Poor Man's Commish _{(aka "dreambLogue")}

Why I love Olympics basketball

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 03:51:00 +0000

Mohammadsamad Nikkhah of Iran.

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This is very similar to one of my NBA Vegas Summer League pieces where I admit that I love watching Summer League.

Devout dreamleaguer Andre Liu is currently in Beijing with tickets to the preliminary round of men's basketball (lucky S.O.B.!). Incidentally, I found a nice blogger giving cool first-hand accounts in Beijing. Sam Williams of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce thinks he saw the Italian basketball team at the local market, but Italy is not represented in basketball this Olympics, men's or women's, so it had to be some other tall group of Europeans.

I'm doing the next best thing: catching the games live on nbcolympics.com. Of course, you'll probably need a computer with an up-to-date chip -- my old Pentium III yields choppy video, but good thing my wife has a Vista machine -- and for the Russia vs Iran game, the bigger-screen version wouldn't load, getting stuck on "Buffer=60%".

But here's a hint in case that happens to you. Click on the upper left-hand icon to get to the smaller 4-screen splits, and the tiny version of the video seems to stream okay. You'll have to squint, though.

The video stream is quite refreshing because there are no announcers and you can hear the squeaks, clanks, swishes, and players/coaches barking. In the Germany vs Angola game, you can hear the German coaching staff yelling stuff in English. In the Russia/Iran game, you can hear Russian point guard J.R. Holden tell teammate Andrei Kirilenko, "Go through, Andrei!"

ASIDE: Speaking of J.R. Holden, why hasn't the Chinese or Iranian team picked up a point guard ringer like that? Kinda reminds me of some of our Asian American leagues or tournaments: "Oh yeah, he's a quarter-Filipino." You know what I'm talkin' 'bout, people!

ASIDE II: Holden is playing the most minutes for Russia! And his name on the roster has been all "Russian-ized": "Dzhon-Robert ZHolden" (I guess there is no "J" in Russian and maybe you can't start a word with "H"?).

ASIDE III: In the Olympic uni number 1 thru 15 format, Dirk Nowitzki is wearing #14, the reverse of his Mavs' #41. Kirilenko is #7, the 2nd half of his Jazz #47.

Sure, without announcers you won't get to know the players very well unless you open up another browser window and navigate to the game rosters (you can see the uni numbers pretty clearly), but you're watching high-level, un-adulterated basketball in its purest form.

No distracting cheerleaders, no stupid pet tricks, no trampolines aiding normal-sized people dressed in tights to make slam dunks. Hardly any commercials! You stay at the scene during almost every break and soak in the music and, okay, every once in a long while, some dancers will come out, but they're too small on the screen to see. It's not like there's a camera-man ogling them.

And the crowd cheers every basket, no matter what team. Nobody boos -- well, to be truthful, there's some guy yelling, "Brick!" when a German shoots a free throw. Overall, the fans are there to root for good play, nice hustle, and guys giving their heart and soul for no pay. Just doing their best to represent their country.

Ah, refreshing! I highly recommend you check out a game or two.

Even the Chinese music (cool stuff, very catchy, very hip-hoppy at times) during timeouts make you feel like you're there.

Still, "Lucky Liu" has got it better right now. I'll try to direct him to this blogpost so he can give us some quick insights in the Comments below.

Vegas Summer League report

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 18:14:00 +0000

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Just got back from Vegas and witnessing the Vegas NBA Summer League, one of my new favorite pasttimes.

Here's a list of blog entries I did on Golden State Of Mind, in chronological order...

Why I love Summer League

A rave review of Jerryd Bayless

Completely disagreeing with TrueHoop's assessment of Arron Afflalo

A collection of notes from Day 7

Anthony Randolph perhaps marking a new Mully-ball era

My highly acclaimed Randy/Marco follow-up (15+ recommendations!!!)

Scathing scouting report of DJ Strawberry

Man-crush scouting report of Dominic McGuire

Interesting observation that the Knicks epitomize the NBA circus

And closing thoughts in the Summer League Wrap-Up

Oh, and here's the direct link to all my posts at GSOM...

http://www.sbnation.com/users/dreamleague/blog.

Whew! I'm tired...

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Silicon Valley Celtics

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Mon, 16 Jun 2008 20:23:00 +0000

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I love reading stories on how NBA teams were purchased or the quirkiness of owners and ownership groups. You know, just daydreaming about if it's even remotely possible something like that could happen to me or another dreamleaguer.

Those of you in the Bay Area may have recently read the San Jose Mercury News article by Scott Duke Harris about the ownership group of the Boston Celtics, which is comprised of some venture capitalists from Silicon Valley. My favorite quote is about renowned VC Jim Breyer and how he used to be the paperboy of one of his senior partners of "Banner 17" (read the article if you want to know why it's called that)...

