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My podcast with Ryan McNeil of Hoops Addict.

Phoenix Suns Bad for the NBA

For the past two years, everyone has hailed the Phoenix Suns as the most entertaining team in the NBA. However, the enthusiasm and excitement overshadows the Suns' business practices which are becoming more and more questionable.

Thus far this summer, Phoenix gave Portland the #24 pick (Rudy Fernandez) so the Blazers would take James Jones. Today, they parted with 2 future First Round picks so Seattle would take Kurt Thomas' contract for one season. Last summer, they gave Portland their first round (Sergio Rodriguez) pick for $3 million.

So, in the past two years, Phoenix has given away 4 draft picks for $6 million in cash and roughly $11 million in contract savings, while also signing Grant Hill, Sean Marks and Marcus Banks to contracts. This is in addition to allowing Joe Johnson to leave via sign-and-trade because he was too expensive.

Imagine if Phoenix kept the two first round picks: Sergio Rodriguez, the back-up PG they don't have as well as the heir apparent to Steve Nash, and Rudy Fernandez, another back-up G they could stash in Europe for another year. Rookies typically have very good value to dollar contracts because it is a fixed contract. Rodriguez would be cheaper, and a better fit, then Banks. Rodriguez would give the Suns an option once Raja Bell proves to be too expensive.

I understand the Suns' motives. But, I don't know how they can look their fans in the eyes and say they are doing everything possible to win a championship when they added Alando Tucker and subtracted Kurt Thomas, James Jones and Fernandez. It's a hard time to be a Suns team, as emotions are mixed between the good (style of play, Nash returning) and bad (apparent money problems). Regardless, the Suns are setting a bad precedent for the NBA.

So, you think you can be an MMA fighter?

Like the Ultimate Fighter show on Spike? Watch the UFC fights? Ever thought of seeing what the training is like? Check out my interview with Matt Fisher and Urijah Faber, the owners of Ultimate Fitness in Sacramento.

The NBA and YI

According to an ESPN report, Yi Jianlian's Chinese tem will not allow him to play for the Milwaukee Bucks:

Yi, taken by Milwaukee with the sixth selection in the NBA draft last month, would "definitely not" play for Milwaukee, Tuesday's Beijing News quoted Guangdong Tigers chief, Chen Haitao, as saying.

"This is not -- as media reports have said -- because Milwaukee, as a city with very few Chinese people, is not good for Yi's commercial development," Chen said.

"Rather we want to find a team suitable for Yi's growth. That's the root of the problem," he added.

Sure, because Yi's growth will be much better playing for Guandong in the CBA (the Chinese Basketball Association, not the tougher Continental Basketball Association).

I don't understand how his team has any say in the matter. When a European player wants to come to the States, he simply has to pay the buyout in his contract. Barcelona cannot determine where Juan Carlos Navarro plays next season. They simply get to collect his buyout. Why is it different with Chinese players?

If Chinese officials do not allow Yi to play for Milwaukee, I hope the NBA bars Yi from the league. Now, knowing how much the NBA has invested in China, I doubt even the might David Stern has the intestinal fortitude to stand-up to a nation of 1.2 billion.

But, does the NBA really need Yi? Sure, he's a good prospect, but he's not a superstar. He struggled in the Las Vegas Summer League. His National Team lost to the USA U-19 Team. Yao Ming's jersey is not the biggest seller in China; will Yi's be?

If the NBA forces a trade to appease the Chinese, I will lose a great deal of respect for the league and may have to cease writing about it, as I'm not sure I can care about such a product. So, we'll see who blinks first.

But, I can guarantee the Chinese that its Olympic prospects will not be aided by keeping Yi from playing in the NBA, as the Chinese Basketball Association is not high on the list of competitive basketball leagues around the globe.

Sacramento Surprises

The Sacramento Kings signed New Jersey's journeyman post Mikki Moore to the full MLE of roughly six million dollars. It is a short contract, two years guaranteed, so it is not a huge deal, as the Kings have zero cap flexibility in those two years, as long as the Brad Miller contract remains, along with other cap killers like Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and Mike Bibby.

It is, however, a curious, especially after the Kings drafted Spencer Hawes, re-signed Justin Williams and nearly completed a trade to land Drew Gooden, who is a better player than Moore.

Moore does add athleticism in the post which has not been seen since the days of Keon Clark (well, except for the brief glimpses of Justin Williams last season). The question, however, is that if everyone in the NBA can ridicule Isaiah Thomas for signing Jerome James because of one dominating play-off performance against Brad Miller, why has nobody questioned Geoff Petrie's sanity when he gave a 31-year-old journeyman who benefited from playing alongside Jason Kidd almost twice what the Nets, even more desperate for post play than the Kings, were willing (reportedly) to offer?

