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Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts
Showing posts with label basketball. Show all posts

Friday, March 7, 2008

The NCAA and the NBA: Interlocked

Several decades ago, the drafting of players by the National Basketball Association was afforded only to those who have already passed and graduated from their collegiate classes. This arrangement was found to be a mutually favorable affiliation between the NBA and universities or colleges. This way, the universities and colleges mainly held only onto players who otherwise went toward the professional basketball league. By the same token, the NBA did not need to fund minor leagues.

However, basketball games in the collegiate levels developed commercialization overtime. This progress made it even more difficult for student athletes to take on their responsibilities as regular students. Particularly, statistics reflected an overwhelming growth in the number of under-educated and poor, yet extremely talented youth basketball players. This finding created an exploitative image for the NCAA and NBA-adopted system.

In an effort to resolve this setback, the American Basketball Association started employing players who have not graduated yet from their college classes. Because of this, a legal conflict ensued up to the Supreme Court of the United States regarding players who were drafted to the NBA. In the legal battle, players insisted their need for the job in professional basketball to support their family. In 1971, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the NBA did not hold an "antitrust exemption" that Major League Baseball did. Thereafter, collegiate players belonging to the economically deprived were permitted early entry unto NBA Drafts. The requirement on hardship was then abolished five years later.

The past three decades marked a noteworthy change in collegiate games. Many American international basketball players skipped college routinely. This group included Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnett, LeBron James and Tracy McGrady; and Carmelo Anthony who played one year in college basketball. Notably, the annual NBA draft had only selected a few college graduates among its sixty players selected.

There are much fewer high school basketball aspirants that directly progress unto the professional basketball league without at least a year of involvement in college basketball starting in the year 2006. This system cites some maturity concerns following disputes over young players. To be eligible, labor agreements between league owners and basketball players now stipulate for players to turn 19 years old within the draft's calendar year. Players from the U.S. are required to be a year, at least, when removed from graduation in high school.

Undisputedly, the popularity of college basketball in all states in the U.S. is largely attributed to the huge number of graduates from universities that hold major basketball conferences. College basketball is also kept alive by the NCAA's advertising of their "March Madness," which officially is NCAA Men's Basketball Championship for Division I. Though certain commentators argue that the high turnover of players increases the need for good coaches, numerous teams achieved unprecedented success by putting ample emphasis on "personality" in their recruiting programs. The NCAA organizers have also disclosed their goal to create cohesive groups that play together for four years, which develops higher sophistication, that other teams with less stability are deemed to achieve.


About the Author:

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Article Source: http://www.therealarticles.com

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Phoenix Suns GM Steve Kerr pays a visit to Brent Barry

Brent Barry, who was surprised at the San Antonio Spurs move to trade him to Seattle for Kurt Thomas may soon become a Phoenix Sun. The Sonics acquired him with the plan to release him last Friday. Barry will clear waivers today and can sign with any team but San Antonio, which must wait 30 days after the trade to do so. Barry, 36, has told his suitors - Phoenix, San Antonio, Houston, Dallas and Boston - that he will commit to a team today but has not yet done so. Phoenix GM Steve Kerr has let Barry know how much the Suns organization wants him. Kerr even personally paid a visit to Barry's home to convince him to sign with the Suns. Phoenix could use another three-point threat like Barry who would automatically open up their spacing on the floor.

Yao Ming out for the rest of the season

The Houston Rockets who have been on a row lately and are currently carrying a 13 game winning streak have learned that their star player Yao Ming will be out of action for the rest of the season as he has a stress fracture in his left foot. This leads to the question - can the Rockets win a championship without Yao Ming? Some have even stated that the Rockets are better off just losing a lot of games so that they can get a better lottery pick next year. I personally think that's a crappy way of thinking and I do not think they can win it with out Yao Ming but, heck, you never know, you got to give your all. Even with Ming in the line up I still don't think Houston would have a chance this season to even make the conference finals against the tough West. Just can't see them getting by the Spurs, Suns or the Lakers and feel that they may even struggle against some of the other teams. But to call it quits on the season - NEVER - You just never know.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Kobe's Lakers VS Shaq's Suns = Big Television Ratings