"I was the Sunday Boston Globe delivery boy for the Grousbecks,' recalled Breyer, now better known as an early investor in Facebook and a director of Walmart.com. "I remember that they gave me excellent tips at Christmas."

There's actually a better article written a few weeks earlier in the Wall Street Journal by Peter Lattman. My favorite quote...

Is this good business or good fun? It depends who you ask. Earlier that night, Mr. [James Pallotta], the hedge-fund investor, described his investment philosophy above the din of the Boston crowd:

"Am I hoping for a return? Are you kidding me? I don't care if I ever get my money back. I used to sneak in when I was a kid. It's much better to be able to walk in through the front door."

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NBA China: 12 arenas

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 22 May 2008 04:15:00 +0000

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This is really staggering news. Last week, John Lombardo of the SportsBusiness Journal reported that NBA China has entered the following agreement with AEG...

The two will join forces to develop and operate up to 12 arenas in China, representing another key step in the NBA’s vision for its own league in Asia, while adding more facilities to the global expansion effort under Tim Leiweke at AEG.

Who is AEG? Well, let's just say the Staples Center is one of the many different sports arenas around the globe that they run (yeah, 'nuff said).

Logic would dictate that the NBA expects to have at least 12 franchises in various cities in China. Oh yeah, and with only the Beijing Olympic arena built, NBA China with its projected Chinese audience is currently worth -- I kid you not -- $2.3 billion!...

Read the rest of the story

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NBA's "There Can Be Only One" split-screens revealed

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Fri, 16 May 2008 22:55:00 +0000

(Click here to see the Kobe/Shaq split-screen commercial)

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[From Stephen B. Snyde in the Un-bulletedHoop chronicles...]

Here's another one that BulletedHoop...er, TrueHoop, missed.

Brian Helfrich of the SportsBusiness Daily interviewed Goodby Silverstein & Partners’ Jamie Barrett, one of the creators of the split-screen spots.

I've been wondering how they pulled that off. Here's the secret:

The director team, [Jonathan] Dayton and [Valerie] Farris, used a nice little trick where we prerecorded each script and had the players listen to the recording in their ear while performing, so they didn’t have to use a TelePrompTer. When you see Kobe Bryant, for example, deliver the “Fear” script, he has a pea-sized earplug and he’s listening to the script and repeating it as he hears it. It actually happens to be my voice, because I read it with the pacing that we wanted so it would time out the right way and have the right pauses.

One thing I noticed is that they had to time the eyeblinks perfectly. I'll bet Barrett had to say, "Blink," as well in her scripts.

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Chris Paul "uncivilized" with Right Guard

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 15 May 2008 21:48:00 +0000

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[Stephen B. Snyde reporting from our new Un-bulletedHoop files...]

Remember those Right Guard commercials with Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen back in the day where Sir Charles would say, "Anything less would be uncivilized!"?

Well, according to Terry Lefton of the SportsBusiness Journal, Chris Paul just signed with Right Guard, now owned by Dial Corp. via sale by Gilette in 2006. The "uncivilized" campaign was under a different advertising firm, so chances are, Paul's Right Guard commercials -- targeted for later this year -- will probably not be a sequel to Barkley's and Pippen's.

Paul is respresented by Octagon and currently only endorses Nike Jordan brand and 2K Sports.

Incidentally, where was this little nugget in BulletedHoop...er, TrueHoop? I don't know about you, but I'm increasingly disappointed by TrueHoop to the point that I'd start a rival blog called TruerHoop, if not for the facts that TrueHoop is already a trademark, and -- mind you -- ESPN ain't payin' me a fulltime salary. I'll save that for a rainy day rant [insert Stephen A. Smith glare here].

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dreamleaguers rejoice: Erik Spoelstra!

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:42:00 +0000

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Remember when what's-his-name was named coach of the Miami Heat the other week? You said, "Ho hum, see ya later (again) Pat Riley, who's the whipping boy this time? Oh, it really is some boy. Whatever."

Well, I think you need to reconsider that. So last month's post here on dreamblogue commented on Rex Walters, legendary Asian league baller, becoming head coach of USF in NCAA's D-1.

Who woulda thunk that another Asian-American (Filipino, in this case) would trump that by being named head coach of the freakin' Miami Heat by none other than hall-of-famer Riley. Please welcome Erik Spoelstra!