Beyond the money, Adding Moore to a starting line-up with Bibby, Martin, Artest and a hopefully healthy Miller should be better than last year's team, as Martin should be better, Artest should be happier (after suspension) with a new coach and hopefully Bibby will play like he has something to prove, as he does.

Off the bench, the Kings lack a back-up PG, unless Quincy Douby is prepared to play the 1. Francisco Garcia is a great back-up 2. John Salmons, I suppose, is the back-up point-forward, though he dominates the ball too much and can't shoot; he does attack the basket and play good perimeter defense, and for a player off the bench on a non-play-off team, one cannot expect perfection. Justin Williams and Spencer Hawes, hopefully, will get a bulk of the minutes at the back-up 4 and 5, as the Kings need to develop new talent and generate some excitement, and Thomas and SAR are past their best days.

However, that leaves two players who were disgruntled when competing for minutes with each other, and now, hopefully, they are not looking at many minutes at all. Neither offers hope for the future or an immediate defensive presence, and neither is a great fit for a transition-oriented team, especially with SAR's knees.

So, what is the next move? Are there any teams who need a veteran post scorer off the bench and are willing to eat SAR's contract? Considering Mike Bibby's value has risen lately as Maurice Williams and other PGs have signed contracts, would this have been the best time to deal Bibby for Gooden or Miami's Udonis Haslem? Golden State has interest in James Posey; maybe the Kings could have acquired Haslem and another player of interest from the Warriors, maybe Mikel Pietrus or Sarunas Jasekevicius. I'm a Saras fan, so I'd love to see him running the point for the Kings.

Who knows what deals are actually available to the Kings? However, one has to assume, and hope, that there is a subsequent deal, as I cannot imagine Theus walking into his rookie year and having to deal with the organization's objectives of developing the young bigs, while also dealing with two already disgruntled veteran big men.

A Sacramento Champion

As Mixed Martial Arts makes its way into the mainstream, I interviewed Uriah Faber for a quick article. Faber is a Sacramento native and the current WEC Featherweight Champion. He also is a co-owner of the gym where I workout. He's easily one of the most down to earth, personable professional athletes I have ever met.

A New Era

Editor's Note: I originally published this article in 2003. Change, at the grassroots level, is taking longer than I expected in my more idealistic, optimistic youth.

Mark your calendars. 2003 is the dawn of a new era, as the San Antonio Spurs are poised to start a line-up comprised entirely of foreign-born players: Tony Parker (France), Manu Ginobili (Argentina), Hedo Turkoglu (Turkey), Tim Duncan (Virgin Islands), and Rasho Nesterovic (Yugoslavia).

The evolution of the L, Euro-style: The NBA’s worldwide expansion has either caught up with it, or paid dividends, depending on one’s perspective. While supplanting soccer worldwide may never happen, basketball certainly has made inroads into its global sports dominance, and as its exposure increases, the talent disparity decreases.

And, while the international influence in the Association should act as a wake-up call, it should not induce panic and xenophobia. A wake-up call is a time for introspection and evaluation, to reflect on the good and bad of the American game, because, while still dominant, the American basketball system has developed some serious flaws hampering its players’ development.

In many ways, the American game’s strengths and weaknesses arise from the same areas. Many players learn the game on the playground or in pick-up games, and while players develop toughness, athleticism, individual defense and dribble penetration through these games, pick-up games fail to teach team play, movement without the ball, defensive rotations and passing.

The high school system exacerbates the problem, as the best players play against their peers only during the shoe camps and select AAU Tournaments, while playing with and against inferior players for large parts of the high school season. In Sacramento, how many players will really challenge DeMarcus Nelson this season? In Redding, who is going to challenge Brody Angley?

However, when these players actually play with and against other elite players, it is in the AAU Tournaments and shoe camps that dissolve into little more than semi-organized pick-up games for the benefit of college scouts.

College basketball fails to correct the ailment, as college coaches are hired based upon recruiting, not teaching ability. The bottom-rung assistants are left on-campus to run the camps, while the experienced assistants race cross country following the hallowed prospects all summer. Then, the NCAA restricts the amount of instruction time per week, shamelessly trying to protect the “student”-athletes. During the off-season, the student-athlete is left to develop his game largely on his own through more pick-up games.

A typical college-aged European player plays on a professional team in a domestic league and possibly even in the Euro League. He trains twice a day; an individual skills morning practice and an evening team practice in a season running from September through May.

This system increasingly leaves players unable to execute fundamental skills like shooting, passing and cutting. American players, however, excel at rebounding, individual defense, dribbling, one-on-one moves and transition, the staples of pick-up basketball.

