Call it a sense of duty to champion his people’s story, history and identity. Call it a lean toward making the mundane mystical or nostalgia fantastical.

Just make sure to call Tyler Deauvea (@tylerdeauvea) an artist who is a burgeoning incubator of his time, earnestly burdened with the clarity of significance.

The Houston native’s reverential look at basketball, “For the Luv of the Game,” was sparked by the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, and the indelible imprint the future Hall of Fame guard left on his life.

“I really only make work that I feel,” says Deauvea, who started out in photography and film before opting for collages and other multimedia. “I’ve always loved basketball and I’ve always had in mind that I would do a basketball series, but I really didn’t know in what way I would do it and how I would do it. Then Kobe Bryant died. I was a huge fan of Kobe Bryant. I still am.”

The Black Mamba’s passing led the diehard Los Angeles Lakers fan down several YouTube rabbit holes, where he discovered a treasure trove of his favorite player’s classic NBA games, buzzer-beaters, dunks and interviews.

“I made my first piece because he passed and I was really affected by it just as a fan,” Deauvea says. “I had realized just how much of an impact he had in my life. I realized that he was a hero to me, and I took a lot of what he said, and I use it in my everyday life, subconsciously and consciously. So that’s how it started off.”

Then it was on to Michael Jordan’s Emmy-winning documentary, The Last Dance, and a litany of memorable All-Star games. Basketball fans were all in the throes of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic and desperately missing the game during the hiatus, so Deauvea started basking in the nostalgia, prompting him to honor the generation of players that inspired him to chase greatness.

“I just wanted to really honor those men who were on my television screen when I was a kid,” Deauvea says. “I want to celebrate them because these are my childhood heroes and they could pass one day. My favorite player passed, so we should honor these men for how they inspired us. Anyone that’s publicly doing well in their craft should inspire you, and for me that’s my big takeaway, but especially basketball because I love it so much.”

The 30-year-old social commentator’s series features pieces on Tracy McGrady, Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Francis, Allen Iverson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Jordan and of course, Bryant, whose “Mamba Mentality” lives on in everything Deauvea creates.

“There’s always people better than you,” Deauvea says. “There’s always people hungrier than you, at times may be more dedicated than you, so you always got to be in the gym, like constantly. There’s no reason to like rest on your laurels, because once your moment is done and you celebrate it, it’s over with. Now you got to get back to work. To celebrate more, you got to get back to work. That’s what the Mamba Mentality is, dedicating yourself to the craft and not being swayed by anything outside of you.

“That’s the same teaching of Taoism and Bruce Lee spoke on that, so it’s definitely a lot of Eastern philosophy behind the Mamba Mentality. I was already studying it before in different aspects, but once Kobe was doing interviews and explaining what it was, I was like, This is so much of what I already like to do. The Mamba Mentality is being a student to whatever you’re trying to do, so I definitely buy into it.”

Edgar Degas was onto something when he said, “Art is not what you see, but what you make others see.”

Deauvea’s work, aptly dubbed AFROPOP, takes Degas’ principle to the next level, switching the culture code of negative African-American imagery from its Jim Crow era origins on its head, making the indefensible something entirely new and worth appreciating.

“For me, when I create my characters, I make them that way so that every Black person can identify that this is a Black person,” Deauvea says. “Every Black person can put themselves in those shoes. There’s a book that I read by Dr. Francis Cress Welsing called, [The Isis Papers:] The Keys to the Colors, and it was a whole book about how white supremacy used the color black against Black people and made it a negative thing. So, for me, I’m not going to let you make me feel bad about my black features. When I decided to create characters, I made him as symbolic of a Black person as possible, there’s no way to cut across it.”

Embedded in his work is the idea that everyone can identify with his images of a Black person, not just in normal environments and normal situations, but in a wondrously weird and exaggerated world like those depicted by Asian characters in anime or Takashi Murakami’s Superflat work.

“I just wanted to have Black people in these imaginative spaces,” Deauvea says. “I feel that’s important for kids to see. Even when it came to making the basketball players, I didn’t find the reason to differentiate from what I would do normally because I feel like in basketball, we place ourselves in the feet of these athletes when we watch the game.

“It’s not just the athletes themselves that’s being portrayed, it’s my character in their jersey doing what they would do. It’s anybody who loves basketball and loves that player and remembers that dunk from this game. That’s the concept behind it. My concept is truly a visual inclusion of all Black people. I want Black people to look at Black images, no matter how Black images look, from Black people and be like, ‘Yes, Black.’”

—

Maurice Bobb is a contributor to SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @ReeseReport.

Photo courtesy of David “Odiwams” Wright

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This statement expresses that one doesn’t have to move mountains to start a revolution, they just need to do their part.

The Miners’ head coach, Don “The Bear” Haskins, didn’t set out to change the course of history when he started five African-American players in the ’66 NCAA championship against Kentucky, he was just trying to win the biggest game of his life.

And if that meant putting five black players (Bobby Joe Hill, Orsten Artis, David Lattin, Harry Flournoy and Willie Worsley) on the court against an all-white Wildcats’ team, so be it.

For Haskins, breaking from the idea that a team had to have at least one white player on the court in order to be successful wasn’t an act of political defiance, it was a move set in motion for basketball reasons.

“I wasn’t out to be a pioneer when we played Kentucky,” Haskins told the Los Angeles Times later in his career. “I was simply playing the best players on the team, and they happened to be black.”

Beating the Adolph Rupp-led Wildcats was hard enough. They were heavily favored and boasted not only an extremely successful coach, but two AP All-America selections in Louie Dampier and Pat Riley.

But Texas Western didn’t just take down a powerhouse program in Kentucky (72-65) that night, they defeated a racially-charged mindset, too.

It didn’t come without roadblocks, though.

Haskins got more than 40,000 pieces of hate mail for going with all black players (five to start, two off the bench) in the title game and it came from everyone, including minorities.

“I got mail from blacks, saying that I was exploiting black kids,” Haskins told the LA Times. “And those letters from the whites in the South, you can just imagine what they said. It was discouraging, but you had to consider the source.”

And while the Miners were coming off an incredible season, writers and commentators were offering comments about their players that were steeped in racially coded language.

For example, one writer for the Baltimore Sun penned: “The Miners, who don’t worry much about defense but try to pour the ball through the hoop as much as possible, will present quite a challenge to Kentucky. The running, gunning Texas quintet can do more things with a basketball than a monkey on a 50-foot jungle wire.”

That racist analogy was also blatantly false, as Texas Western was methodical in their approach to the game. They focused mainly on defense, holding opponents to 62 points per contest, and ran a slow and rigid offense.

Adding to the fire was former Los Angeles Lakers star Rod Hundley, who lobbed this racial myth at Texas Western: “They can do everything with the basketball but sign it.”

“There was a certain style of play whites expected from blacks,” said ex-Vanderbilt small forward Perry Wallace, the first black basketball player in the Southeastern Conference. “’N—-r ball’ they used to call it. Whites then thought that if you put five blacks on the court at the same time, they would somehow revert to their native impulses.”

What the Miners accomplished that night in the University of Maryland’s Cole Field House was groundbreaking, but it took some time for everyone to realize its significance.

None of the players fully understood how much an all-black team winning the championship over an all-white team would mean to the overall integration of college basketball and sports as a whole.

“That part [black-white] never crossed our minds,” said Texas Western guard Orsten Artis.

“Just business,” added Artis’s backcourt mate, Bobby Joe Hill. “We weren’t on a crusade.”

It’s true, Texas Western, ranked No. 3 in 1966, wasn’t on a crusade when they bookended their 27-1 season with an NCAA title, but they did exude the courage to challenge the status quo.

“I wasn’t aware of [the impact] when it happened,” Haskins said. “Had they beaten us, it probably would have taken longer for blacks to get recruited. David Lattin, one of our guys, wanted to go to Houston, but they wouldn’t take him. The year after we won it, Elvin Hayes was at Houston.”

Haskins wasn’t the first to recruit or play black players, but that championship run shattered racial myths and made him and his team pioneers. The entire Texas Western squad was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007.

“To me, he’s the guy who opened the door for not only black players, but for black coaches, as well,” said former Arkansas head coach Nolan Richardson, who played for Haskins. “What he did took a lot of guts. It took a big guy with a big heart. I’ve never said this publicly before, but I’ve never silently appreciated a man more for what he did than for what The Bear did. He taught me a hell of a lot, about basketball and about life.”

—

Maurice Bobb is a contributor to SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @ReeseReport.

Photos via Getty. 

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Cooper was the first African-American player to ever be drafted into the National Basketball Association, Lloyd was the first black player to ever play in an NBA game (Washington Capitols vs. Rochester Royals) and Clifton was the first black player to ever sign an NBA contract.

All three were landmark professional hoopers struggling for equal rights, acceptance and inclusion in a racially-charged America where tensions against minorities were at an all-time high. The three of them endured racist taunts and threats and often couldn’t stay in the same hotels (once in North Carolina, Cooper had to spend the night on the train), go to the same movie theaters or eat in the same restaurants as their teammates, especially on the road. But they persevered through it all.