Nick Vicera wrote a great article in Filipinas Magazine two years ago on Spoelstra, who actually started out as the Heat's video coordinator. It even closes with Spoelstra saying this:

"...there is one thing that I am definitely interested in doing in the future, and that is helping develop basketball in the Philippines. I have been talking recently with the NBA about me putting together basketball clinics in my mother’s home country, hopefully in one of these next couple of off-seasons. It will be a wonderful chance for me to see some of my family over there and get reconnected with my roots"

You da man, Erik, you da man. (Props to Joel Sales, Sr. for referencing the above article.)

And not only does the man respect his bloodlines, but he also seems to be a very humble, smart, down-to-earth, and common-sense guy, interviewed by Kerry Eggers in the Portland Tribune:

“A lot of people are saying that [I was Dwayne Wade's personal coach], but I don’t want to overstate it,” Spoelstra cautions. “Really, it’s a relationship that has developed over Dwyane’s five years in Miami. It’s really been more because of him, because he is so determined as a player to improve...”

...Player relationships are one reason many believe Spoelstra will succeed as Miami’s head coach...

...Spoelstra would like to be more up-tempo with the offense, “but it will depend upon the personnel we gather throughout this summer,” he says. “We have a young, athletic core. I would like to find ways to take advantage of that. It doesn’t mean running up and down wild and at random, but I would like to take advantage of the speed and athleticism by attacking early in the (shot) clock and in transition.”

Mr. Spoelstra, I think you just picked up about 2,000 fans from dreamleague over here.

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More Asian Americans on the rise in college ball

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 15:00:00 +0000

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There are maybe three or four "franchises" in the history of organized Asian American basketball leagues in the USA: (1) the Japanese-centric Nippon Athletic Union of Northern and Southern California, borne out of the Japanese internment camps of World War II, (2) the Chinese National Tournament borne out of the East Coast, (3) the IndoPak tournament circuit, and (4) the East and West Coast Filipino leagues started by immigrants to large metros.

Guess what, perhaps Asian American basketball's greatest player ever has returned home. Rex Walters was named the head coach of USF yesterday (Rex is 50% Japanese, 50% Caucasian).

This is a little eerie because I was gonna post our NYC commish's recent article on some ballers of our Asian league/tourney circuits of today -- from the potential of Xiro Navaulath, to the token-Asian-guy-at-a-world-class-program Matt Lee, and the steady starter of a small D-1 Jeremy Lin, who actually has not appeared in an Asian league/tourney yet (...and props to Ryan Reyes, although we are talking about D-1 here, not pro) -- who have made it to the D-1 level.

And just last week I also recently came close to hiring a new ref in our Bay Area league, Joe Belfry (he called me back too late, but you'll see him soon in stripes on our courts), former teammate of John Tofi. Tofi started at UTEP and is now, according to Belfry, playing professionally in Italy.

Here's the report from NYC... Read the rest of the story

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Gun violence overlaps into our basketball community (again)

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 21:43:00 +0000

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I'm almost too depressed to type this. I think I'll just do a little stream of consciouness -- I can't really think about organizing paragraphs and coming up with a good way to express this. When someone you know dies and you know you will never see that person again, let alone say hello to him/her, that's a bitter pill to swallow. When that someone dies by gun violence, simply put it just feels worse. And I can hardly imagine how it feels when that someone is someone close to you, as in, an immediate family member.

Jason DelaCruz was shot and killed at around 2am outside a pizza and bar area of San Francisco. Jason is the brother of former Vegas tourney MVP Jeremy DelaCruz. Jeremy's been my teammate before in dreamleague and a long-time member of renowned Filipino tourney team the Bay Area Wizards, as well as the Bay Area Heads. Dozens more here in the Bay's Asian American basketball community probably know Jeremy and Jason better than I do. I never really met Jason, but I did see him make a couple cameo appearances on the court with his brother's strong NL-caliber teams. The thing I most remember about him: he's the spittin' image of Jeremy...

Read the rest of the story

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More clicks of fame: Matt Lee and Seth Robles

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 23:02:00 +0000

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Been awhile since the last post (the 38-team LA tourney followed immediately by our Bay Area league which now has 125 teams got very tiring in Feb-Mar), but here are a couple more "clicks of fame" -- you know, instead of 15 seconds of fame on the boob tube, it's a click of fame on the YouTube. Thanks to dreamleaguer Torrent Lee for keeping a pulse on Matt.

(1) To add to his previous half-court buzzer-beater, UCLA's Matt Lee (who has made a couple cameos in dreamleague) with two alley oops -- using a left hand scoop for one of them, no less!

(2) Seth Robles of Dream League Bay Area's San Jose Jollybee getting indirect props from Bill Simmons in his weekly article (#12 YouTube link at the bottom). Seth worked hard on a video rap compilation of last year's Warriors ouster of the Mavericks.