The old adage is “Teams are made from October through March; players are made during the summer.” However, there is no time for instruction or individual workouts during the summer as players chase the elusive college scholarship in tournaments from coast to coast.

American basketball must refocus on fundamentals and coaching. Players need instruction. Pick-up games are great, and I believe women’s basketball suffers from a lack pick-up basketball, but players and coaches need to find a happy medium, where playing games does not preclude individual development. AAU teams and coaches must focus on building teams, not just collecting talent, teaching players how to play, not just supporting one-on-one games. AAU games should not resemble the Nike ad where Jermaine O’Neal and Paul Pierce eventually waive the other 8 players off the floor and play one-on-one; that’s not basketball. That’s the reason players can’t play without the ball in their hands and can’t make a live ball move.

The European infiltration has taught Americans a few things. First, millions of people around the world play every day with the dream of joining the Association; it is no longer an American birthright. Second, basketball is still a game where each player spends very little time actually possessing the ball (MJ averaged three minutes per game with the ball in his hands), so he must be valuable on the court even when he does not have the rock in his hands. Third, the winning team is the team that scores more points, and shooting will always be the most important skill in basketball. Fourth, America needs to reexamine its method of talent development, from youth through college, as the present system places too much emphasis on games and pick-up ball and not enough on individual instruction and team basketball.

Mixed Martial Arts

The UFC comes to Sacramento tonight, so the Bee felt obliged to write an article. In it, someone is quoted as saying that MMA fighters are "white guys who were never any good at sports." I believe it was from one of the boxing guys who feels threatened by MMA's popularity.

The pro-boxing argument is that MMA fighters are fighters who could not make it in boxing, so they turned to MMA. This is far from accurate, as many MMA fighters started in wrestling, Muy Thai boxing, kick boxing, jui-jitsu, judo, etc. The pro-boxers argue that MMA fighters are generalists, while boxers are experts in their craft. Again, this is incorrect, as many MMA fighters are accomplished, even world champions in their original discipline, whether NCAA National Champion wrestlers, Golden Gloves boxers, black belt in jui-jitsu, etc.

I have been struggling to find another analogy and one finally hit me. Nobody criticizes decathletes because they are "generalists." Decathletes are not labeled too slow to win the 100m so they move to the decathlon. Instead, decathletes are celebrated for their well-rounded skill and athleticism. And, in some cases, elite decathletes were once amateur champions in a single event before moving to the decathlon.

This is similar to Mixed Martial Arts. MMA fighters have well-rounded skills and athleticism. Just as decathletes are experts in the decathlon, MMA fighters train to be experts in MMA fighting. Just as decathletes generally leave one favored discipline for the decathlon, MMA fighters leave a background in one discipline for MMA. They develop well-rounded skills to perform in the octagon.

The "untalented" or "couldn't hack it as a boxer" just does not stand-up as a legitimate argument, unless one wants to criticize a decathlete for not being a sprinter.

Artest Trade Options

The New York Knicks, apparently, want Ron Artest. Sacramento, according to various reports, is in a major rebuilding effort (though some still believe they have the talent to be a play-off team). The rumor is Ron Artest for David Lee and spare parts.

David Lee is the type of player the Kings desperately need. A player who plays with passion, runs the floor and does the little things. Lee and Kevin Martin would be a great duo around which to build, yet neither is the centerpiece of a franchise.

That leaves Mike Bibby. Does he stay, and assume the role of "star?" Or, is he dealt to free cap space in the future? Or, can the Kings steal a future star in a deal for Bibby?

Assuming Hawes is the center of the future, and Bibby is not the PG of the present or the future, the Kings have holes at PG and SF and need a potential star at one or both positions.

The Cavaliers have interest in Mike Bibby. But, do the Cavs have anyone remotely interesting to the Kings? The Kings passed on Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson last year when they drafted Quincy Douby, so I doubt either is the potential star the Kings crave. Drew Gooden has a reasonable contract, but he is a similar player to David Lee. While he would add depth, youth and athleticism, he would not fill the Kings' major holes.

The Kings are handicapped by the contracts of Kenny Thomas, Shareef Abdur-Rahim and especially Brad Miller. Regardless of the trades Petrie is able to make, unless he is able to deal one or more of these three overpaid post players, the rebuilding process will not move forward quick enough for fans. While Seattle struggles, but lifts its fans' spirits with the prospects of Kevin Durant, and Portland slowly ascends to Western powerhouse behind Oden, Aldridge, Roy and others, Sacramento is left with very little hope for the immediate future or the near future, regardless of Petie's brilliance.