“I remember in Fort Wayne, Ind., we stayed at a hotel where they let me sleep, but they wouldn’t let me eat,” said Lloyd. “Heck, I figured if they let me sleep there, I was at least halfway home.”

It was 1950—three years after Jackie Robinson had broken the color barrier in baseball, but 15 years before “Bloody Sunday,” when nearly 600 civil rights supporters marched across Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama for equal voting rights. Cooper, Lloyd and Clifton didn’t set out to change the world by being pioneers in the annals of Black History—they just resolved themselves to chasing basketball dreams and playing the game they loved at the highest level.

Following a brief stint with the Harlem Globetrotters after graduating from Duquesne University, where he was an All-American, Cooper was selected 14th overall by the Boston Celtics. According to The Boston Globe, when Celtics owner Walter Brown was reminded that Cooper was black, he reportedly said, “I don’t care if he’s striped, plaid or polka dot!”

Cooper averaged 9.6 points and 8.5 rebounds in his rookie season under head coach Red Auerbach and was able to fend off the race-baiting hostilities against him partially by attending jazz concerts with fellow rookie and teammate Bob Cousy.

The 6-5, 210-pound forward spent four years with Boston before ending his career with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Fort Wayne Pistons.

Lloyd, who was drafted by the Capitols in the ninth round (100th overall), scored six points and pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds in his NBA debut, a 70-78 loss to the Royals. The 6-6 defensive-minded forward believed that he was given a chance to be the first black player to hit the court in the League because the Celtics had drafted Cooper with such a high pick.

“If the Celtics did not draft Chuck in the second round, you could not tell me that the Washington Capitols in 1950 were going to make me the first black player to play in this league,” Lloyd told The Boston Globe. “No way…The Boston Celtics had a tremendous influence on my acceptance in the NBA.”

The Capitols folded in 1951, so the Syracuse Nationals picked Lloyd up off waivers before he spent the 1951-52 season fighting in the Korean War. The U.S. Army veteran then played six years for the Nationals, winning a title in 1955, and two for the Detroit Pistons.

Once his playing career was over, Lloyd went on to become the first black head coach of the Pistons in 1971 after paying his dues as an assistant and scout. He died in 2015 at the age of 86.

Renowned as a multi-sport athlete, Clifton played baseball (first base) for the Chicago American Giants of the Negro American League and basketball for the Globetrotters and the New York Renaissance before signing his barrier-breaking contract with the New York Knickerbockers in 1950.

As a 27-year old rookie center, “Sweetwater” helped the Knicks make it to the NBA Finals, where they lost to Rochester in a seven-game series. Clifton averaged 10 points and 8.2 rebounds over eight years in the NBA (seven with New York, one with Detroit) and defied father time by getting his first All-Star nod as a 34-year-old in 1957. He passed away in 1990.

Both Clifton and Lloyd were later enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, but Cooper, who died at age 57 due to cancer, has yet to receive the nod.

“It would be a tremendous honor,” Chuck Cooper Jr. told ESPN. “He was proud of becoming the first African-American drafted. I can only imagine how proud and honored he would be to be elected to be in the Hall of Fame.”

Accolades aside, it’s vital that these three integrationists are properly appreciated for changing the course of history and blazing a trail for early black NBA players like Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson and so many of the league’s current superstars.

“There’s so many different guys who paved the way for where we are now, so many different guys in our league and we’re so grateful for them,” nine-time All-Star Chris Paul said of Cooper, Lloyd and Clifton. “Not just during Black History Month, but I think every month. All year round, we need to be grateful and thankful to those that paved the way.”

—

Maurice Bobb is a contributor to SLAM. Follow him on Twitter @ReeseReport. 

Photos via Getty. 

The post BHM 2019: Chuck Cooper, Earl Lloyd and Nat Clifton Broke the NBA’s Color Barrier appeared first on SLAM.

The six-time All-Star is on site running between stacked shipping containers to help promote adidas’ “RUN THE GAME” campaign and its launch of the AlphaBOUNCE Beyond—a shoe designed to celebrate athletes who use running as a tool to dominate their sport.

Although the Houston Rockets’ guard has his own signature shoe, he incorporates the engineered mesh and the BOUNCE midsole of the AlphaBOUNCE Beyond, which has allowed him to use running as a training tool, in the multi-directional agility training this past summer that transformed him into this season’s top candidate for League MVP.

There’s always been something a little jostling and otherworldly about the way Harden plays basketball. Already a supremely gifted ballhandler, he’s taken his game up several notches in his ninth year in the Association. He’s breaking ankles with his elusive footwork, driving the lane as if it were his own private runway and capitalizing on those luscious, highlight reel worthy stepbacks to the tune of a League-leading 249 made three-pointers and 30.7 points per game.

JAMES HARDEN. This is legendary. (via @HoustonRockets) https://t.co/KVo9iIlqtE

— SLAM (@SLAMonline) March 1, 2018

By adding the AlphaBOUNCE to his training regimen, Harden has put the exclamation point on the way he knifes through the creases and seams of the defense; stopping and accelerating joltingly and quickly, like the poetic embodiment of iambic pentameter. All this and he’s also been able to use the silhouette to pad his competitive edge, play the game of basketball at his own pace and virtually dominate his defenders.

“Athletes want to be the best at their specific sport and they understand that running is a key factor in obtaining their goals,” says Andy Barr, Product Category Director for adidas Running. “Adidas have worked with a range of vertical athletes – those who compete in sports such as soccer, football, basketball, baseball, field hockey, tennis and boxing – as well as versatile athletes – those who are cultural leaders in dance and modeling – to develop a running shoe that will give them the edge over their competition, making them the best on the court, field or pitch.”

SLAM caught up with the Beard after his photoshoot to talk about the Rockets and the training that has helped him become the most dangerous offensive threat on the planet.

SLAM: When do you train in the AlphaBOUNCE Beyond versus your signature shoe?

James Harden: For the AlphaBOUNCE Beyond, it’s more for when I’m on the track or when I’m in the sand or I want to do spin class or boxing. There’s a variety of different training regimens that I use the shoe with. I use them in the weight room as well. They’re so comfortable when I’m on the treadmill, so I wear them when I’m not on the court, basically.

SLAM: It looks like the designers listened to the athletes on what they need in a shoe. Do you feel their use of ARAMIS technology (a motion capture process that produces scientific data on how athletes move) when you wear the shoe?

JH: Yeah, we’re the ones going out there going at it every single day, especially the best players in their respective sport. Of course they have to listen to us. But the way shoes are being created now, it’s for the athlete.

SLAM: This past summer did you realize that you needed to work on your endurance?

JH: That’s always the number one thing, being in shape. Being able to run and not get tired and so I do different types of workouts. I don’t just do the same thing because obviously it gets boring. Whether you’re in the pool working out or in the weight room or on the track or in the sand, just mix it up a little bit. That way your conditioning is always there. Do different types of conditioning and then on the court, it should be a lot easier.

SLAM: Outside of at the end of the game, how does endurance help you on the court?

JH: In the early parts of the game, so you have an extra burst on the defender. You’re able to change directions and move and get from point A to point B faster than you would have. You can get those things if you’re not tired. If you’re able to last four quarters and overtimes and move faster than other guys on the court, it gives you the advantage.

SLAM: You’ve said in the past that you like to create. How does this shoe help you move with creativity on the court?

JH: It helps me create great habits, especially in the summertime. That way when it carries over to the season, I’m already ahead of the game. Those creative habits that I build over the summer just gives me that extra confidence, that extra swag and that lets me know I’ve been putting the work in. So when it’s time to go into camp and even in games, it’s a breeze.

SLAM: You do a lot of quick stops and quick accelerations. How do you work on that in the summer?

JH: Ladder drills and working out on the sand. The sand is much tougher than working out on the pavement or the court, so just to be able to get out of that sand as quick as I can makes it easier on the court. I do pull workouts, a lot of resistance training to where things are holding you back and you have to be able to get that burst of speed fast.

SLAM: You figured out how to operate within the creases and the seams of the defense to pass and score the basketball. How did you figure that out and build on it?

JH: It’s been that way. I’m not the most athletic guy, but I have to figure out how to get to where I want to go. So whether it’s a pick-and-roll or whether it’s an iso, it’s just about finding a way to be a step ahead of the defender. And even in that, being a step ahead of the helpside defender, too, whoever that is. I just find a way. It’s all just natural instincts.

SLAM: There’s a misconception that you just play to draw fouls, but people don’t realize how strong you have to be to take these fouls and play through to make the shot. How do you train for that?

JH: It’s a different type of game. It’s a game within a game. For me, it’s like people say “Oh my God, he looks for fouls.” I don’t look for fouls, I’m just so strong when I get to the basket, it’s probably be embarrassing if I continue to lay the ball up in your face. So there’s going to be a lot of contact. I mean, it’s a foul, I just continue to go, continue to train to make sure I’m strong enough, to make sure my legs are strong enough to get to where I want to go. And I make sure that when I get in there, I’m physical enough to where I can take the contact and still try to finish.

SLAM: You said this is the best team you’ve been on from top to bottom. Why do you feel that way?