Incidentally, Seth's brother is none other than Golden State of Mind's Tony.psd, who has recently finished our WE BELIEVE- and Stephen Jackson-inspired league t-shirts for the Bay Area. Hey, maybe even the New York dreamleaguers might wanna get their hands on this given the blah-zay of the Knicks and Nets this year.

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Courtside Chat With Jeff Staple

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 05:28:00 +0000

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[From NYC commish Brian Yang...]

Over the holidays, we had a chance to catch up with Jeff Staple, the man behind Staple Design, The Reed Space, and the Nike Recess Federation. If you haven't heard of any of these things, shame on you. If you have, and you may even own some of their designs, well, we'll let Jeff explain who/how/what it all is.

All we can tell you is that Jeff, he's the hardest working man in America. Scratch that, maybe the world. (He finally found time to answer these questions while on his way to Melbourne!)...

Read the rest of the story

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Look for Yi (and Lebron) to max in 2010

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 23:28:00 +0000

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With thanks to TrueHoop for all the links today, I've been inspired by this article on BrewHoop, the Bucks' resident blog, and others reporting on the Bucks' newfound revenue through on-court signage and whatnot by Chinese-based firms, to say this:

When Yi Jianlian's rookie contract expires after the 2009-2010 season, barring any NBA salary rules I'm not sure about (hey if I'm not getting paid to know all the rules, I won't know all the rules), the kid deserves a MAXIMUM CONTRACT.

For a small premium over your standard on-court signage fees, you can advertise your brand to about 200 million Chinese. Wow.

Memo to the Warriors: better free up some cap space, otherwise Atma Brother ONE's dream of a "Yi Movement" over at Golden State Of Mind will never come to fruition. I think it's fair to say that owner Chris Cohan can only drop the ball on this one. It's pure marketing to tout the power of the Bay Area market and how it relates to Yi. Assuming Yi is merely as good as he is now and without a debilitating injury (knock on wood), Yi's play would be the icing on the cake, not the other way around. Think ROI.

Btw, why is Yi playing in the Rookie/Sophomores Game instead of Joakim Noah or the miffed Al Thornton? What, you forgot there was signage at the Rookie/Soph Game? You forgot this was a corporate sponsor thank-you weekend, not a real All-Star gathering?

Yes, as a sophomore count on Yi being at All-Star Weekend no matter what in 2009. I mean, I really hope he improves, but he might be the one of the few max-contract guys not to make the All-Star Game in 2010 (Stephon Marbury, et. al.?), barring an upsurge in his fan voting -- he needs to more than double his votes this year. You heard it here first.

Speaking of ROI and 2010, here's hoping my comment to Sports Business Radio's post about Lebron not being a good investment -- seconded by Cavs beatwriter Brian Windhorst -- gets posted...

You really need to talk to someone in the shoe industry before talking about Nike/Lebron's ROI. I don't have those resources, so my speculation is hereby just as good as yours.

Look, if Starburys can have a RETAIL price of $15, that would suggest that Nike's cost of goods can't be more than $15 per shoe -- okay, let's be conservative, let's DOUBLE that to $30. Economies of scale, baby.

If Lebron's shoes are selling for $150+, do the math. That's a nice profit margin.

Let's look at it another way. If Nike Golf is bringing in $600 mil and Nike's revenues are $2 bil, then perhaps we can safely say Jordan and Lebron brands are bringing in at least $1 bil. Then perhaps we can safely say Jordan is bringing in 2/3rds of that, so maybe Lebron is bringing in $333 mil.

Invest $90 mil to get $333 mil? I'd say that's a pretty good ROI. In fact, I'd say that $90 mil to get only $90 mil would have been good ROI in terms of merely the marketing. Like you said, Lebron will win MVPs and championsips. You can see why Reebok was willing to pay up for Lebron.

In 2010, what Lebron goes for will be more Lebron than Nike. Especially with Adidas unwilling to go for one-guy stratospheric numbers (hence the 1-of-5 "team" campaign with KG, Chauncey, Gil, et. al.). Esp. when you know LRMR has got to know the real numbers. It's entirely what the brand can bear without jeopardizing Lebron's ability to rake it in in the future. And right now I'd speculate that Nike the brand with $2 bil in revenues can bear a lot.

$90 mil was pretty much how it balanced out at the time. In 2010, I'm sure the forces of supply and demand will yield a larger number.

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Matt Lee's 15 seconds of fame

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 00:42:00 +0000

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One of the three non-Pacific-Islander Asian guys currently playing in college D-1 basketball, Matt Lee, hit a buzzer-beating (albiet non-consequential) trey on regional TV coverage over the holidays. This for the fabled UCLA Bruins, the #7-ranked team at the time!

You can catch the video clip by clicking on the picture above or at BruinsNation.com.

