The basketball world lost a great one today.  Maybe I'm being a bit dramatic, since Bill Walton didn't die, but Broadcast Bill Walton did die today.  The Big Redhead announced his retirement from broadcasting, after a life-threatening back injury kept his voice off the air for the past couple of years.  He now plans to "dedicate the rest of his life to service".  A classic Walton pronouncement if there ever was one. 

He was the most unlikliest "media member" as there ever was.  A counterculture figure in the 1960s and 70s, with a long ponytail, a disdain for the media and a bad stutter, the thought of Bill Walton as a broadcaster back in those days would have been unfathomable.  But he proved to be more than adequate at it, showing off a love and understanding of the sport rivalling anyone's.  Walton was at his best while working with sparring partner Steve "Snapper" Jones, where the two would have a verbal tête-à-tête over the course of the telecast.

I'm probably in the minority stating that I am going to miss Walton.  The reason I loved Bill Walton so much as an announcer was his uniqueness.  This shouldn't be surprising, considering he was (is?) a vegetarian, wrote a book on cycling, is a devout Deadhead and used to rock a poner.  The guy was cut from a different cloth than most of his peers.  This led to him not being afraid to voice his opinion, as ridiculous as it could be at times.  And the disdain and anger (especially from Snapper) that he stirred up in his broadcast partners was great entertainment.  Sure he was prone to hyperbole, but I always got the sense that most of it was done tongue in cheek (if not then I guess I was laughing at him, not with him).  But what was most enjoyable about listening to Walton commentate a game, other than the obscure language he used to describe the proceedings, was that his immense love for the sport (and for Elgin Baylor) was always apparent.  Even though injuries cut his playing career (and now broadcasting career) short, Walton never stopped loving the game and wanted to share his love and knowledge of the sport to the rest of us.  Your voice will be missed (at least by me), William Theodore Walton III. 

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Dick Vitale must be rolling over in his grave (What?  He's not dead yet? I thought he would have spontaneously combusted by now while screaming BABY on an ESPN telecast.). no comments

There are a couple of sure-fire ways to get a crowd to explode during a basketball game - a monster dunk or a big-time block. Nice assists and buzzer-beating threes are nice and all, but dunks and blocks are for basketball what gratuitous violence and sex are for TV and movies. It's crack cocaine for the hoophead. So here's your fix, from last night's NBA action courtesy of Shannon Brown and Dwight Howard.

 

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The NBA season begins anew tonight, but North America's basketball playing comrades in Europe have already begun. And one of The Hoops Manifesto's favourite players, Regal Barcelona's Ricky Rubio, is up to his old tricks once again. Here are some jaw-dropping highlights from Barcelona's game versus Ricky's old club, DKV Juventut.

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It's almost over. The boring, meaningless preseason NBA schedule concludes tonight, and then I can start paying attention to the NBA again. However, just because the preseason is meaningless doesn't mean it is bereft of exciting plays. Here are the top 10 from this year's preseason sked.

 

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How can a simple pair of shoes cause so many problems?  Air Jordans might be the epitome of style on the court, but they've caused tons of turmoil throughout their quarter century of existence.  The first pair of Air Jordans were banned by the NBA due to their colour scheme, so Michael Jordan got fined each game that he wore them.  Then in the 1990s kids started murdering each other over pairs of the shoes.  Now Jordan's youngest son, Marcus, has been roped into the latest controversy.

If you haven't heard about this story yet, here it is in a nutshell - Marcus Jordan is a freshman with the University of Central Florida's basketball team.  Central Florida has a sponsorship deal with adidas worth about $2 million per year that requires all of the school's athletes to wear adidas apparel.  Junior MJ says that during his recruitment with the school he was given permission to wear his family's brand of shoes, Air Jordans, while playing with the team.  Now adidas says that no such deal was made with the school, Marcus still insists he will be wearing Air Jordans on his feet when he hits the court with the team, and Central Florida is stuck in the middle.

There are really only three potential solutions to this snafu - Marcus gives in and wears adidas shoes (he already has stated that he will wear all the rest of the team's adidas gear - just not the shoes), adidas gives in and allows Marcus to be an exception to the sponsorship deal or Central Florida lets Marcus wears the shoes without adidas' blessing.  The problem is, with this story becoming such a newsworthy item, none of the parties involved are going to want to appear weak and give in.  Marcus doesn't want to betray his father and his family's company.  adidas doesn't want to allow him to wear the shoes of his choice because the exception could become the rule and players all over the country could start doing the same.  And the school obviously doesn't want to relent because they would break their contract with adidas and could be kissing $2-3 million a year away.