On Wednesday Kobe Bryant and the Lakers traveled to Phoenix to battle Shaquille O'Neal and the Phoenix Suns. The rivalry between the Lakers has been a great one and with the addition of Shaq to the Suns it made the rivalry even bigger. It was a basketball game that I just couldn't miss and I wasn't the only one because it has been reported that the game had the third highest television ratings for a regular season game in the history of the NBA. The two teams gave us a game to remember as it went down to the wire with the Lakers getting the win at the end. Both Kobe and Shaq gave us a few highlights too. It was a great game!

Monday, February 18, 2008

2008 NBA All Star Game

The NBA All Star game was held in New Orleans minus Kevin Garnett and a little, just a little of Kobe Bryant. The game was actually a game though as it went down to the wire with Ray Allen and Lebron James sealing the East 134-128 win in the fourth quarter with there marvelous play. Ray Allen had 28 points and got three point happy in the fourth quarter. Lebron James scored 27 points, had 8 rebounds and 9 assist good enough to win him All Star game MVP honors for the second time in 3 years, remember he is only 23 years old. The guy who won last years All Star game MVP honors only played three minutes in the game, sort of a cameo appearance. Yes, that man is Kobe Bryant who is nursing his dislocated pinkie finger and thought best to rest for most of the game which was fine with the West coach and former Lakers team mate Byron Scott. New Orleans hero and home town favorite Chris Paul had an excellent game scoring 16 points and sharing the ball plenty with 14 assist.

UNO - NBA All Star Eastern Conference Version in Tin Case

UNO - NBA All Star Eastern Conference Version in Tin Case


UNO - NBA All Star Western Conference Version in Tin Case

UNO - NBA All Star Western Conference Version in Tin Case

Thursday, February 7, 2008

Shaquille O'Neal traded to the Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns have traded for Shaquille O'Neal and have given up three time All Star Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. The blockbuster deal gives the Phoenix Suns a natural center, giving Stoudemire a chance to move back to his natural power forward position. The trade will also heat up the Lakers-Suns rivalry. The Lakers who have gotten the best of the Suns this season so far have one of the top young talents at the center position with Andrew Bynum. With Shaq in the middle, Phoenix will have a big man who will help battle the Bynum's and Duncan's in the West. Sure, Shaq is not close to the player that he once was but when his injuries heal and he comes back just his giant presence in the middle will have a big impact on opponents who try to drive up the middle to the basket. Shawn Marion finally got his wish as he asked to be traded before, but did not get his wish. Marion is a three time all star who Miami hopes will be the first piece in their rebuilding process around Dwayne Wade. Phoenix GM Steve Kerr has made a big move in his first year as the Suns GM. If this move does not get Phoenix to at least reach the NBA Finals he will face some massive criticism, if it does work he will be a hero.

Fleer Orlando Magic Shaquille O'Neal 1992-93 Rookie Card

Fleer Orlando Magic Shaquille O'Neal 1992-93 Rookie Card

Tuesday, January 22, 2008

What happened to the Miami Heat

What is going on with the Miami Heat. It was just yesterday that they were the NBA Champions and now in the 07-08 season they are the second worst team in the league with an 8-32 record and have lost 14 games in a row at this moment. I'm sure some Miami Heat haters have got to at least feel a little sorry for this team, to go from so high to down low that quickly is just painful for anyone to watch.

Shaquille Oneal is just not the same Shaq from the past and his dominant career may possibly be over. The guy is just averaging under 15 points a game. OK numbers for any other center but not for the self proclaimed 'Man of Steel'. Shaq will be 36 years old this year and I just don't see him going much further.