JH: Because I think everybody’s on the same page. That’s the most important thing. Everybody has a skill that helps steer the team where we want to go. And then we’re just so versatile, man. Guys go in the game and play at a high level. Obviously, we have the names but we have the work ethic and the drive that goes with it. I mean that right there explains everything.

—

Follow Maurice Bobb on Twitter. Photos courtesy of adidas.

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Quentin Grimes, a 6-5, 205-pound combo guard out of The Woodlands College Park HS  understands that concept more than most. The top-15 ranked Kansas commit took the summer after a relatively quiet freshman campaign to dig deep, train hard and improve his game. That laser focus helped him make the quantum leap after his sophomore year to five-star prospect, drawing offers from the nation’s top schools.

“Starting on varsity every year, my responsibilities got bigger and bigger and I made a name for myself nationally,” Grimes says. “I’m locked in and staying loyal to the game and staying loyal to the grind. It’ll all pay off in the end.”

One of three players in KU’s incoming class of 2018 named to this year’s McDonald’s All-American team, Grimes is ready to add his government to the long list of legendary perimeter players who flourished under Coach Bill Self’s guard-centric system.

“Once I narrowed my schools down, I started to watch a lot more film on how [Self] really lets his guards run the show,” Grimes says. “Coming out in transition, pull-up threes, letting the guards make the majority of the plays, that really stood out to me. Just seeing how much freedom he gives his guards so when they get to the next level, they are ready. That influenced my decision even more.”

“I do some things that you’ve never seen out there on the court from a point guard standpoint,” says Grimes, who grew up emulating Magic Johnson. “Texas schools bring a different kind of toughness out of you when you play out here. Every night you gotta bring your best. If you don’t bring your best, you might get ran out the gym.”

The post Top-10 Recruit Quentin Grimes Is Ready To Bring #MambaMentality To Kansas appeared first on SLAM.

50 campers assembled at the Miami Heat forward’s high school alma mater, St. John’s in Houston, for the two-day clinic held on June 24th and June 25th puffed up with boundless energy, as if they were diminutive superheroes, tasked with the simplest of missions–have fun.

And how could it not be fun?

To get their golden ticket to the event, which is one of the many programs offered though the Robin’s House Family Foundation, which was established to “encourage and guide children and young adults to discover their highest potential through education, recreation, and community outreach,” the kids had to write essays about how they would change the world.

“We couldn’t accept everybody, so we wanted to do something fun and creative,” Winslow said. “And I just like to see how kids think, even just talking to kids about different stuff like the draft or LaVar Ball, I just to see what they think. It’s interesting just to hear their perspective on things. We asked about community service, one thing they would do to help out the world, so they answered with things like helping the homeless, giving back, feeding the needy, that sort of thing. It’s just a great way to see how kids think and see how genuine their hearts are.”

Q-tipped with brand new adidas sneakers gifted by the brand to all those lucky to attend, the incoming 5th and 6th graders ran drills, shot jumpers, dribbled to the rim for layups and dove for loose balls as if their very lives depended on it.

All under the watchful eye of Winslow, who, despite the pull of today’s youth towards shooting three balls from well beyond the arc, worked directly with the young players, continuously sharing the importance of playing swarming, stingy defense.

“It really is tough,” said Winslow, about teaching the kids the merits of lockdown defense. “You see the way the game is going and everyone is in love with the three ball and that sort of thing, but I try to ingrain some of those fundamentals and just simple basketball principles. A lot of people forget that defense is 50 percent of the game, so we gotta keep hammering that home to the next generation so they don’t lose those fundamentals.”

As he runs up and down the court, refereeing games and stopping kids to deliver on-the-spot advice, it’s easy to see just how much the former Duke Blue Devil cares about the youngsters and their grasp of the fundamentals of the game he loves.

“I’ve been blessed and very fortunate in my life, so I feel obligated to give back and to help those less fortunate,” Winslow said. “When it comes to kids, I’ll do anything for kids because I know what it means to be inspired and be motivated by a role model or someone like that. When it comes to kids, I’m down for anything that puts a smile on their face, I’m down for it.”

Winslow’s penchant for giving back stems from his strong family upbringing. As a youth, his mother, Robin Davis, made sure he knew the value of helping others.

“For Justise, giving back is just like walking,” Ms. Davis said. “This is the way they grew up, it comes natural.”

As for the campers, Ms. Davis and her son, who is signed to Jay Z’s Roc Nation sports agency, want them to go home with an understanding that of what it means to give and that you don’t have to have money or material things to do it.

Additionally, they want the kids to leave with a higher basketball IQ.

“We learned how to take what’s coming at you,” said 11-year old Justin Mitchell. “If the refs call a bad call, you just have to accept it. And play as a team and make quality shots.”

Speaking of quality shots, Winslow, who is coming off a sophomore campaign that was cut short by a shoulder injury, has spent the better part of the offseason improving his shot.

“I’ve definitely worked on my perimeter shot, getting the three ball down,” Winslow said. “But I’ve always felt versatile. I’ve always worked on all aspects of my game. I’m just trying to get in the best shape possible, get healthy.”

While recovering from surgery to repair the torn labrum in his right shoulder, Winslow had to watch as his teammates gutted out the second half of the season and almost making the playoffs.

“It was hard to watch, but at the same time, those guys, they don’t know how much they motivated me during my recovery process,” Winslow said. “Just seeing them come back from being 11-30 to being 41-41, I was back there working just as hard as them because they were inspiring me with their play. We came up short and everybody was disappointed, but we were still in the gym trying to build on what we had going, so next year should be bright for us.”

Going into his third year, Winslow will be asked to improve his offensive game, as well as build upon his plus/minus. Last season, when he was in the game, he boosted his team’s net rating by 4.6 points.

While no one seems to be giving the Heat any chance to dethrone or challenge the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors or Cleveland Cavaliers, Winslow believes his team will be able to compete for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

“I think we can,” Winslow said. “I think we got a good group. Obviously, we’ll see how free agency turns out, but the second half of the year, we were right up there, a top 5 team in the league. We were handling those top teams. So we just gotta be more consistent with that and start off that way this coming year.”

Photos courtesy of Aaron M. Sprecher.

The post Justise Winslow’s 2nd Annual Invitational Clinic A Success appeared first on SLAM.

So when adidas was tasked to showcase his new signature line, Harden Vol. 1, in Houston this past weekend, one thing was clear: It had to be an event that brought that same level of grandiosity.

In a word, it had to be unfukwitable.

And to that I say, the good folks over at Three Stripes accomplished that and then some.

WOW.

To start things off, there was the unveiling held at one of Houston’s preeminent intimate live music venues, Warehouse Live.

But it wasn’t so much of an unveiling as it was a multi-media experience.

Once patrons walked past security and the velvet ropes, they were privy to an incredible graphics display of Harden and artistic portraits of the bearded superstar in action, punctuating the tagline, “Wake the game up.”

There was dim lighting and a misty fog, ominously foretelling the surprises the brand had in store for those lucky to be in attendance.

The team’s designers were on hand to discuss the creative process, as well as the man himself, giddy like a kid with a brand new bike to showcase to his best friends, sharing his delight at checking off one of his childhood dreams: having his own signature shoe like the Kobes and the Jordans.

“This was my first time creating a shoe from the ground up. With adidas, we wanted to stand for something different, be true to who we are and that’s how we separate ourselves,” Harden said. “This was a once in a lifetime opportunity and all the work we put in together is what makes this genuine. We’re open to each other’s opinions and we weren’t going to just put shoes on the shelves and say, ‘This is James Harden.’ It’s built for how I play and you’ll see my style, different moods, the little details and stories that represent who I am.”

Harden added, “People always ask me, ‘How are you different?’ It’s hard to explain how you’re different but the shoe explains it for me.”

But as the saying goes, seeing is believing.

So to that end, there was a fashion show, complete with Harden’s own glitterati in the front row. There was the jeweler to the stars, Ben Baller, hip-hop’s latest West Coast maestro, YG, there was the fashion outlaw, Young Thug and, of course, the Houston Rockets general manager, Daryl Morey, and a collection of his teammates like Nene, Patrick Beverley, Corey Brewer, Ryan Anderson and Eric Gordon.

While the crowd waited for the models to strut the runway, Houston’s go-to deejay, DJ Mr. Rogers, hyped the crowd up with a litany of hits.

Harden emerged draped head to toe in his new line and kicked off the show, which featured male and female models showcasing different pieces.

After the show, guests were treated to surprise performances from Houston’s own Slim Thug and Z-Ro, as well as the energetic and sonic Tasmanian devil Travis Scott, who also debuted a video featuring Harden for the song, “Way Back.”

Scott and Harden sat on the stage watching the video as though they were grade school buddies watching Saturday morning cartoons.

All throughout Scott’s kinetic set, the fire marshall tried to shut everything down, but the event showrunner, Brittany Haswell of Girl Code, Inc., wouldn’t let him stop the reign.

Later on that evening, there was a private wrap party hosted by Harden at the swanky downtown Houston nightclub, Prohibition.

There was a bevy of Houston beauties on hand, as well as close friends, family and teammates celebrating Harden, who was in his element, enjoying the fruits of his labor as one of the NBA’s most gifted—and crafty—scorers.

