NBA London

This time last year I was hiking across France, Belgium and Germany following the NBA Europe circus. This year I didn’t have to travel very far as they were on my doorstep at the phenomenal O2 Arena. Having seen Prince twice in the last month in Greenwich I wondered how the atmosphere would be in the place once called the “Millennium Dome”. Let’s face it the British Basketball fans aren’t the best in the world at creating the loud presence found in all football stands throughout the country. Maybe it’s because in the last few years there is not much to cheer about in our professional game.

As I was working for FIVE I was unable to mingle amongst the fans and get a good feel for the game. However there was an electric vibe in the arena, way better than what I’d witnessed in the Cologne Arena in Germany the previous year. I suppose the sea of green supporters had a lot to do with that as the Celtic fans are sniffing championship. After an awesome pre-season shopping trip by Doc Rivers and GM Danny Ainge; the Boston boys acquired 2 All-Stars in the shape of shooting Guard Ray Allen and the extraordinarily talented 7 footer Kevin Garnett. They will team up with the Celtics own All-Star Paul Peirce and will hopefully live up to the hype.

One thing is for sure; all eyes will be on this Boston team as they look to bring the “Celtic Pride” back to the East by making it all the way to the NBA finals. However Boston fans should proceed with caution! This is a huge gamble by the club; yes it will fill the Garden every night and do the same when they are on the road, but fans, GM’s and team will have to pray to the basketball gods, imploring them to be delivered safely to the finals. As I mentioned in last weeks telecast, these boys are one injury away from collapse as this team is not very deep once you get past the big 3.

What people are failing to mention is that it is important for the rest of the team to step up – big time! Rajon Rondo is the most important player of that supporting crew, he has the job of leading the team and distributing the ball (evenly) to the scoring machines he has at his disposal. So I am figuring that he will earn himself many free meals from his superstars! After all they must keep him happy and playing confidently and in a manner way above his potential! June is a very long road!

Portland Choose...........

If I were a betting man I would have said that (and I did say), the Suns would have definitely won this year’s play-offs!! But that debacle in game 3 which sent Amare and Boris packing for game 4, literally handed the Spurs their 4th title in 10 years.

As for the finals between the Cavs and Spurs – this could only be described as ‘yawn-ball’. It was quite dead. Cleveland didn’t help things by continually getting blown out in the first 2 quarters. This prompted everyone in the US to switch channels and watch the final episode of the ‘Sopranos’. Meanwhile fans in the UK opted on an extra couple of hours sleep before work the following day.

It won’t be long before Lebron is doing a Kobe and screaming for reinforcements! His Cavs, shot their load to get 4 in a row against the Pistons - this meant empty tank when they travelled to Texas. Speaking of the Pistons, Billups is going to pimp himself in the NBA market this summer, as he attempts to secure his final lucrative deal. GM Joe Dumars, knows he’ll have to pay big if he is to secure the services of the sought after point guard.

With the draft coming up on Thursday evening, Portland are failing miserably in their attempts to try and bluff everyone into thinking that they are “still” deciding who to take with their 1st pick. After passing up on Michael Jordan in the ’84 draft (they took Sam Bowie who was a bust!), they will not take any chances this year and go with Greg Oden, the solid centre form Ohio State. OK – you can’t go wrong with the second pick as Kevin Durant is no scrub! I think that it is fair to say that forwards come around more often than a legitimate game changing big man like Oden.

I look forward to the list on Friday morning, to see who goes where; this is supposedly the deepest draft since ’84 and ’85. It will be interesting to see which players will get their opportunity to shine.

Been A While....

I know very slack you are thinking.....wrong! So much hardwood action so little time so here goes:

BBL - I can't really tell you what's going on in my own backyard, but I do know that my boys in Guildford are representing by winning trophies.


All-Star Weekend - Damn I had a good time (from what I can remember). Yes I agree it should be there every year! Shout out to the man that found my wallet!!

Old Skool Rapper - Thanks DMC of Run DMC for banging on my hotel room at 10am in the morning for an interview. Appreciate you giving up your time and showing the UK crew some love.

English Schools U14's Final 8's - Bad luck to my Lanfranc High School players, they fought hard and the broken leg to shooting guard Matthew Waldron was real bad timing. To the referee who thought he was trying to get one over me, beware I may follow thru like Kobe next time!

NY Knicks - So you won more games this year than the previous season, well done. Now learn to play D and get into the play-offs! I can only wish.

March Madness - I thought both Patrick Ewing and John Thompson had retired?! Don't get it twisted - both the aforementioned off-springs are showing that they have that winning DNA. So in 2007 we are privileged to witness Hoya Paranoia all over again. Knocking off UNC in the process!

NBA in the UK - Robert Parish came by to promote the US invasion we will experience in October of this year. Spoilt for choice with NFL, NHL and the NBA won't need to look for cheap flights in the pre-season, as the sports over there will be over here!!

MVP Race – Nash or Dirk? You decide!

Bring On 2007!

So here it is in a nutshell. The Knicks decide to have a lil’ brawl with less than 2 minutes remaining; in a ball game they were getting waxed-up by 20-points. The man at the helm, Mr D Stern hands out some harsh sentences, letting the players (and owners) in the league know that this kind of behaviour will NOT be tolerated!

Carmelo Anthony got slapped with a 15 game ban for his sucker punch he threw at New York’s Mardy Collins. JR Smith and Nate Robinson both got hit with 10 games. With other suspensions handed down it seemed like doom and gloom for both New York and Denver. No way! After that the Knickerbockers go on to beat one of the hottest teams in the NBA, the Utah Jazz; squeezing out a buzzer beater with an undermanned squad. To prove it was no fluke they beat Charlotte and another tough team, the Chicago Bulls! Giving head coach Isiah Thomas something to smile about, as he is under pressure to turn his ball clubs fortune around.