Dwayne Wade is still doing what he does best. Wade is still a great player but has become one of your great player on lousy teams kind of guy now. Without a dominant center in the middle Wade may have to go through what Kobe went through when he lost Shaq. Kobe has spent years suffering and trying to get the Lakers into a championship caliber team, this despite being the best player in the NBA. Kobe would manage to get the Lakers into the playoffs all the time but they would just never get to far. Up until the 2007-2008 season Kobe has struggled but seems to now have now learned how to win without Shaq. Dwayne Wade will need to do the same thing. Wade being young and the great player that he is will learn too, guaranteed.

Nba Miami Heat 2005-2006 Champions-Special Edition

Nba Miami Heat 2005-2006 Champions-Special Edition

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Lebran James Ticketed For Speeding

Cleveland Cavalier superstar Lebron James got a speeding ticket for his 23rd birthday. On December 30 at 3:00 AM State Highway Patrol caught Lebron James flying at 101 MPH in a 65 MPH zone. He said that it was no big deal and that he just made a mistake and got caught. When asked if he would speed like that again in the future he said "I don't know, maybe at times".

May be no big deal until you kill someone!



Upper Deck Cleveland Cavaliers

Lebron James 2003-04 Historical Beginni

Upper Deck Cleveland Cavaliers Lebron James 2003-04 Historical Beginni

Monday, January 14, 2008

Joakim Noah benched by teammates

Recently Chicago Bull rookie Joakim Noah was benched. Not by the league or the coach but by his teammates. That's right - his teammates! It was an unanumious vote by his teammates. It all started when Joakim got in a confrontation with assistant coach Ron Adams. The team punished him as he was inactive in the Bulls game against Philadelphia. Teammates felt that was not enough though and voted to have him benched for their next game. It has been reported that other things have led up to this such as Noah being late often and not doing what the rest of the Chicago Bulls do. Who does he think he is? Dennis Rodman? The Bulls did a good job in disciplining the kid, there is no Michael Jordan around so you just have to take it as a team.

The Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls

Friday, January 11, 2008

L.A. Lakers - Big Surprise This Season

Today is January 11th, 2008 and the Dallas Mavericks hold the best record in the West with a 24-11 record. The Phoenix Suns have the second best record at 25-11, no surprises so far as we expected these two teams to be were they are at this time of season. Third best record in the West belongs to the San Antonio Spurs at 23-11 but they are not alone, tied with them for the third best record is the Los Angeles Lakers.

Who would have thought! The Lakers have been one of the biggest surprises this season. It just seems like yesterday that Kobe Bryant no longer wanted to play on Los Angeles anymore and demanded to be traded, I'm sure he is glad that the Lakers never followed through with his demands. There are two reasons that the Lakers are were they are at so far this season.

#1: The Lakers bench - They have been very consistent this season and are one of the best benches in the league. Farmar, Walton, Radmanovic, Vujacic & the rest of the gang have all been getting the job done. Seems like there is always someone who steps up when needed.

#2: Andrew Bynum- The emergence of this youngster is being noticed by the rest of the NBA this year. Mitch Kupchak who has been criticized a lot for his decisions since taking over as the Lakers GM may have made a great decision here in not trading Bynum when many teams were making great offers for him. One offer was a Jason Kidd for Bynum trade, very tempting but Kupchak said no and La La Land is happy about this one. Also seemed like Bynum woke up when Kobe Bryant was publicly criticizing him.

The Lakers have a good shot at making the Western Conference Finals this season but there is one team I just can't see them getting by - The San Antonio Spurs.

Ewatch Los Angeles Lakers Team Logo Watch

Ewatch Los Angeles Lakers Team Logo Watch

Thursday, December 27, 2007

Become a better free throw shooter

Your team is down by one in a crucial basketball game and you get fouled with two seconds left in the game. You can end it by making the two free throws so hopefully you can shoot them like Reggie Miller because if you can't and shoot them like Shaq O'neal then chances are you'll probably only tie the game or even worse make your team lose the game by missing both.