Again, there were performances, but in the smallish club setting, it was more celebratory than performance. Artists engaged the crowd and invited Harden to perform with them, making for the kind of experience fans would gladly pay for but would never see from artists of their caliber.

First up was Nipsey Hussle, who ran through his classic street anthems as Harden eagerly sang along to with his friends.

Then there was YG, who got the crowd to shed its etiquette in favor of good, clean debauchery. Even “9-to-5-ers” were encouraged to let loose.

Nip Hussle was invited back onstage for YG’s “F—k Donald Trump,” a song that really engaged the crowd and prompted the Bompton MC to single out a security guard who wasn’t rocking with the chorus as someone who must be voting for Trump.

“F—k Donald Trump,” he shouted at the guard, laughing.

Next up was Young Thug, who awaked all of the ratchedness in the throng. The party was a real stone-cold groove now.

Lastly, there was Travis Scott.

If he was somewhat dialed back at the earlier show, there was no holds barred this night.

He jumped, he threw drinks, he jumped again and he bounded to and fro on stage as if he were on a pogo stick.

But the standout moment came when it was time to perform, “Antidote.”

He ran off the stage, up the stairs and jump over the balcony banister to literally hang from the banister with one arm and rap into the mic in the other. Even his security team were flummoxed by the move, trying desperately to keep the rapper safe as he rapped the song’s refrain.

Don’t you open up that window

Don’t you let out that antidote

Poppin’ pills is all we know

In the hills is all we know (Hollywood!)

Don’t go through the front door (Through the back!)

It’s lowkey at the night show

So don’t you open up that window

Don’t you let out that antidote

After Scott’s incredible set, the party began to level off. But as all of the guests streamed out of Prohibition and into the night, they knew that they had witnessed something that might never be topped and certainly something that they’d never forget.

The post Wake The Game Up appeared first on SLAM.

That list, of course, is grossly incomplete without the legendary, yet widely unappreciated jokester Rodney Dangerfield.

“I don’t get no respect!”

That catchphrase built an industry of humor for the late great funnyman. Under the guise of self-depreciation, he cut right to the audience’s soul, generating side-splitting laughs that, obviously, showed the kind of deference that all comics covet.

“I get no respect. The way my luck is running, if I was a politician I would be honest.”

Through his numerous appearances on The Tonight Show, his Las Vegas act and his movies that garnered a cult following, Dangerfield consistently brought the funny in a way that made fans unwittingly root for more of the feigned misery that fostered his comedic genius.

“Onstage, Mr. Dangerfield is a verbal boxer who dances lightly around a theme, then closes in for the kill, delivering a barrage of one- and two-line punches in an accelerated rapid-fire delivery that becomes an orgiastic flurry of jabs,” wrote Stephen Holden of the New York Times.

“You gotta look out for number one, but don’t step in number two!”

If there was ever an athlete that embodies Dangerfield’s signature line, it’s Sacramento Kings star DeMarcus Cousins.

For all of his on-court dominance, especially on the low block (read: he averaged 26.9 points, 11.5 boards and 1.4 swats per contest last season), he’s still regarded as though he’s a pouty, petulant child instead of the game’s best big man. Let’s just call it like it is—there’s no freakin’ way he shouldn’t have been on the All-NBA First Team.

“In my mind, it’s not even close between me and the next person,” Cousins told SLAM last year. “I would say the next big is AD (Anthony Davis), but it’s not close, in my mind. Not close.”

And it isn’t.

Everyone knows it, including all of the experts, analysts and pundits. But just like Dangerfield, the former University of Kentucky standout gets no respect.

So what will it take for everyone to, as Birdman infamously said, stop playing with his name and put some “respek” on it?

Winning.

“At this point, it’s about winning,” said Cousins. “I got the All-Star appearances. I got Team USA. My name is out there. It’s just about winning, it’s about carrying a team. I mean, from a talent perspective I know I’m way above any other big man—now it’s just about winning…I’ve sat here and thought about it, I’ve analyzed other players and, shit, win, and they’ll accept you for whoever you are. You could be a fucking crackhead and they’ll love you. If you win, they sweep everything under the rug.”

Dangerfield fans can definitely appreciate Boogie’s wit on the absurdity of his underrated status.

“I went to a fight the other night, and a hockey game broke out.”

But, even in jest, he’s totally onto something. Winning does cure all when it comes to taking that next step toward superstardom. The numbers are already staggering, so no one expects DMC to get more buckets (he was the fourth leading scorer in the L last year) or Windex the glass with more impunity. All he really needs to do to quiet his detractors is step up as a leader, make his teammates better and bring back that winning culture to Cali’s state capital.

No one in the SLAM Dome wants Boogie to stop dropping F-bombs in interviews—seriously, never change, Boogie.

https://youtu.be/h0X9UUTBD4M

But if he wants to shake all of the negative perceptions and finally enjoy his rightful place as one of the league’s elite MVP-caliber players, he might want to pick his battles with opposing squads, inhale and let all the non-calls go and maybe, drastically cut back on all the technical fouls.

If DMC does all of the above and bring it like he always does, when the 2016-17 season comes to a close, he’ll be having the last laugh.

DEMARCUS COUSINS SLAM TOP 50 HISTORY

2010: –
2011: –
2012: 28
2013: 29
2014: 20
2015: 9
2016: 9

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2016-17—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

Follow the entire SLAM Top 50 countdown.

The post SLAM Top 50: DeMarcus Cousins, No. 9 appeared first on SLAM.

The show about nothing, which also features the characters Elaine Benes, George Costanza and Kramer, lasted nine seasons and because of classic episodes like, “The Contest,” “The Opposite,” “The Junior Mint,” “The Old Man,” “The Burning,” “The Bubble Boy” and “The Summer of George.” It went on to be known as possibly the best and most popular show in the history of television.

Even now, almost 20 years after the controversial series finale aired, the iconic sitcom centered on the minutiae of daily life is still in syndication, sometimes airing twice a day on major networks.

With that kind of vice grip on pop culture, you’d think that the show was an instant hit for NBC when the first pilot, “The Seinfeld Chronicles,” ran in 1989.

You’d be wrong.

In fact, the show had a very difficult time finding an audience. The show was always genius, but with no one watching, the tree falling in the forest philosophical thought experiment applied.

But the big wigs at 30 Rock believed in it. So they gave the show the two things television shows these days rarely get: time and opportunity.

And it paid off.

After tinkering with the show’s timeslot and letting it build an organic fan base, NBC moved the show to “Must See TV” Thursdays to replace Cheers midway through its fourth season and the show finally achieved escape velocity.

According to physics, escape velocity is the minimum speed an object must have in order to escape the gravitational field of the earth without ever falling back.

And that’s where the show belonged, up in the upper strata of the TV universe, imposing its “yada, yada, yada” sensibilities upon the rest of the world.

Kyle Lowry’s trajectory from journeyman floor general to NBA star has an eerily similar path as Seinfeld.

After he was drafted No. 24 in the 2006 NBA Draft by the Memphis Grizzlies, based on his reputation for being a pitbull and full of the grit and determination so often associated with his hometown Philadelphia, Lowry faltered, failing to gain purchase as a point guard on the next level.

So after two seasons with Memphis, he was shipped off to the Houston Rockets, then back to Memphis the following year, then back to Houston again where he was finally given an opportunity to shine. Not surprisingly, he started to show signs of the franchise player that he could become. During those three years in Space City, he improved each year, going from 9.1 ppg to 13.5 ppg to 14.3 ppg. His assist numbers improved, too, going from 4.5 dimes per contest to just over 6 per outing.

But then came Toronto, which was his move to “Must See TV.”

Time and opportunity.

After toiling away in virtual anonymity for seven seasons, The 6 embraced Lowry like he was Drake’s long-lost brother.

In the four years that he’s been there, he’s revitalized a basketball town that was still mourning the loss of Vince “Air Canada” Carter and made them bonafide contenders again.

He made them believe, again. And all it took was time and opportunity.

Looking ahead to his 11th season in the L, Lowry is looking to build on last year, when he averaged a career-high 21.2 ppg, when he and DeMar DeRozan came within two victories of the NBA Finals, when he showed the world that he could compete against Cleveland’s Goliath, LeBron James, when he proved that he deserved to be a starter on the All-Star team for two straight years, when he left no doubt about why he was selected to the All-NBA Third Team.

And while he and the Raptors are now “Must See TV,” he still has a lot to prove. He still has to elevate his leadership so that he’s on par with the other elite point guards. He has to stay healthy, he has to stay in shape, he has to stay fearless, and he has to stay poised when things get rough.

He knows what winning feels like now that he has an Olympic Gold medal with Team USA, so he has to find a way to lead his team deep into the Playoffs, again, where they can compete for a chance to bring that gold Larry O’Brien trophy to the basketball crazed fans in The 6.

If he can take another step this year, as most of us at the SLAM Dome know that he can, he’ll achieve his own escape velocity and get back to draining threes, bullying his way into the lane and, of course, trolling DeMar any and every chance he gets.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

KYLE LOWRY SLAM TOP 50 HISTORY

2009: NR
2010: NR
2011: NR
2012: NR
2013: NR
2014: 34
2015: 37
2016: 21

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2016-17—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

Follow the entire SLAM Top 50 countdown.