For us dreamleaguers in the Bay Area who have seen Lee, brother of stalwart power forward Jon G. Lee, make cameo appearances during the summer in league and tournament play, the shot comes as no surprise.

Okay, maybe it was really just 5 seconds of fame, not 15.

Speaking of Asians in D-1, I just found out that Japeth Aguilar became the first player recruited out of the Philippines to receive a D-1 scholarship. He's currently at Western Kentucky and has been injured of late.

There's also KJ Matsui of Columbia and Jeremy Lin of Harvard, whom we interviewed last year.

And there's also two other Fil-Ams playing college ball in California, although I don't remember their names off-hand (at St. Mary's?). If you know of any others, please leave your info in the comments.

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I call it the best article on the PBA ever

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 11:05:00 +0000

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Here's a great example of where TrueHoop's Henry Abbott and Poor Man's Commish have really different viewpoints of the world of basketball. Abbott refers to yesterday's AWESOME article by Rafe Bartholomew (I don't usually put a writer's name in bold, but Mr. Bartholomew deserves it) in the Seattle Weekly about former NBA prospect Rosell Ellis and his current life in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) as "You Choke One Referee...", while I would call it...

"THE BEST INSIDE LOOK AT THE PBA EVER WRITTEN!!!"

I say this because if you've ever toured the circuit of amateur Asian American basketball tournaments, despite the highly competitive and ultra-skilled nature of these tourneys, the closest thing we "common folk" ever get to being on the level of pro is that someone in the tourney once played in the PBA or maybe in China.

This occurs enough that we wonder if these ringers in our tournaments are really half-black-half-Filipino (quarter-Filipino?) or if we are just respectfully allowing them to play amongst our Asian American community because they once played in the PBA.

When you watch these guys play, you can't help but wonder what it's like to play in the PBA. I mean, we've heard about the corruption with heights and we've played against guys like Ryan Reyes who got drafted by the PBA. But we've never got an insider's look into the day-and-life of a PBA'er.

Until now.

Here are some choice nuggets from Bartholomew's piece, but really, go check it out. Every word is worth the read...

First off, there's a mention of a teammate of Ellis's named Dale Singson. I wonder if there's any relation to Reyes's tourney teammate Ryan Singson?
"To get to the ref, Ellis shoved his teammate out of the way, ran to the scorer's table where [the ref] was reporting the ejection, leaped on the referee's back, and put [the ref] in a sleeper hold...Less than two months before, in December 1997, Latrell Sprewell had beaten Ellis to the choke."
"Depending on his base salary and performance incentives, Ellis makes between $15,000 and $20,000 per month as an import on foreign teams. By skipping from one team to another as seasons in different countries begin and end, he can, for example, play in Australia from October to February, then in the Philippines from March to July, thus multiplying his earnings."
"It's also common for management to change team names to give struggling brands a boost. In 2005, the Purefoods franchise was pushing corned beef and their team was the Chunkee Giants. Now, they're hawking hot dogs as the Tender Juicy Giants."
"Companies that can't afford their own team pay to have mascots wander the aisles..."
"Ellis kept hearing someone call his name -- 'Ell-ees! Ell-ees!' -- during layup lines. 'Just by the way he was saying my name, I knew something was funny,' Ellis says. 'I knew better than to look, but I'm laying the ball up and he's right under the basket. So as I come down, I just happen to look. Gay dude, just had breast implants, whipped them out and showed me.'"
"The Alaska franchise provides Ellis with an apartment, a maid, a car, and a driver. He makes more money in a month than most Filipino families earn in a year. When fans spot him in malls and restaurants, they call him 'idol,' ask for high fives and autographs, and take photos with him."
"In the PBA, [former Portland Trail Blazer Billy Ray Bates], a gifted scorer even by NBA standards, was able to put up Chamberlain-like numbers in the bedroom as well as on the court. Even his PBA nickname, 'Black Superman,' contained a hint of innuendo."
"Philippine coaches talk about imports in terms usually reserved for used cars -- players who can't average 25 points per game are called 'lemons.' Loyalty is laughable; imports can be replaced anytime during a season, including the playoffs. In 2002, the PBA's Red Bull franchise started former Duke University player Antonio Lang for the entire season, then gave him his walking papers on the eve of Game 7 of the league finals."
"Argentine hardwood was similarly afflicted, but ingenious team managers there came up with a solution that's bound to please American soft-drink companies. As Ellis explains, 'Before the game, they pour Coke all over the floor so it'll be sticky.'"
"The space above the players' heads was equally perilous. In some drafty Argentine gyms, the players dodged fluttering insects and swooping bats."
"Although [Ellis's point guard teammate Willie Miller] looks like a full-blooded American, his mannerisms -- the jumping-bean eyebrows, the nose used for pointing -- are pure Filipino."
"Miller plays the same helter-skelter game Filipinos play on the playground, racing up and down the court at full tilt, weaving through defenders, and finishing with improbable circus layups. He throws risky full-court passes to breaking teammates for layups. He dribbles straight into double teams and slices them in half." [Hmmm, I wonder if Miller is a distant cousin of dreamleaguer tourney-man Jeremy delaCruz?!!!]
"It was a cross-cultural love-fest that would have seemed impossible a week earlier, capped by Ellis and Miller posing together for a picture. They stood side by side, each grinning with a crispy pig ear between his teeth while holding the porcine head in front of them."