This is why shooting free throws is such an important part of your game and many just don't practice enough. Lots of times the win-loss result of a game is because of free throws.

One thing that helps someone is repeating the same behavior pattern before you shoot. A regular task so to speak that will help your concentration and focus. A player might dribble the ball three times before he shoots a free throw and not doing so would completely throw his focus out of
wack. One might lift his hands in the air a few times before he shoots it. One might touch his cheek a few times. Look at mostly all the great free throw shooters and they all have a ritual before they shoot. It could even be a saying to yourself, even a prayer. Doing this will bring familiarity each time your at the charity strike and will really help alot.

Another thing to do is to visualize in your mind what you are going to do before you do it. When you see the basket going "Swish" through that net in your
mind there is more of a chance that it will happen.

Also trust in yourself, this kind of goes back to the visualization but you must have self confidence. If you look at a player like
Shaq O'Neal he has completely lost confidence and just knows that he will never be a 80% free throw shooter. He has worked with the best trainers and still can not shot free throws - Don't ever let that happen to you, there is always room for improvement. Don't delay and hesitate when you shoot, this will not help at all. Just do it! You just seen yourself swishing it so do it!

You might also want to pat yourself on the back after making y9our free throws. Feel good about it, go ahead, feel a little cocky. I remember once I shot 1000 free throws, not all in one day but I would keep a pencil and keep track. I ended up making 690 out of them and was very disappointed. I always thought I was a better free throw shooter than that. After capitalizing on what I've mentioned above I ended up making 880 the next time around. Shooting free throws became automatic and I just knew that I could not miss.

Confidence is a big thing with free throws. When I made the 690 lots of times I would miss one free throw, get down on myself and
visualized I would miss the next one, guess what, I missed the next one. Sometimes I would miss 5 in a row because of the lack of confidence, that it why I was a 69% shooter. At times I would hit 20 in a row and then miss 5 in a row. Do that and your only a 75% free throw shooter!

Just practice the principles mentioned above and before you know it you'll be a great 90% shooter. I know you can and so do you!

Monday, December 10, 2007

Pat Riley wins his 1200th NBA game

Miami Heat coach Pat Riley became only the 3rd NBA coach to ever win 1200 games as his Miami Heat beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday afternoon in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. He joins Don Nelson and Lenny Wilkins. If you want to measure how long they took to reach the milestone, Riley has done it quicker than Nelson or Wilkins. It took Pat Riley his 1842nd game to do it. That's 248 games quicker than Don Nelson who is next on the list. In 24 years of coaching Riley has 5 NBA titles under his belt, 4 with the Los Angeles Lakers and 1 with the Miami Heat.

"It's those kind of moments that you'll always remember, good and bad," said Riley, who began his career with the Lakers and also coached the New York Knicks. "The first 600 (533) were here in Los Angeles — a lot of great players, guys. You know all of them. Dwyane thinks I'm extinct, but that's OK. That's what he said to me in there."

Riley of course was talking about Miami Heat superstar Dwayne Wade. It kind of made it special that Riley reached his mark right in the city that it all started for him in the 80's as he took over as coach for one of the best teams ever to play basketball, the showtime Lakers led by Magic Johnson. He then went on to coach the New York Knicks until finding a place in Miami.


Wednesday, December 5, 2007

NBA Coaches to wear Microphones

On Wednesday it was announced by the NBA that coaches in ABC, TNT and ESPN will have to wear microphones during the game. They will also have to do in game timeout interviews. It has been noted that players will also be asked to wear a mic but then can decline. The NBA coaches have no choice in the matter. As you might have expected, NBA coaches are not thrilled with this whole idea.

Detroit Pistons coach Flip Saunders said he believes rules for other leagues are more liberal. In baseball, he said, managers have the option of wearing a microphone, and in the NFL, each coach must only do so once a season.

"I'm not a fan of it," Bulls coach Scott Skiles said. "I'm told to do it, so I do it. I think it's unnecessary. It's not going to hinder me from doing anything.