The post SLAM Top 50: Kyle Lowry, No. 21 appeared first on SLAM.

Hosted by legendary Houston rappers Bun B and Slim Thug, the sports industry’s power players converged on Social Junkie, a premier sports bar in the area to enjoy the musical stylings of DJ Mr. Rogers and DJ Kiotti in the mix.

In addition to the numerous college coaches in attendance, celebrities such as Willie D and Bushwick Bill of the Geto Boys, Ron Baker, Antoine Walker, Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson and Phi Slama Jama’s own Larry Micheaux made their way to the event, which was sponsored by BMW, Boost Mobile, Mitchell & Ness, Gurkha, Shirts & Skins, VG Visuals, Never Too Hungover, The Republic Clothing Co., C-Ray Art and New Amsterdam Vodka.

Story of the night: At one point, Bun B questioned SLAM Associate Editor Abe Schwadron about the dope SLAM snapback he was wearing and how he could get one. Without missing a beat, Abe offered that they switch hats on the spot and Bun, after some thought, agreed and gave Abe the hat off his head. Bun walked out with the exclusive SLAM lid, which he proudly showed it off on Instagram a few minutes later:

Scroll through the photos above to see a few snapshots that tell the tale of the night—and see you next year in Phoenix!

The post SLAM x ‘Phi Slamma Jamma Jam’ Event Recap (PHOTOS) appeared first on SLAM.

In a finish for the ages, Villanova’s Kris Jenkins came down the court after an impossible double pump three-pointer by North Carolina’s Marcus Paige to tie it at 74 with 4.7 seconds left, and rose up on the wing with .6 seconds left on the clock and let fly a beautiful jumper from behind the arc at the buzzer for the win. The Wildcats secured their second national title in school history with a 77-74 win over the Tar Heels and Jenkins, who finished with 14 points, ran around the court like an Olympic gold medal-winning sprinter.

“I got ice water in my veins!” he yelled in every direction towards the 74,340 fans packed into Houston’s NRG Stadium.

This game wasn’t supposed to end like this. Villanova, wildly regarded as the team without any significant NBA prospects, weren’t supposed to be able to beat the juggernaut from Chapel Hill, North Carolina—especially not with Michael Jordan, the ultimate Tar Heel legend, on hand to witness the action.

In the early going, both teams had plenty of rust to try and shake off before North Carolina’s Joel Berry II hit the first shot of the game, a three-pointer, with 18:40 left in the first.

Villanova led most of the way, with the Tar Heels pulling within two on Brice Johnson’s nasty alley-oop down low plus the harm.

With North Carolina hitting five of their first seven three point shots, they rallied to take a 39-34 lead at the half.

Nova’s Phil Booth, who finished with 20 points, got hot in the second, hitting a short jumper and a triple with 12:39 left to put his squad up 49-46.

Paige closed the gap to four with a trifecta of his own from the wing, but Jenkins answered with a long-range bomb of his own to stretch the lead back to seven.

With five minutes left, the Wildcats had their largest lead of the game, 67-57, but UNC wouldn’t go down without a fight. They clawed their way back into it with some big time shots from Paige, who hit a cool under pressure jumper from behind the arc with 1:30 left to pull within three, 70-67.

The Tar Heels forced a turnover on the next trip down with some solid defense, and Johnson hit a short jumper off the backboard to make it 70-69 with 60 seconds left.

That’s when the real magic happened.

With 13 seconds on the clock, North Carolina walked the ball up the court and Paige, swarmed by ‘Nova defenders, rose up and hit a double pump three that shook the roof off the stadium.

First, @marcuspaige5. https://t.co/tTwnIDnSSL

— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) April 5, 2016

The game was tied at 74.

Then, like the poised bunch they’d been all tournament, the Wildcats walked the ball back up the other way and dropped a pass to Jenkins who sank the biggest shot of his college career—and maybe ever in a championship game.

But then…@bigticket2! https://t.co/MruqGpp5GX

— SLAM Magazine (@SLAMonline) April 5, 2016

Paige led all scorers with 21 points, while Ryan Arcidiacono and Jenkins finished with 16 and 14, respectively.

Congratulations to the Villanova Wildcats on their 2016 National Championship. Well deserved.

The post Villanova Beats North Carolina for NCAA Championship on Last Second Shot appeared first on SLAM.

Early on, both teams played within themselves, but Brice Johnson got all 75,505 in attendance off their feet with a nasty, putback dunk on a missed three to make things even at 16 with 9:08 left in the first.

After Theo Pinson flashed a killer reverse layup and Isaiah Hicks slammed it home on a feed from Marcus Paige, the Heels led 39-27 at the half.

During halftime, the legendary Texas Western squad that surprised Kentucky in 1966 to win the title were brought out to center court and everyone stood up and cheered.

Trevor Cooney kept things interesting for the Orangemen, knocking down 4 of 8 from behind the arc, but every time he helped his team claw its way back into the game, North Carolina would stretch its lead back to double digits.

The Heels, who have beaten every team in this year’s tournament by at least 14 points, kept that streak alive tonight with a very balanced attack. Justin Jackson, Johnson and Marcus Paige finished with 16, 16 and 13 points, respectively.  Cooney led all scorers with 22 points for Cuse, who shot a paltry 4-13 from the charity strip. Can’t win a must win game like that.

Syracuse goes home and the Tarheels keep on dancin’.

The post Final Four Recap: Tar Heels Eliminate Syracuse, Advance to NCAA Championship appeared first on SLAM.

After sharpshooter Buddy Hield started the game off with a deep three pointer, the ‘Cats took control, scoring in bunches from all over the raised parquet.

Junior Josh Hart nailed a jumper from behind the arc in the waning moments of the first half to put ‘Nova up 42-28. Hart went to the locker room with 15 points to Hield’s 7.

Unfortunately for the Sooners, the second half was even more outlandish than the first for ‘Nova, who shot lights out for most of the game for an improbable 70% from the floor, the highest field goal percentage for any team in the Final Four except, of course, for that ’85 ‘Nova team that beat the Georgetown Hoyas for the title.

Hart led all scorers with 23 points, followed by Kris Jenkins, who finished with 18 and 8 rebounds. Jordan Woodard, who finished with 12, was the only OU player to reach double figures. Hield, a likely high lottery pick in the upcoming 2016 NBA Draft, ended his storied college career with 9 points in an extremely lopsided loss.

The post Final Four Recap: Hart Drops 23, Wildcats Coast to 95-51 Victory appeared first on SLAM.

For the much-ballyhooed, air-walkin’, slam-dunkin’ University of Houston men’s basketball team, which was led by future Hall of Famers Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon and Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, that serendipitous moment came when a certain sportswriter turned in his column about a cadre of high flyin’ dunkers who used Hofheinz Pavilion as their launching pad. They were the thundering herd, barreling and fast breaking toward the basket, racking up 58 dunks during the infancy of the 1982-83 season.

“I was intrigued by the University of Houston team because they were so much fun,” says former Houston Post sportswriter Thomas Bonk. “They started playing above the rim and dunking everywhere, so I was trying to think, what would a college dunking fraternity be called? It had to have something with ‘Slam’ in it and most fraternities start with ‘Phi.’ I was on deadline and had to think of something: Phi Slama Jama. It was an innocent line in a column. And it immediately went viral before things even went viral. Everybody just embraced it. The players absolutely loved it because it gave them some notoriety.”

Of course Houston, a city known for interstellar flight, would spawn a team whose identity centered on its own brand of aerial artistry. The team, now dubbed Phi Slama Jama, dispatched 16 men who boldly bounced off the floor like a Spalding in search of rims to detonate. Vanity, as it turns out, is one helluva motivation to excel.

“To be in college and to come out with our own fraternity, Phi Slama Jama, was so cool,” says Olajuwon. “It was amazing just to have that name and concept and what made it even cooler was that you had to be on the team to be a member.”

Timing, of course, is everything. The Phi Slama Jama movement came on the heels of the dunkless era. From 1967 to 1976, the dunk shot was banned by the NCAA, a rule that came to be known as the “Lew Alcindor rule.” The rule was put in place to supposedly level the playing field, because players like Alcindor (now Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and the extremely athletic men of the reigning champion Texas Western University were dominating the game because of their ability to “stuff” the ball into the basket once they got deep into the paint. The Zeitgeist was wrong, though, because the moratorium on dunks depleted the game’s excitement.

Everyone knew the bedazzling effectiveness of the dunk shot (the late great Chick Hearn coined the term “slam dunk,” a decidedly immense improvement over “dunk shot.” Thanks Chick!), but none more than Lewis, who encouraged his players to dunk outright because the dunk, of course, was meant to be a breathtaking spectacle and a devastating strategy against competitors.

“Dunking was something that was the highlight of any game,” says Olajuwon. “The opportunity to dunk in a game, that’s what the fans wanted to see.”

“Guy Lewis was a phenomenal coach and the reason he was such a good coach was he wanted us to shoot high-percentage shots,” says Drexler. “And what’s the highest percentage shot in the game? The dunk shot. So our focus was always on efficiency, and the dunk was a demonstrative shot that let the other team know you can’t stop us and if you can’t stop us, we gonna win this game. The dunk was significant for that reason. It was a highly efficient shot and it was an intimidating shot. So, the way we looked at it was, if we can get 15-20 dunks, you guys can’t guard us.”

