Lebronnnnnnnnnnn Jamessssssss !

[Leferd]

Between Curry, Iggy, Bogut, and David Lee, the ball movement is going to be fantastic for the Warriors. Add in Klay Thompson's shooting and Harrison Barnes' potential, they are going to be really fun to watch.

 

Doom and gloom for the Lakers. Though I like what Ainge is doing for Boston. He sees the big picture and fantastic hire with the coach from Butler.

[alanschu]

Yeah, Iguodala will certainly help that team.  Great spacing and will definitely be fun to watch if they can keep their spacing.  Bogut needs to stay healthy though!

[Leferd]

Between Curry's and Bogut's ankles, I think ownership needs to hire the top ankle specialists in the world and design shoes to fit appropriately. Less polyurethane and more rubber!

[ShadySands]

I love this from some reason

 

[Leferd]

Say what you want about Rodman and his antics, but the guy comes to play every night and puts in 100% effort every time. Always loved to watch him play.

 

....

 

 

Anyone else see "Once Brothers" or "The Other Dream Team?"

 

They deal with the break up of Yugoslavia and the fall of the Soviet Union from the from the basketball perspectives of Vlade Divac and the Lithuanian national team respectively.

 

Name drops: Drazen Petrovic, Toni Kukoc, Dino Radja, Vlade Divac, Arvidas Sabonis, and Sarunas Marciulionis. Good stuff.

[alanschu]

Rodman was definitely a "hate him when he's not on my team" type of guy.  Although he did always induce a sort of anxiety that he'd lose his cool and do something absurd (like kick a cameraman), hahaha.

 

 

I saw Once Brothers.  Pretty tragic situation.  Though you mean the Yugoslavia team (and croatia, serbian stuff).  It's kinda sucky that their friendship fell apart due in large part to a misunderstanding.  Vlade didn't feel that a Yugoslavia world championship in basketball was an appropriate venue for some Serbian nationalists to come talking about separation, and when he grabbed the flag of one of them and told them to go elsewhere, all Drazen saw was a perceived sleight against Serbians.

 

It sucks to not get the ability to reconcile torn friendships like that, too.

[Bos_hybrid]

The word Tanking seems to be coming up a lot. Isn't that against the rules in the NBA? Add onto that the team with the worst record isn't even guaranteed the #1 pick.

[Leferd]

Just to make some corrections: Petrovic, Kukoc, and Radja were Croats and Divac a Serb, and it was the Croatian flag that Divac took away.

 

Both those Yugoslavian and Lithuanian teams were pretty good with some serious talent.

 

Unfortunately, we only saw a shell of Sabonis by the time he came into the NBA. Before injuries got the better of him, he was the equal of Hakeem, Ewing, and Robinson.

 

Marciulionis was fearless on the court and off. A pathfinder for Eastern Bloc players to come across and prove to the world that they can ball with Americans.

 

Petrovic though, he was so fun to watch. Best European player with just enough Pistol Pete without being over the top reckless. Tragic that he had that accident before he reached his prime.

[Hurlshort]

The word Tanking seems to be coming up a lot. Isn't that against the rules in the NBA? Add onto that the team with the worst record isn't even guaranteed the #1 pick.

 

It's nearly impossible to police that.  Some teams just suck.

[alanschu]

 

 

Just to make some corrections: Petrovic, Kukoc, and Radja were Croats and Divac a Serb, and it was the Croatian flag that Divac took away.

 

Fair enough.  I am not surprised I made some mistake there.

 

Speaking of Kukoc, I remember Pippen and Jordan really keying on him in the olympics because of all the hoopla and love affair that Jerry Krause had with him after drafting him.

[Leferd]

Jordan and Pippin were jerks anyway. Kukoc handled himself very well in those Olympics and the Croatians won silver in those Olympics (Lithuania bronze),

 

I remember the hype that Kukoc had. Comparisons to Magic Johnson tend to do that. But this guy was 6-11 and had handles and uncanny passing ability. He could literally play all five positions and play them well.

 

Pippin was so butthurt in the 94 playoffs (after Jordan's first -ahem- retirement*) against the Knicks when Phil Jackson drew up a play with one second left for Kukoc. Pippin refused to leave the bench in protest. Kukoc made the shot anyway.

 

*retirement/sabbatical to play baseball. Really it was the NBA's (David Stern) way of gracefully suspending Jordan for gambling.

[Volourn]

No.

[alanschu]

Jordan and Pippin were jerks anyway. Kukoc handled himself very well in those Olympics and the Croatians won silver in those Olympics (Lithuania bronze),

 

I remember the hype that Kukoc had. Comparisons to Magic Johnson tend to do that. But this guy was 6-11 and had handles and uncanny passing ability. He could literally play all five positions and play them well.

 

Jordan (and less so Pippen) were certainly competitors.  I never did like Pippen for his pouting on the bench in that New York game either (Toni was pretty clutch too).  In my mind Kukoc was more the unfortunate victim of being loved by Jerry Krause, and he was really more the target of Jordan and Pippen's ire (from what I hear Krause was a jerk too.  He basically chased Horace Grant out of the organization too).  To all their credit, they all seemed to get along well enough once on the same team, however.

 

I saw a recent interview with Toni Kukoc, and he says he and Mike are still reasonably close, and the two always partner up for golf and celebrity golf tournaments and the like. 

 

 

 

 

*retirement/sabbatical to play baseball. Really it was the NBA's (David Stern) way of gracefully suspending Jordan for gambling.

 

I think this is a conspiracy theory that doesn't make all that much sense.  The only thing suspending Jordan for his gambling (which isn't illegal.  Steve Kerr has some fun stories about how Phil would ask players like him and Jud to join Dennis Rodman on excursions to Atlantic City and whatnot, and how Dennis would stay out super late because practice the next day was optional for starters haha) would do is make the league lose revenue.

 

 

I know Jordan was really feeling the "walls coming in around him" with his popularity, and even snapped at the media for scrutinizing the things Jordan did in his spare time (only giving interviews with Ahmad Rashad afterwards).  He did get fined for that stuff, but he just paid it.

 

I do believe Jordan was a bit drifting after his Father's death, and it provided the final impetus that basketball was less fun for him and there was the interest in trying something new.  According to not only Jordan, but also his teammates, his time in baseball reminded him of the less overtly business side of sports.  It was also somewhat humbling for Jordan, because he clearly was not the best at what he did anymore - and that because someone makes a mistake doesn't mean they aren't trying their best.  I remember Will Perdue commenting that, upon Jordan's return, someone made a mistake in practice and Jordan made a comment along the lines of "Don't worry about it, shake it off." and Will was just O_O   Haha.

Edited July 20, 2013 by alanschu

[Hurlshort]

All this talk about Jordan playing baseball reminds me of the greatest athlete ever.

 

[ShadySands]

All this talk about Jordan playing baseball reminds me of the greatest athlete ever.

 

 

 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_multi-sport_athletes#Basketball

 

The ones that really surprise me are Chris Paul and bowling and that Danny Ainge played for the Blue Jays. Not surprising was Charlie Ward, he was great at everything... except the professional level

Edited July 20, 2013 by ShadySands

[Leferd]

Bo Jackson was the greatest video game character of all time.

 

Re: Jordan. That's my conspiracy theory and I'm sticking with it.

[Volourn]

Greatest athelete ever. L0L  Jokin' right?

[ShadySands]

[ShadySands]