"I look at it from a player's perspective. You try to get guys to communicate with the coach, but now the coach is miked. I don't know that I'd be that comfortable being frank with the coach if I knew he was miked and it could be on TV. Quotes get taken out of context. And people make judgments on those quotes."

Skiles revealed the league's new microphone plans Thursday but asked not to be quoted, because he wasn't sure if the information was ready to be released by the league.

Jeff Van Gundy of the New York Knicks, another microphone-leery coach, got it basically right when he told reporters on Monday that "Everybody wants to do their part to get the ratings up, but how much is too much? People buy a product because of the product, not the packaging."

The NBA has told coaches that inappropriate remarks will not be aired and strategy not divulged. David Stern, the NBA commissioner who is now engaged in damage control, said that coaches could always turn off their microphones for a stretch if they were going to address a sensitive topic.

That is all fine and fair in theory, but most of the coaches comments will still be heard and filtered by someone who is not a member of their teams. If something sensational has to be edited out, whose to say it won't be passed on or whispered on later? If something tactical has to be edited out, whose to say that rival teams won't find a way to get some access to it?

With all that said. Why don't they just let basketball be basketball. Why do we want to hear what the coach or even at that, what the players are saying. Just let me watch the game!


Friday, November 30, 2007

Boston Celtics looking at history books with 104-59 win over New York Knicks

The Boston Celtics and New York Knicks were trying to make history in yesterdays game. Well, maybe the New York Knicks weren't trying but they still found themselves in a historical setting. Everyone knows that the Boston Celtics are a great team this year but WOW! They beat the New York Knicks 104-59 Thursday, that's right 104-59! They won by 45 points! This doesn't happen everyday to a professional basketball team. The Knicks only scored 10 points in the third quarter. No Knick starter scored over 10 points, Jamal Crawford had the most for the starters with only 8 points, Richardson had 7, Marbury, Curry and Randalph had 4 each. The Knicks leading scorer was Nate Robinson who came off the bench for 10. When the first quarter was over the Celtics lead was 27-16 (up by 11), at haltime the Celtic lead was 54-31 (up by 23), at the end of the third the Celtic lead was 82-41 (up by 41) and the game ended 104-59 (a 45 point victory). This game was the Knicks third worst lose ever and the second least points they have ever scored in a game since the shot clock came into existence. It was the Celtics sixth biggest victory and the biggest since a 153-107 over the Baltimore Bullets in 1970. With the soap opera going in New York this may have been the official ending to Isiah Thomas job in New York. "We take two steps forward and one giant step back," Thomas said. "I don't know where this game came from. I thought we played extremely selfish tonight ... Definitely didn't see this type of game coming after the last two games we played. This was just not a good night." Knicks guard Stephon Marbury had this to say "Of course I am embarrassed. We lost by nearly 50 points, I'm angry. I'm always angry when I lose, but that was just flat-out embarrassing. To lose that bad was just ridiculous." Boston's big three all sat out the fourth quarter. Garnett left the game in the third quarter when Boston was up 69-34. "I can't even remember having that much rest," Garnett said. "It's good, because we have back-to-back games. Rest is important at this time." Paul Pirce and Ray Allen both had 21 points a piece for Boston in the game. Eddie House actually hit a 3-pointer to give Boston a 50-point lead, 93-43, with 8:53 to play in the game. This game was definately one to remember, unless of course your a New York Knick fan.

The last time a team won by 50 or more points was March 18, 2007, when Houston beat the 76ers 124-74 in Philadelphia.

The largest margin of victory in the shot-clock era is 68, when the Cavaliers beat the Heat 148-80 in Cleveland on Dec. 17, 1991.

The Knicks low game is 58 points on Dec. 15, 2000, against Utah.

The low for a Celtics opponent in the shot clock era is 57 points scored by Milwaukee at Providence on Feb. 27, 1955.