Coach Lewis, a Hall of Fame hoops savant, was always interested in efficiency. He would always tell his players to “Do something with the ball positive—if you don’t do something with it positive, you’ll be sitting by me.” Armed with a new identity and full permission from their head coach to tattoo the rim, the Coogs put the rest of the NCAA on notice, making the quantum leap from regional dunking juggernaut to the biggest story in sports.

“These guys were showmen—they liked putting on a show, they loved being the center of attention. It’s what they did,” says Bonk. “They always said, ‘I like jump shots, but dunks are better.’ They thought it was perfect for them, gave them a real identity and [at] that time they were newcomers to the Southwest Conference, and some of the established teams didn’t care too much for them. The name gave them an edge. They appreciated it, they liked it.”

The fans liked it, too. When Texas’ tallest fraternity came to town, it was like they were the Beatles. Everyone wanted to see them play, even professionals. Earvin “Magic” Johnson, the sensational ringleader of the Los Angeles Lakers’ “Showtime” squad, was one of the team’s biggest fans.

“When you’re playing way above the rim, everybody in college basketball knows you,” says Drexler. “We were the No. 1 team in the country most of the year. When pro teams came to town, they would come to our practices. I distinctly remember seeing Greg Kelser—I think he was playing with the Pistons. He played with Magic and we grew up watching him and they’re in town to play the Rockets and he was at our practice that day. It was always stuff like that happening.”

“The recognition we got, the exposure, it was very unique,” says Olajuwon. “Phi Slama Jama was very catchy nationwide. With all the people coming to practice and coming to see us everywhere we went, it was like a rock-and-roll atmosphere.”

With the way the Houston Cougars stormed into the national sports culture, it’s hard to believe that most of them, Drexler and Olajuwon included, were not highly recruited prep stars coming out of high school. Most were virtual unknowns, except for Rob Williams, who led the team in scoring (21 ppg) during the 1981-82 season when the Coogs went to the first of three straight Final Fours.

“Rob Williams was the catalyst for Phi Slama Jama, if you ask me,” says Drexler. “He used to light up the pros while he was still in high school. He had the ball on a string. I went to UH to play with Rob and Larry Micheaux and I convinced Michael Young to go with me. We were all from the Houston area. After about a month, Hakeem came to the team from Nigeria. Once we started winning, we started getting the Mr. California, Mr. Indiana, Mr. Chicago—we had a deep and talented team, but the nucleus was the guys from Houston.”

The Cougars built their foundation in practice, where players went hard for three hours, running and scrimmaging nonstop. Any ball that was dunkable was dunked. Dunking was so fundamentally a part of the team’s identity that the players engaged in a light dunk contest before and after practices.

“We had incredible dunks because our practices were very intense,” says Drexler. “We had three-hour practices that were very intense and rarely a practice went by without two guys almost about to fight. That kind of intensity let Coach know we were ready to go. It got to the point where we would actually stage it where when everybody started to get tired, somebody had to pretend like they were about to get into a fight so Coach would think we were ready to compete.”

Olajuwon came off the bench during his first season because he was still very raw as a basketball player, but with his innate sense for protecting the paint, the Cougars were able to force their defensive will on opponents. They were most effective when they got out in the open court and ran. And boy did they run.

After losing to Ralph Sampson and the University of Virginia Cavaliers, the Coogs ran off 22 straight wins, garnering the No. 1 seed headed into March Madness. On their way to the Final Four, they made quick work of their first three opponents, Maryland, Memphis and Villanova.

Drexler finished his NBA career with 10 All-Star nods, spots on the All-NBA First-Team (1), All-NBA Second-Team (2) and All-NBA Third-Team (2), an NBA Championship with the Houston Rockets and an Olympic Gold medal with the 1992 Dream Team—but even now, after all he’s accomplished, everyone wants to talk about that Louisville game. The Doctors of Dunk (Louisville) vs Phi Slama Jama (Houston). It was televised and it was a riveting show for the ages.

For the first half, both teams were flipping the jab, feeling each other out. Louisville Coach Denny Crum’s wrecking crew held the Coogs to just two dunks and took a 41-36 lead into the half. It was more of the same in the second, with Rodney McCray helping the Cards extend their lead to 57-49. But then the UH frat boys unleashed the aerial assault with three slams in a row by Young, Drexler and Benny Anders to cut the lead to 57-55. From there, it was an onslaught, advantage Houston. With Crum employing a short bench and the effects of the elevation coming to bare, the Cards hit a wall. Drexler brought down the house with a hand-changing, double-pump Superman-over-a-locomotive dunk as part of a 58-point half, with the Coogs winning the game 94-81. When the smoke cleared, Drexler finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists, while prodigious shot-blocker Olajuwon stuffed the stat sheet with 8 swats, 21 points and 22 boards.

“That game was definitely the most exciting game of our time,” says Olajuwon. “We played freestyle basketball. Both teams were playing the same style, above the rim. It was a great game for all of us and the fans.”

After putting on an aeronautical show, the Cougars fell flat in the title game against NC State, a team that should have been easy fodder. The Wolfpack’s brand of slow ball made the Cougars look like a group of befuddled playground all-stars. Drexler got in foul trouble and Thurl Bailey scored 15 points in the first half, securing a 33-25 lead for the Wolfpack. Houston fought back at the start of the second, roaring off for a 17-2 run. But after pulling ahead 43-35, Coach Lewis elected to slow the pace and rest Olajuwon. Dereck Whittenburg hit two shots to even the score at 52 two minutes before the infamous Lorenzo Charles dunk at the buzzer that ended the Wolfpack’s Cinderella run with a title and Jim Valvano’s epic victory lap around The Pit.

For the Coogs, it meant another disappointing season. For Drexler in particular, though, it meant it was time to take his seismic tomahawk dunks to the NBA.

“When you lose a game like that, of course you want to win them, obviously, but if you don’t win, life goes on,” says Drexler. “Everybody can’t win every year but you give it your best shot and live with the results. I was OK with losing the game the day after it happened. If you play sports, you’re gonna lose some games. There are so few people that don’t lose, so you learn how to handle the losses with dignity, and you handle the wins with the same dignity. So the minute it’s over, it’s on to the next game. For me, it was about going to the NBA Draft and looking forward to realizing my dream of playing in the NBA. I tell Whittenburg every time I see him that they were better on that particular day and they deserved to win, right? And then I’ll say by the way, Dereck, great pro career. [Laughs] And he’ll be like, ‘Ooh, you ain’t have to go there.’”

Drexler took his tousled afro and ability to glide to the Portland Trail Blazers, but Houston made it all the way back to the title game the next year with Olajuwon dominating the lane with his Dream Shake. It was déjà vu, though, because Patrick Ewing’s Georgetown Hoyas felled the dunking fraternity 84-75. Phi Slama Jama U got full marks for making it back to the Big Dance, but for those keeping score, that’s 0-3 for one of the most exciting college teams to ever take the hardwood.

“We will go down as the best college team that didn’t win a title,” says Olajuwon. “We made it to three straight Final Fours, which is hard to do. But that’s the way it is in sports—you only have one chance in college. But playing with Phi Slama Jama gave me everything. It gave me the toughness and the confidence that every time I stepped on the court, you’re supposed to dominate. You need to dominate. It gave me the mentality to take over when I got to the NBA. I’m forever grateful for that.”

—

Photos courtesy of Houston Athletics 

The post Total Frat Move appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: At 5-9, 185 pounds, you’re built like more of a traditional athlete. Do you play ball?

Nigel Sylvester: I do. I play ball every once and a while. As a kid I played more. I still go and shoot around. I enjoy the game, but because I’m always on my bike, I don’t play as much anymore.

SLAM: You’re a Knicks fan, right?

NS: For me, I got certain players I follow more than teams, like LeBron James. I’m a big LeBron fan and a Chris Paul [fan]. Those are the top two players that I keep up with. But yeah, I’m always gonna root for the home team no matter how good or bad they’re playing.

SLAM: You must be pretty optimistic about Kristaps Porzingis.

NS: Yes. When everyone was booing him on Draft night, I was the type of dude that wanted to wait and see what he could do first. I think he’s playing really well so far. He has a presence and he’s doing the damn thing, which is awesome. I’m really hoping he can mature and help the Knicks win a Championship. That’s always the goal, to win a chip.

SLAM: What do you think of the job Phil Jackson’s done so far?

NS: We expect more because he has such a résumé and such a past of greatness. He set such a high bar that he has to live up to. I feel like this team is different than any other team that he’s been a part of, but it takes some time. I’m ready for him to make some strides.

SLAM: So have they made enough progress for you to go to a game this year?

NS: I’m not that type of fan to where if they’re not playing well, I don’t want to go to games. I haven’t been to a game this season yet, but I will get some tickets and go. I’m always gonna support the Knicks. I’m a New York City kid, you know?

SLAM: You’ve really carved out your own lane as a BMX pro. As a kid growing up in Laurelton, just riding a bicycle around, did you ever think you’d be where you are now?

