decided to do some more research in to Stephen Curry.

Firstly, here's an excerpt from a great article by the crew at Dime (click on the title to read the full story):

Stephen Curry: Lethal Weapon | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

“Nothing about my success here over the last three years has changed me at all, because I live in the moment,” says Curry. “I’m not worried about what’s going to come next. I’m not worried at all. I do everything one step at a time, and I try to be as confident doing so as possible.”

For Stephen to achieve everything he sets his mind to, he needs to believe it completely. And right now, he believes that he can do anything. That mantra is inscribed on the forefront of his sneaker, penned as “I Can do all things…” (Editor’s note: The full quote is “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:13) Tomorrow won’t come across his radar until tomorrow. But when it rolls around, know that he’ll have the same confidence and faith that he has today.

And here's some video footage of him in action:

NBA draft mistakes

I'm still shaking my head that Patty Mills slipped to 55th in this year's draft. 55th?? CJ Bruton got drafted 53rd by the Vancouver Grizzles back in '97 and NO one was talking about him in the lead up to that draft. Mills meanwhile had made some of the top guards looks silly (and slow) in Beijing.

Anyway ... I have to move on and I'm hoping Mills turns his pain in to motivation, makes Portland's roster and then seeks revenge on the team's that passed him over (read: every other team in the league).

Speaking of draft mistakes, thanks to the crew at Dime and NBA Mate, I came across the following articles about the worst picks in NBA draft history. First is this from NY Daily News and then The Sport Count picked their 10 worst draft picks of the last 10 years.

Its funny looking through those lists and remembering watching some of the busts in action. An interesting thing you notice tho ... how many of those busts are guards?? Ummm, I don't think any, they were all power forwards and centres. The old addage goes, "you can't teach height" and maybe this is why NBA execs are so keen to believe the next "big thing" is in fact a bigman ... but obviously, quite often it isn't.

NBA Draft '09

Yesterday was a mix of emotions ...

The good, was getting to watch the NBA draft "live" as it happened on channelsurfing.net. This is the first time I've ever been able to actually watch the draft and it was great! It would've been even better if I knew more of the players but now that I have One HD I'll get the chance to watch more college basketball from now on.

The bad, was waiting and waiting and waiting as team after team failed to pick Aussie Patrick Mills. I was e-mailing friends updates and we were all shocked and amazed at how far Patty fell. By the time we got to the second round of the draft, I was literally shaking my head as I watched team's pick players not named Mills, random euro-players that have done nothing on the world stage, players that would be "shelved" for a couple of years until they were more ready for the NBA. Meanwhile, Patty Mills who has proven himself on the world's biggest stage at the Olympics against the USA and the rest of the world's best, had to wait until pick # 55 when his name was called by the Portland Trailblazers.

I wasn't alone in my shock at the fall that Patty took, he was believe to be going mid to late in the first round. Check out the live draft coverage from Dime yesterday and all the comments about Mills ... sure, they were all probably Aussies, but that's not the point. LOL

Here are some highlights from the early picks in the 2009 NBA Draft:

NBA Draft '09

Its been a week since I last posted ... can you tell its pretty quiet in the basketball world right now??

In the (new) NBL, teams are signing players and getting themselves organised for the upcoming season. There are still plenty of announcements yet to happen and plenty of quality talent waiting to get picked up (John Rillie anyone?).

In the NBA, since the Lakers took care of business in the NBA Championship Series a little early, all the talk at the moment is about the upcoming draft. From an Aussie perspective, there's plenty of interest around Patrick Mills and if he will go in the first round. Then, once his name has been called, the interest surrounds Joe Ingles and where/when he'll be drafted.

Hopefully Patty will be picked up a team that can give him some minutes straight away. Ideally a team with a good point guard that he can learn from. As for Ingles, the question is whether he'll be signed to a contract by his team or if he'll be the next Brad Newley/CJ Bruton (drafted but yet to play in the NBA).

John Rillie found a couple of interviews with Patty and Joe, click here to check them out.

The team at Dime have had plenty of stories about the draft so check out their site and stay up to date with everything that's happening.

Free throws ... the importance of

Other than being just about basketball, the focus of this blog leans towards the shooting aspect of the game. Whether its free-throw shooting, three-point shooting, clutch shooting, we've got it covered.

I've talked many times about the importance of free-throw shooting and why its vital that you spend hours at the line working on it. I've highlighted the truly great free-throw shooters (Ray Allen, Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and many more) and how you should watch and learn from them.

Well last night's game 4 of the NBA Championship Series has again got everyone talking about free-throws as Orlando hit just 22 of 37 (59.5%) from the line and went on to lose the game in overtime. Most people are pointing to Dwight Howard's two missed free-throws in the final minute of regulation which would've given them the win ... but Hedo Turkoglu was just 8 of 13 (61.5%) from the line. Hedo is an 80% free-throw shooter over his career so was it the pressure of the situation that got to him? If either of them just make one more free-throw, they win this game and level the series at 2 - 2, instead they're down 3 - 1 and it looks like they're done.

Dime had a good piece about the situation on their website, I've included an excerpt from it below. Click on the title to read the full story. PS. Great to see them giving up the love to my boy Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf!

Coaches don’t miss free throws | Dime Magazine (www.dimemag.com) : Daily NBA News, NBA Trades, NBA Rumors, Basketball Videos, Sneakers

NBA big men are traditionally below-average free throw shooters, and while you can chalk that up to hand size, range of motion in the shoulders or whatever, I think it’s really just because nobody expects them to be that good. From the time they’re in high school, they don’t practice free throws as much as a guard would practice. If you’re getting tough buckets in the paint, winning your team extra possessions by battling for rebounds, and blocking a couple shots on top of that, it may seem like a lot to ask to also turn into Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf from 15 feet away. But because every big man can point to Wilt Chamberlain and say, “He only shot 51 percent from the line,” it’s acceptable to perform at a lower standard than other players.

And here’s the problem, particularly for somebody like Dwight: He takes A LOT of free throws. Because of his size and skill, teams have to foul him close to the basket. Throughout this series it’s been clear the Lakers made it their game plan to not let Dwight get those soul-crushing dunks on them, especially in Orlando, where he can whip the crowd into a frenzy. Kobe and everyone else in purple would rather bear-hug Dwight and tackle him before letting him get a dunk. And a lot of teams would do the same. During the regular season, Dwight led the League with 10.8 free throws per game (59% FT). In the playoffs, he’s been taking 10.2 free throws per, second behind LeBron James (14.2 FT per game). And, true, up until last night, he’s been pretty good in the Finals from the stripe.

But Howard, and every coach that he’s ever played for and will ever play for, knows damn well he’s gonna be put on the line often. He’s going to have to hit some free throws in crunch time. So why should he be held to a lower level of expectation than the Nick Andersons, Darius Washingtons and Derrick Roses of the game? If any perimeter player bricked those FT’s in Game 4 — and Lord help us all if it were LeBron or Kobe — nobody could “live with” those misses.

If you missed it, here are the highlights from the game