See, I told you. Best article on the PBA ever!

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Mullin, McHale, and Ainge

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:40:00 +0000

Hereby one of the most intriguing NBA photos ever.
(Click for larger view)

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[UPDATE: It's Scott Wedman, indeed!!! See comments below. Ah well, I guess it was too good to be true...]

Today the Golden State Warriors take on the Boston Celtics. Many, many years ago (twenty?) the Warriors visited the Celtics as they always have. Except on that night, there were three players who would eventually shape the very league that they play in from an executive level.

I found this photo at Amici's pizza joint down by Pac Bell Park (yep, I still call it that) not too long ago and just had to take a quick snap of it.

Chris Mullin, Kevin McHale, and Danny Ainge, all in the same action shot. Seriously, who woulda thunk 20 years later a superstar by the name of Kevin Garnett would be tossed in deal discussions involving these three (today's article in the Boston Globe talks about this)?

I mean, think about how amazing this photo is. How rare! Imagine a still shot today that shows, say, only Tim Duncan, Yao Ming, and Manu Ginobili. Think about that, twenty years from now in the year 2027, Yao's the GM of a new NBA franchise in Shanghai, Duncan's the GM of the Spurs, and Ginobili's the GM of, what, the Miami Heat?!!

Btw, my buddies at Golden State of Mind have a
nice interview with the Celtics blog that touches on the "collusion" between Ainge and McHale for Garnett.

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NBA Owners Manual: use forum negativity to your advantage

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 21:24:00 +0000

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[From Stephen B. Snyde...]

Today was the NBA's deadline for contract extensions and left me scratching my head. Maybe certain teams are caught in circumstances they can't get out of, but Al Jefferson for 5 years at $65 million? When was the last time Jefferson came into town and blew up your local team, with highlights left and right and the news channels saying your boys couldn't stop Al Jefferson?

How about Jameer Nelson for 5 years at $32.5 million? That's a $6 million man right there! When was the last time you got tickets to the arena to go see Jameer Nelson?

Or how about "swingman" Sasha Pavlovic for 3 years at $12 million? What's up with this "swingman" notation? It's supposed to be "shooting guard" or "small forward", no? But yeah, no one can ever really call Pavlovic a shooting guard without laughing. The thought of him being a forward doesn't seem right, either. "Swingman" is like the guy who catches the ball and shoots after the ball is swung. How hard is that? Are you telling me there are no decent swingmen in the DL (haha, that's NBDL, not our "DL" of course! -- ???)?

This time of year also tells you which franchises got their heads screwed on right. Chris Mullin let Patrick O'Bryant become an unrestricted free agent. John Paxson told Ben Gordon and Luol Deng, take this non-exorbitant $50 million offer for 5 years or leave it (Gordon and Deng left them). The Bobcats and 76ers couldn't come to terms with Emeka Okafor and Andre Iguodala, respectively, so they'll let their inevitable non-playoff seasons pan out before pulling any panic triggers. In the business mode of buying low and selling high, what could be better than restricted free agents? Take Delonte West and Robert Swift of the Sonics. Neither was handed an extension and will therefore become restricted. That means other teams, unless they are bluffing, will set the market prices -- perhaps a more fair process -- on these guys at the end of the season.

Back to the questionable roster commitments, I'm wondering if some of these teams are pressured into signing fat extensions for these non-household or otherwise expendable guys.

You know what can counter that pressure? A little discussion forum riot, that's what. Turn something that used to be a nuisance into a weapon.

So if I'm an NBA owner, I elevate my team's blog or discussion forum and have a specific area where fans can go and gripe about roster moves and which players are worth what. Make a joke out of it, haha this haha that.

But all the while, you'll get the online trolls who love to spread negativity with their venom comments write stuff about these marginal guys. The more, the better. Remember, you the owner have got to elevate this online slandering into entertainment.