NS: No, BMX riding in NYC is super niche. Back then, we didn’t have all the skate parks we have now. In NYC, you have to navigate the streets and paint the city like it’s a canvas and your bike is the paintbrush. I didn’t take the conventional or traditional route to bike riding. I put my content out through the internet and social media and was able to just bubble up to a fanbase that turned from a local buzz to a global platform where people really respect what I do.

SLAM: Looks like that respect has led to some very cool things outside of the sport, too.

NS: It has. But I’m a big fan of dudes like Pharrell, Jay Z and Kanye West because it was about more than just music for them. They do so many different things, and I’m a fan of that. Of course the bike and doing tricks is the core of what I do, but I’m into other things, like fashion, and I’ve been fortunate to be able to do that.

The post Ridin’ Dirty appeared first on SLAM.

The Detroit Pistons had just become the third franchise in NBA history to win back-to-back Championships by defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, cementing the bruising legacy of the Bad Boys.

Spider, Worm and Zeke were household names. For those not in the know (and if you’re reading SLAM, then why the hell are you not initiated?), that’s John Salley and Hall of Famers Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas. With the help of Vinne Johnson, Rick Mahorn, fellow HOFers Joe Dumars and the late great Chuck Daly and, of course, the L’s all-time villain Bill Laimbeer, the Boys bodied Clyde “The Glide” Drexler and Co. in five games.

Together, Detroit’s finest made the NBA rough and rugged and in yo muthaf—ckin’ face.

It was ugly (read: Laimbeer threw elbows, hips and hard fouls out like candy on Halloween), but it was a thing of beauty because they were led by Zeke, a maestro with the rock, who razzled, dazzled and put the Pistons on his back for the historic repeat.

But we’ll come back to that later.

The year 1990 was also the genesis that led to the golden era of hip-hop. Albums like Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, Ice Cube’s Amerikkka’s Most Wanted, LL Cool J’s Mama Said Knock You Out, The D.O.C.’s No One Can Do It Better and Eric B & Rakim’s Let the Rhythm Hit ‘Em were dominating the airwaves and keeping bodies rockin’ in clubs, school dances, impromptu get-togethers and basement and block parties nationwide.

The year is also immensely significant to Washington Wizards fans for two seemingly innocuous reasons, at the time anyway. Brand Nubian’s seminal hit single “Slow Down,” with its clutch sample of Edie Brickell & New Bohemians’s “What I Am,” was on repeat and John Wall was born on September 6 to Frances Pulley and John Carroll Wall Sr in Raleigh, NC.

Slow down

Slow, slow down

What I am, what I am

Fast forward 20 years and Wall, the second coming, the savior, the Kentucky whirling dervish, the “did I just see that” YouTube ballin’ sensation, was selected first by the Wiz in the 2010 NBA Draft.

And just as promised, during his rookie campaign, Wall astonished. He showed and proved.

That first year stat line was a breath of fresh air for Washingtonians: 16.4 ppg, 8.3 apg and 1.8 steals per.

And the awards rolled in, too. Wall took home the 2011 Rookie Game MVP, was named Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month from January to April, was named to the All-Rookie First-Team and lost out to the previous year’s No. 1 pick Blake Griffin for the Rookie of the Year trophy.

Wall amazed, he broke ankles.

But he was too damn fast.

For defenders? Sure.

But here’s the rub: He was too damn fast for his teammates, too. And let’s just say it for the umpteenth time: He was too damn fast for his own good.

Slow down

You livin foul

And it ain’t yo style

Wall likely wasn’t aware of Brand Nubian’s prophetic words, but his detractors did. Every analyst with two cents, one cent and half a cent echoed the same criticism, despite his steady improvement over the last five years: Wall needed to slow down.

To be more specific, he needed to slow the game down, lead his team by getting into sets quicker, direct the show. Run it like the Point God Zeke did with the Pistons during their dominant run.

Shine and distribute. Murder the interior defense. Get to the rim and finger roll it, slam it, jam it down their throats.

Floor General the break like Patton.

Orchestrate the 24-second shot clock like the masterful musical engineering of Bach’s “Art of Fugue.”

Step up more often and with kill at will like the assassination of the Toronto Raptors in last year’s playoffs for 17 points, 12.5 assists and 4 boards per contest.

Do that, Wall, and you won’t have to tell the media, “I probably won’t make the 2016 Olympic Team.”

Do that, and everyone will truly forget and forgive the Dougie dancing fiasco.

Do that, and you’ll take that next step from great to elite, star to superstar, player to MVP candidate.

It’s there, just like Ragu. It’s definitely there.

But you gotta stir it up. You have to become the leader everyone in the DMV knows you can be.

The dimes are already on point. You serve dishes like Wolfgang.

But you need to nail those midrange J’s with better efficiency. Get that 3-point FG percentage up. Cut down on the turnovers.

You went from 47 to 25 to 38 to 24 to 18 and now #12 on this list.

Damn it’s a shame you’re the mighty queen of vials

With a wide-eyed look and a rotten-toothed smile

Used to walk with a swagger, now you simply stagger

From one spot on to the next spot on to the next spot on to the next

Call me crazy, but you got a lock on the Top 10 for next year. No one in the L can slow you down or stop the reign.

So go get that top spot…with the quickness.

Rankings are based on expected contribution in 2015-16—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

The post SLAM Top 50: John Wall, No. 12 appeared first on SLAM.

Even now, as the 7-2 legend walks into the adidas suite at the Soho Grand Hotel in New York City, on Friday the 13th, the first day of NBA All-Star weekend, he moves with the same fluidity, poise and grace that made No. 33 one of the most legendary jersey numbers in basketball history.

But these days, the former Ferdinand Lewis Alcindor, Jr. is no longer focused on playing the game, he’s focused on teaching it and using it to reach the youth.

Case in point—it’s Black History Month and the former UCLA star teamed up with the good people at Three Stripes to help reflect on and honor the African-American experience with a special Black History Month Collection.

“I thought it was great that adidas would go along with the whole idea of using shoes to promote the awareness and consciousness among black kids,” says Kareem, who was born on April 16, 1947, just one day after Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn. “So it was a no-brainer really to do it. I’m glad I did it and I think it worked pretty well.”

The line of four limited edition kicks features the Crazy 8 and current signature silhouettes for Derrick Rose, John Wall and Damian Lillard, all in golden sepia colorways, with inspirational quotes and details about Kareem’s Hall of Fame career.

But did the 19-time All Star design the shoes himself?

“My design input was back in the ’70s,” he says with a laugh. “When I used to go over to Europe all the time. But the Crazy 8 shoe is a really great shoe for people who play. It’s awesome.”

With the Super Bowl, Grammys, All-Star Game and the Oscars, February is full of entertaining distractions and Kareem knows that it’s an uphill battle to get the new generation of kids interested in the African-American diaspora.

“It’s gonna take young people in communities to get behind it and just tune into what I’m trying to communicate about pride and achievement and getting things done in the community,” he said. “The whole idea of giving back to the community in a way that helps the community improve is something that black athletes can have a dramatic impact on.”

With the tragic deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Trayvon Martin and Tamir Rice, professional athletes have been galvanized to join in on the protests demanding equal justice. There was a time when members of the old guard like Jim Brown and Kareem had to press the current generation of pro ballers to press for transformation. That hasn’t been the case of late, with players donning “I Can’t Breathe” t-shirts before games and speaking out to express their sense of righteous indignation. Not surprisingly, Kareem loves this new movement.

“Just the fact they’re paying attention is significant,” he said. “Because they will be able to figure out what is crucial for their community. What happened in Ferguson or here in New York how that’s going down in their community and what they need to do about it. So I’m glad to see that there’s some consciousness coming around and it’s not focused on anger dealing with problems and issues. I thought the young man who plays for the Cleveland browns talked about he was worried about his son after he saw what happened to Tamir Rice. He said I have a young son that could happen to him so this is really connecting with the incident and a real issue in the community so this is great and I’m glad it’s happening because this young man is going about it the right way and raising consciousness his concerns are he’s voicing concerns in his community, so I’m totally supportive of that and glad to see it’s happening.”

But what exactly spawned this new sense of awareness and need to speak out?

“I think after the incidents occurred people said, ‘Hey there’s something wrong here.’ Everybody was just concerned and really wanting to have an impact on something that could be a much worse problem if we don’t do something about it. It’s the right thing happening at the right time and I’m glad to see it.”

Although glad to see adults getting involved in their communities, Kareem thinks that the youth is the key to true progress, which is why he founded the Skyhook Foundation.

“I hope the young people get an understanding that education is the key, economics is the key,” he said. “It’s not just about having fun in hoops and stuff like that, which is great, but what’s gonna happen in your community? What are you gonna do to make your community a better place? A place where you wanna live and thrive and be in business, raise your children, those types of things. You gotta start thinking about the bigger picture.”

In addition to his outreach, Kareem is also releasing a new book aimed at helping kids get an insight about making the change from puberty to adulthood.