Meanwhile in Colorado – Melo is gone for 15 games, so head coach George Karl comes up with a gem, he trades his point guard Andre Miller (and some 1st round picks), for AI, Allan Iverson. So Coach Karl has the job of looking after and coaching the two highest scorers in the league. It will be interesting to see him do it!

Even though AI and his people have refused me interviews over the last 8 years, I still like his style. Having recently had conversations with him off the record, Iverson is just out there trying to win. He’s a hard worker contrary to what’s been said about him in the press. Let’s face it, if he was as lazy as they say he wouldn’t be that good! When all is said and done, he will still remain one of the top 50 greatest players that has ever graced the hardwood!

2007 - hold on tight cause here we go!

Barca Baby!!

Having been on air for the last month, staying up every Tuesday night until 6am, I really needed to recharge my batteries. A trip to Barcelona was the perfect remedy - a good way to see some hoops, experience good weather and eat in really nice Tapas restaurants!

The plan was to watch DKV Joventut as Andy Betts, Andrew Sullivan and Robert Archibald are all members of the squad clocking major minutes. But in recent weeks Betts has been sidelined due to injury. Archibald is coming of another off-season knee surgery and is being rushed back due to Betts’ untimely sick note. Meanwhile Andrew Sullivan is currently playing a very undersized power forward position; hence not clocking the kind of minutes he has been accustomed to.

On my arrival DKV Joventut were on the road in their Euroleague match-up against Lottomatica Roma on Thursday night. They lost to the Italian side 71-69. My return flight was scheduled for Sunday morning, so I was unable to catch their ACB league encounter against Etosa Alicante; which they won by a comfortable 81-63 margin.

Having not seen the guys play I had to at least call them to see how they were getting on in Spain. Apart from the obvious injuries and lack of court time, the English cats seemed very upbeat and in good spirits. Their team are currently 2-2 in Euro play and 6-4 in their domestic league, so it’s not all bad news.

I did have time to catch-up with Ed Scott. Ed (a budding young coach), is now working for FIBA Spain and is based in Barcelona. We chilled at Starbucks on Las Ramblas and parlayed about world basketball, the UK side to be precise! Agreeing this is where we would like to see things develop.

Ed and I kicked it for a couple of hours whilst I chugged on a Mocha Frappaccino. As my trip in Spain came to an end, it was time to hit the road and head back to the howling wind and rain of South London!

Now fully recharged and ready for a full week, I have the NBA match-up of the Knicks @ Bulls on Tuesday night to look forward to. Bulls are failing to live up to the hype as they sport a rather dismal 4-9 record, whilst my New York crew are just continuing on their downward spiral from last season. They are the proud owners of a 5-10 record, which is not good news for Coach and GM Isiah Thomas! It will be interesting to see how the soap opera in the Big Apple develops…

BBL Experience

Having been a part of the BBL for quite some time, I now find myself in the wilderness. First, there is no local team to visit. The London Towers have gone on a year’s sabbatical and the Brighton Bears are hibernating. To compound the issue the marketing of the BBL is quite poor (bordering on non existent), so I no longer know what’s going on in the league unless I make a couple of phone calls.

This weekend I had one such call which prompted me to head to my old stomping ground, Guildford. The Heat faced Tony Garbs’ team, London Utd. Driving to the game it became clear in my mind that I was not supporting the BBL (that’s crystal clear). I was supporting the young English talent which make up the nucleus of both teams. Having coached most of their players at some stage in their careers, it was easy for me to relate to both clubs; therefore hiking to the game was not a chore. This however would have been the case if I could not identify with the players in anyway.

Apart from the Heat blazing Garbs’ crew by 13-points, Guildford were up as much as 20 at one stage. The officiating at the game was 'piss-poor'!! I thought it was bad in my day as a coach – but what I saw on Saturday was just simply atrocious! At one stage London’s Phillip Perry and the Heat’s Chad McKnight had a verbal confrontation during a timeout at mid-court. An official stood in front of them drinking water and said nothing. This confrontation was one of many the two were having throughout the course of the game. The question I asked was, ‘why are you allowing this situation to escalate?’ As we’ve seen in the past, if the referees don’t take control, the trash talking will undoubtedly turn ugly!

I can only hope that my return to a BBL match-up in the future is a little more enjoyable. It was great catching up with the guys after the game; I have much love for both teams and their coaches. However, the whole English professional league is far from where it needs to be, in the mid to late 90’s it was huge, to see it degenerate into local league is not something you want to witness.

Stern Rules!

New season, new attitude, new rules… new ball.

Banned this year are tights, also there is to be no showing of any emotion whatsoever, if you do? Just ask Rasheed Wallace, Mike Bibby and others. The zero tolerance rule has got players on edge as it seems any reaction is a free pass for an early shower. The aforementioned players found out in the first week of game-time in the NBA. All were shown the red card in the first couple of quarters of action.

I am all for discipline, following the rules and having respect for the officials; however I don’t feel it should be to the detriment of the game. Fans pay big money to see stars - the excitement and the emotion of a basketball game. Most would feel thoroughly disappointed and cheated if they only saw their stars play for a couple of quarters, due to some ref getting his feelings hurt.

I expect there to be some revolt or reassessment of the situation. Throwing out T’s like Frisbees isn’t going to the help the cause from a player’s standpoint, or indeed the fans.