Then you take this little tidbit of info into your meeting with the player's agent and blow it out of proportion. "Sasha for $12 million? You mean I gotta keep getting these hate comments on our website for 3 more years? Are you kidding me? No way, man. 1 year at $4 million. If his popularity rises over the season, okay, we'll revisit next summer."

And there you have it. NBA Owners Manual page 11, paragraph 6: When under pressure to sign a marginal player, use the court of public opinion, especially if consolidated on the Internet in a common area of online interest and high content value, to help negotiate your contract with said marginal player.

Paragraph 7 would say something like: Focus your time and energy (and hence, MONEY!) on the players that matter. It's a long season. Focus on your leaders -- your blockbusters -- and you can have followers for a dime a dozen. Three words: The Big Three.

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Bay Area welcomes its own Chinese 7-footer

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 05:41:00 +0000

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While Milwaukee introduces itself to Yi Jianlian, we ought to do the same here in the Bay, at Cal to be exact. Enter Max Zhang, who made a cameo appearance at an Asian tourney last year that we wrote about.

It's late-night on Friday and I'm just checking good 'ol CalBears.com to find out the opponent and kickoff time of the #2 nationally ranked (pinch me!) California football Golden Bears of Jeff Tedford -- that's a well-deserved Swami aka Chris Berman shout out.

A quick click over to the Men's Basketball section where there's coincidentally news of the team's first practice and lo and behold, a mention of Zhang. A name I had not heard in 13 months!

Btw, I've also got the World Series of Poker on ESPN2 in the background and there's been, in sarcastic reference to Tony Bennett, a mention of fellow Cal alum William Hung. Make that two names I have not heard in 13 months!

So anyways, the official press release on Zhang's signing was nearly two months ago. Totally under the radar. Here's an excerpt from what I wrote on him last year...

"Max Zhang is an eighteen year-old skinny 7-footer from China. He really has no offensive skills yet, but can obviously dunk the ball and block people's shots with ease...He appeased other LVI players in the stands urging him to show off during warmups...At first glance, because the sheer thought of a 7-footer playing in an Asian American tournament borders on blasphemy, people tend to estimate his height at 6'8", then 6'9", then maybe ok 6'10". But after a good look, the consensus becomes seven feet."

The coolest part for us: if you do a google on "Max Zhang basketball", guess what comes up first?

P.S. It also looks like former Cal walk-on Thomas Fang is no longer on the team. Vinsanity, I guess you are no longer on the hook for that dreamblogue interview. If anybody out there wants to interview Zhang for us, let me know and I'll put you in contact with our insider at Cal.

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The passion of community basketball

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Mon, 08 Oct 2007 21:29:00 +0000

Read on and you'll see what Jay-Z has to do with all of this.

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The folks at Bassett Productions (Tom, Sidney, and Andrew) recently made an incredible video about community basketball leagues. It was one of the most riveting pieces I have ever seen about basketball "for the rest of us". The documentary (I'm not quite sure if that's the right word) was actually market research for one of their clients, so unfortunately none of you will probably ever see it, as it remains the property of the client...

Read the rest of the story

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Argentinians got heart

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 18:24:00 +0000

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Poor Man's Commish here in Vegas for our back-to-back Asian American championship tourneys (unrelated to FIBA Americas, of course).

Team Argentina lost to Team USA quite convincingly last night, but the Argentinian fans (or click the picture on the upper right) showed a lot of heart. Here they are having fun in the lobby of the Thomas & Mack Center in Vegas after the game on the way out.

The erstwhile fans got a brief mention in SI's recap of the game (yes, they were drowned out, but it did take some effort by the Vegas fans to keep up with the Argentinians).

Made me think of what it might be like to watch Olympics basketball in 2008 in Beijing, when I'm sure the Argentinians -- not to mention the Brazilians, among others -- won't be drowned out. Imagine a USA vs Argentina final, with an equal number of Argentinian fans as to USA fans. I can't wait!

Btw, props to dreamleaguer Ferdie Munoz for the great tickets. FIBA and Olympic basketball remain the most under-valued basketball event on the earth, but I'll save that topic for another post...

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Ryan Reyes picked 3rd in PBA draft

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 15:00:00 +0000

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Ryan Reyes, who was MVP of dreamleague's not-too-distant Vegas All-Star Weekend tournament back in February 2007, was recently selected 3rd overall in the Philippine Basketball Association's draft (see video).

He will make 7 million PHP (Philippine pesos), which converts to about USD$150,000. Congratulations, Ryan! Guess we won't be seeing you on a dreamleague court for awhile, until maybe our 2022 Vegas Tournament, in the Masters division?

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Scoop: Heroes

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:44:00 +0000

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Via TrueHoop, very cool stuff from Scoop Jackson of ESPN.com today, entitled Yes, there are heroes left in the sports world.