But this conflict has far greater implications.  This conflict is all about how hypocritical the NCAA is when they state that their participants are "student-athletes".  If this was indeed the case, shouldn't Marcus Jordan be free to wear whatever shoes he felt comfortable wearing?  If he was an employee of the school and was told what type of shoes he had to wear, that would be a different story.  Now, you could argue that the school technically is paying Jordan to play for them via his scholarship.  But are students attending college on academic scholarships told what type of laptop they have to use?  No, this is all about the NCAA and its universities making billions of dollars off of the backs of amateur athletes.  Marcus Jordan and all the other "student-athletes" are nothing more than slaves to their universities, used to shill their sponsors' products and make their schools money.  Television revenue, ticket sales, video game sales, apparel sales - it all adds up to billions upon billions of dollars earned off of amateur athletes that are paid nothing.  There is nothing wrong with Central Florida earning sponsorship money from adidas or anyone else.  However, it is wrong if they lied to Jordan during his recruitment and it is wrong that they have allowed this to become such a public issue, with an 18-year-old kid stuck in the middle looking like the bad guy, all because he doesn't want to be a walking advertisement for a rival company of his family's.

So don't be mad at Marcus Jordan for holding his school to their promise to allow him to wear Air Jordans.  Even if the school hadn't promised Jordan this concession during his recruiting, he still should be allowed the right to wear whatever shoes he wants to on the basketball court, as long as they do not hinder his performance in any way.  No, this isn't about Marcus Jordan not being a team player - this is about the hypocracy of the NCAA.

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You've probably heard this already, but NBA 2K10 is as realistic a basketball video game as there's ever been. While that is a positive for most people, it turns out to be a negative for me. My created player gets blown by on defense, gets cut from teams and generally struggles to make positive contributions on the court. Far too similar to my own basketball career.

 

All kidding aside, all the hype leading up to (and since) the release of this game was well deserved. It truly is a fun, realistic and exciting basketball game. The graphics are stunningly authentic, from the player's facial features to the way they move on the court. This is due to the Signature Play feature, which combines a player's Signature Style, Signature Tendencies and facial expressions to make it like you are watching a real game on TV. The gameplay is easy to get a grasp off, with the controls both on defense and offense feeling very natural. All the gameplay modes you'd expect are in the game (franchise mode, quick games, situations, etc.) with the added bonus of every mode being available to play online also (if you feel the need to get beat down by some 10-year-old from North Dakota).  And the online feature helps keep your game up-to-date, with updated rosters, stats and player ratings streamed into your game to make it even more realistic than before. Another new feature in the game is the Crews one, which allows you to get a bunch of friends, create a team together and go online to duke it out versus other Crews. Unfortunately, due to my social ineptness and subsequent lack of friends, I wasn't able to try this feature out myself. But anyone who isn't a quiet loner like myself should enjoy this aspect of the game.

It is probably a waste of time mentioning all of the different play modes of the game considering once you've tried out the My Player Mode you won't want to play anything else - it's that addictive. The premise is very simple - build a player and try to guide him to the NBA, through the summer league, training camp and D-League. And if you played NBA 2K10: Draft Combine a few months back, you can upload your created player from that game into this one. So my 6'6" power forward from Canada is alive and well in the D-League as we speak (he's just grown a red Afro and beard, in case you're wondering).

The most difficult thing about NBA 2K10 is trying to come up with some negatives about it. I'm not a fan of the various camera angle options for the My Player Mode nor a huge fan of the soundtrack (probably because I'm an old man now and not part of the game's key demographic). And having my favourite player of all-time, Kobe Bryant, on the cover kind of makes me feel ill.  Other than that, no complaints.

Since the game is cheaper at Amazon ($52.99), and I'm always looking out for my beloved readers, here's a link:

 

  

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They might not win a whole lot of games, and they definitely won't make the playoffs, but man are the Oklahoma City Thunder going to be a fun team to watch.  The amount of young talent this team has is extraordinary - Kevin Durant, Jeff Green, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka - all exciting players, all in their early twenties.  They're going to turn the ball over alot, and miss alot of shots, but the Thunder will be entertaining for sure.  Especially that Durant kid, who did this recently to my fellow Canadian, Joel Anthony:

The only team that might be able to challenge OKC in the best-young-talent department is the Golden State Warriors, whose ranks include Andris Biedrins, Stephen Curry,  Monta Ellis, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph and the oft-injured Brandan Wright.  In fact, looking at that list of talent, the Warriors definitely have more young talent than the Thunder.  However, that being said, the Thunder are in a much better position to capitalize on this talent.  You see, the Thunder don't entrust their young talent to a mad scientist, contrarian coach like Don Nelson, who seems poised to pack up and retire on a whim.  And they don't appoint as team captain a player who fires guns in strip club parking lots, brawls in the stands in Detroit and likes to demand trades.  So the Thunder and the Warriors, despite having similar levels of young talent, couldn't be more night and day.  With all the turmoil surrounding the Warriors, there is no way that team and its young talent will be able to succeed and develop properly.  You see, young players are like children in the fact that they need structure, stability and good role models in order to excel.  The Warriors are lacking in all three categories. 

Meanwhile, hidden in middle America, the Thunder should blossom.  No drama.  Out of the glare of the national media.  No big name coach that will steal the headlines (dare you to name their coach without looking it up first).  A few veterans on the team that will be good examples to the young guns plus won't take up too much of their playing time or shots.  A star player who has a great personality, wants to work hard on his craft and seems to be as down-to-earth as you will find among athletes.  Assuming Kevin Durant doesn't injury himself riding a moped or gets into a gun fight at Covergirls, OKC's future's so bright they gotta wear shades.

The moral of this serman - while you need talent to win in the NBA, character also counts (and don't trust someone with a gun tattooed on his stomach?).

 

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Growing up I never was much of a Larry Bird fan. Perhaps it was because I didn't start seriously watching basketball until the late 80s, but more than likely it was because I prefered the aerial exploits of players like Michael Jordan. Regardless, I do respect the man for what he is - a legend. And as this recent video shows, The Legend can still stroke it.

 

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Good news!  I was recently reminded of one of the major reasons why I think the preseason sucks - unbridled optimism.  Probably the thing that annoys me the most about the preseason is when players make ridiculous predictions on how their team is going to do the upcoming season.  We've had some asinine ones so far, like Caron Butler stating that the Wizards are title contenders and Shaq claiming that the Cavs are the best team he has ever played on.  We won't even bother given either of those crazy statements the time of day.  However, Al Harrington's boast that the Knicks will make the playoffs this season is worth delving a little deeper into.  Now I hold Mike D'Antoni and his mustache in the highest regard, but the playoffs?!  The Knicks?!

But, the more I thought about it, I wasn't able to dismiss Al's claim as insane, especially considering the Knicks play in the Eastern Conference.  It probably is insane, but I wasn't willing to admit that until I did some research into it.  Time to find out if Al Harrington is a prophet or a raving lunatic?  And because I am such a kind and benevolent writer, I'm letting you come along with me on my journey for the truth!  Thank me later.

First off, let's eliminate the teams the Knicks have no hope in finishing ahead of in the standings without an Act of God occurring (which includes, but is not limited to: LeBron failing a gender test and being forced to play in the WNBA instead; Dwight Howard getting kryptonite poisoning; Rasheed Wallace getting so angry at a replacement referee's foul call that he spontaneously combusts and his shrapnel takes out Rondo, Allen, Pierce and Garnett).  Cleveland, Orlando and Boston I'm giving passes into the playoffs.  That leaves five more open spots.  Atlanta made the second round of the playoffs last year and have since added a very underrated Jamal Crawford to their roster, so they're getting in.  Four spots left.  Washington, while no title contenders like Crazy Caron claims, made serious upgrades to their roster over the offseason so, even if Gilbert Arenas ends up injured again, they should be strong enough to make the postseason.  Three spots left.  Toronto had a better record than New York last season and the addition of Hedo Turkoglu should make them even stronger, so I'm giving them a spot.  Two spots left.  Dwyane Wade carried Miami to the playoffs himself last season and with a year of experience under his belt Michael Beasley should be better equipped to share some of the load with Wade in 09/10.  Miami is getting in.  One spot left.  Chicago lost Ben Gordon, but they could be an even better team with a more experienced Derrick Rose leading the way.  I'm giving them the final roster spot.  I also think Philadelphia and Detroit are better teams than New York.  That would leave New York in 11th place.  Also known as the lottery.

Verdict: Al Harrington is a raving lunatic.

 

 

 

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