Our Dream League New York community recently had a shoe drive for Hoops 4 Hope. We're planning to have one soon for Dream League Bay Area, to start a challenge of shoes donated per dreamleaguer with the New York folks.

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Not much gained for Yi playing with Team China

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:04:00 +0000

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There's nothing like studying top draft picks in decent competition from the 2nd row at midcourt. You just can't witness naunces from a TV screen -- or worse, a laptop monitor -- like you can this close to the players. I went to Vegas last week to catch two games live of Yi Jianlian and the Chinese National Team. ESPN.com's Chad Ford had Yi ranked right behind Greg Oden and Kevin Durant for the 2007 NBA Draft, and Yi looked pretty good as a mobile 7-footer with skills in pre-draft workouts.

After watching a multitude of various summer league 7-footers, of which Spencer Hawes was probably the most skilled, you could see from the ESPN pre-draft workout clip that Yi really does have a lot of potential. Unfortunately, the Chinese National Team is doing almost nothing to tap that potential...

Read the rest of the story

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And that's why they're Adiduhs

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 21:39:00 +0000

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If you've read the book Sole Influence by Dan Wetzel and Don Yaeger, you know that the entire "how-we-got-here" of modern-day basketball hinges on two things: a fledgling Nike's signing of a young Michael Jordan and Phil Knight's declaration of war after Adidas signed Kobe Bryant.

Thus, if you want to study the history of athletic apparel and sit on the market's throne for a long, long time, you must look out for the next Jordan, Kobe, or LeBron James. There's little doubt that Kevin Durant fits that "savior" mold.

So why the heck did Adidas not offer Durant a much-respect offer such as $90 million or something at least nearby what Nike offered LeBron a few years back? Instead, they offered only $70 million to a guy that has been wearing Nikes ever since hitting the AAU scene. After all, it's been reported in the SportsBusiness Journal that Nike spends over $2 billion dollars on athlete endorsements -- and you'd have to figure that Adidas is at a level at least half of that.

Reality check. What's another $20 million? It's only 2 percent of $1 billion. If Adidas is spending $2 billion like Nike on endorsements, then we're talking one more measly percent to get Durant. It's practically Monopoly money at those levels.

Or maybe Adidas is actually smarter than we know; they have resigned to the fact they cannot beat Nike in the war of pop culture, and this whole Durant thing was a PR charade to show the world that they tried, while not rattling the endorsement market out of whack.

But here's the bottom line: despite the potential of Adidas, I'll be sticking loyally to my Nikes, at least until the next Durant comes along.

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Make up your mind, Milwaukee

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 05:03:00 +0000

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[From Stephen B. Snyde...]

Does this epitomize the Yi Jianlian situation in Milwaukee or what? A few days ago, Don Walker of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel pointed out...

"In Milwaukee, meanwhile, the small Chinese community has set up a website welcoming Yi to Milwaukee. The site is at www.yifansclub.com."

First off, as of this writing, the "Schedule" link on the site goes directly to the Milwaukee Bucks NBA team calendar. I guess we won't be finding any local rallies to drum up support or anything.

Secondly, the "News" link goes directly to a blogpost entitled "We Don't Want Yi in Milwaukee". I suppose an angry dissident found the time and the wherewithal to post something that would automatically get displayed prominently on the frontpage as well as the News page of the website. The post is not all that friendly, either...

"Yi embodies everything that is wrong with professional sports [followed by a long paragraph]...Is Yi the next step in the evolution of the spoiled athlete? [followed by another long paragraph]...[and ending with] I hope you can find a better use of your time than maintaining this website"

Can you say oops?!!!

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Belinelli, Belinelli, Belinelli!!!

noreply@blogger.com (dreamleague) — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:08:00 +0000

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First off, I just wanted to thank Fantasy Junkie and Atma Brother ONE for allowing me contribute to Golden State of Mind the best that I can bring about my 48-hour experience at NBA Summer League in Vegas to fans of the Warriors -- and, as it were, of the Kings, Wizards, Mavericks, Nuggets, Spurs, Knicks, 76ers, Team China, and the NBA itself! If you've never met Fantasy Junkie and Atma Brother ONE, hope that you will someday soon. They are two of the nicest guys around.

Intro

I'll be focusing this write-up on the Warriors-Spurs summer league game, then the other 4-and-a-quarter games I caught last night. I'll tell you right off the bat, I really don't like to write, although you'll see that I'm quite verbose because I'd rather give you more than less. If you can't wait (because of you-know-who, I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to skip to the Warriors section first), here are the sections of this post -- you're lucky I'm pretty good at HTML...

Read the rest of the story...

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Poor Man's Commish (aka "dreambLogue")