“I have a book coming out called ‘Stealing the Game’ [Learn more in the next print ish! —Ed.] about kids playing and growing up with the game and the things that they go through,” he said. “My book is based vaguely on me growing up and the guy that I collaborate with has kids in junior high school high school age, so it’s stuff that he sees vividly and stuff that I remember vividly about being tall and trying to fit in and basketball being an outlet and all the emotion and bravado that goes into the game amongst the kids with rivals.”

With such a vast wealth of life and basketball knowledge, it’s surprising that current players in the league like Dwight Howard, for example, haven’t sought out his tutelage. Only one player, the Chicago Bulls’ Joakim Noah, has asked the six-time MVP for one-on-one coaching.

“I had a lot of success with Joakim Noah,” he said. “He came to me and said, ‘It’s some things I need to learn.’ I showed it to him, he figured it out and he was Defensive Player of the Year the following year, so I’m happy to see that the knowledge transferred.”

His skyhook was virtually unblockable. The numbers don’t lie. Kareem was the eighth most accurate scorer of all time with a .559 field goal percentage using it as his primary offensive weapon. Yet, no one has added it to their repertoire or perfected it like Kareem. Why? Is there a secret to it that no one knows about?

“There’s no secret to it,” he said. “It’s just you have to learn how to shoot it and use it. It’s not that difficult. What I see is a lot of kids when they learn the game, they don’t learn post up moves. Nobody’s teaching it to them. If you teach it to them and they see that it’s an effective weapon, they’ll use it. But you have to put the tool in their hands.”

Truth be told, the center position is a long way from the back-to-the-basket beasts that ruled the paint in Kareem’s day. It’s all about facing the basket now, shooting three-pointers and trying to take defenders off the dribble. But what about points in the paint?

“Getting points in the paint and creating points by getting fouled in the paint that puts an additional pressure on the team you’re playing against and too many players don’t know how to use that situation to their advantage,” he said. “You have to learn the game on a subtle level using all the tools and situations that are available. The game hasn’t changed that much it’s just that there are fewer players that focus on that part of the game. That’s still a very important part of the game to have someone with post up moves you have an inside threat that is a problem for other teams that’s still a reality it’s just that fewer players are pursuing the game that way. I think it has to do with style. The three-point shot is very seductive, the fans love it. So everybody wants to shoot three pointers.”

Kareem is without a doubt one of the best to ever lace ‘em up. Ever. But where does he go from here? Coaching? Team ownership?

“I would be open to that [ownership] but a whole lot of things have to happen,” he said. “Right now, I feel my involvement with the game is about right. I’m making an impact, but I’m not overexposed.”

Considering the influence he’s had on the game we all love, there’s no such thing as overexposure when it comes to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Long live the goggled Captain and original member of Showtime—you epitomize greatness.

Photos via adidas, Getty Images

The post Catching Up With Kareem Abdul-Jabbar appeared first on SLAM.

That’s how good the Hennessy Suite for the 2015 NBA All-Star practice was at Madison Square Garden early Saturday morning, back on February 14.

Let’s just put aside the free-flowing spirits for a second and talk about the exquisite cuisine that was on hand for brunch.

S’mores waffles? Wow. And yes, they were as tasty as they sound. Then there was the egg omelet with lobster. I saved my appetite for the event and believe me, I’m glad I did.

Now back to the liquor. There was as much Hennessy Privilege VSOP Cognac as you could drink and there was a master mixologist on hand to make specialty cocktails.

Maybe I had one or two or three drinks, who’s counting?

Good food, top shelf drinks and basketball? You could kill me then, because it doesn’t get any better than that.

As for the practice sessions, it was just as you’d expect, with a few layup drills and dry runs.

The West squad’s coach Steve Kerr made things interesting, asking the crowd to count out made jump shots as players like Chris Paul, Tim Duncan and Stephen Curry attempted to sink 30 shots to get to the next drill.

Steph Curry With The Shot and John Wall went head-to-head in a crazy “Game Changer” H-O-R-S-E contest sponsored by Degree, but they both missed way too many shots. Wall came out with the W.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Oe47gKBXEY

What was fun to see was the HR Block contest. Two fans were vying for $2,800 in cold hard cash. Why $2,800, you ask? Well, according to the IRS, that was the average income tax refund amount last year.

One guy could either pass the opportunity to make a three-point shot to his opponent or take it himself. If he passed and the guy made it, he was SOL. If he took the shot and missed them all, he was SOL.

One brave soul took it upon himself to take the shots for the cash. With seconds on the clock, this guy, who had on a heavy sweater, took confident shot after shot and then, with less than 3 seconds left, squared up and nailed a triple. All of us in the suite couldn’t believe the guy’s cooler-than-the-other-side-of-the-pillow gamesmanship. His swag was on a hundred thousand trillion.

As the early morning events came to a close, I may have had another drink or four before heading back out into the freezing New York City air to attend the next thing on my list.

Good thing I was taking the subway and not driving.

The post 2015 All-Star Practice Hennessy Suite Recap appeared first on SLAM.

After claiming his fourth straight All-Star Celebrity Game MVP awards, Kevin Hart compared himself to Kobe Bryant and LeBron James before announcing that he’s retiring because his achievements can’t be topped.

“This is my fourth MVP,” he said. “It’s an emotional moment. I think I’m gonna go out on top.”

The diminutive comedian managed to take home the game’s top honors despite his East team losing 59-51 to the West.

Although The Wedding Ringer star did put up an impressive 15 points this time out, many of the other players and coaches felt that he didn’t deserve the MVP, especially Mike Golic of Mike & Mike. He tried to pry the trophy from Hart’s hands.

“This is a Kanye moment,” Golic said. “You don’t get this.”

“It’s Black History Month, Mike,” Hart replied. “Let this happen.”

Too bad Kevin didn’t keep that wicked spin move Mo’ne Davis put on him from happening.

It was early in the first quarter, but Davis shook Kevin out of his sneakers for a nice layup that had everyone in Madison Square Garden up on their feet cheering.

Davis only finished with 4 points, but she’ll definitely make SportsCenter for putting Kevin in a spin cycle.

The East squad’s Shoni Schimmel led all scoters with 17 points. Skylar Diggins and Memphis Grizzlies owner Robert Pera paced the West with 13 points each.

Arcade Fire’s Win Butler wasn’t too shabby, either. He finished with 8 points and 12 rebounds.

Overall, this year’s contest was another raging success. The only downside was Jesse Williams’ knee injury. He went down hard after landing badly on his left leg.

He was helped off the court, but it did not look good.

image via Getty

The post Kevin Hart Wins Fourth Straight MVP in 2015 Celebrity Game appeared first on SLAM.

While most publications dedicate their All-Star Week coverage to today’s brightest stars (which SLAM will do as well!), SLAM and Narratively are bringing you four alternative basketball stories from around the globe.

The group of stories debuted this week represent a commitment to reporting and the telling of stories about players past, present, and future. They are narratives not about marketing or hype but about taking readers to courts around the world. It’s about giving readers fresh perspectives–even a group of stories directly from the players themselves. Narratively and SLAM are proud to present Hoop Dreams: Sleepless Nights And Homesick Hearts In The NBA.

Thank you to Ben Osborne and Pete Walsh of SLAM and Noah Rosenberg, Brendan Speigel and Garrett McGrath of Narratively for forming the best five-player lineup and cranking out a winning slate of basketball stories.

For more about Narratively, visit their site, Facebook and Twitter.

Scan the fondest memories of every basketball player in the National Basketball Association and you’ll see variations of the exact same scene: a bright-eyed youngster on a day with not a cloud in the sky, dressed in the latest athletic gear and dribbling a regulation basketball dramatically as the five seconds left on the imaginary shot clock in his head tick away.

Five. He is in perpetual motion, mimicking the moves of his idol player, stopping on a dime in the best sneakers his family could afford, making the rubber on his soles squeak before rising from the asphalt, hardwood or driveway pavement.

Four. He rises, almost in slow motion, powered by as much throttle as he can muster from his tiny calves and quads.

Three. He cradles the ball into his shooting hand and then launches a jump shot over the outstretched arms of his imaginary defender. The ball spirals from his fingertips in an imperfect arc.

Two. It holds there, an orb of resolute destiny, like a plume of cigarette smoke, before gravity seduces it downward into the cylinder.

One. The ball tickles the net just so, as if a light breeze had awakened it from a deep slumber.

Zero. Swish! It’s good!

The rush of that game-winning shot and the imagined roar of the crowd going wild has fueled the drive and dedication of every kid who’s ever dared to realize his dream of making it to the NBA. The thing about dreams, though, especially if they come true, is that they’re incomplete. Kids think only of the bright side; it never occurs to them that there’s even a remote chance of discontent in the professional athlete experience. But, just as sure as there are pros to being in the pros, there are some downsides to life in the League. Four current players—José Juan Barea, Dante Exum, Brandon Jennings and Shaun Livingston—talk about what they miss most about the simple life and why sometimes it’s a total drag to be a professional athlete in a league where everybody knows your name. These are their stories.

* * *

European Vacation: Brandon Jennings

The pizza in Italy is very different from the pizza found in the United States. That’s one of the first things that Brandon Jennings noticed when he landed in Rome to play professional basketball for the Italian club Lottomatica Virtus Roma back in 2008. There he was, an eager and wiry 19-year-old a long way from the comfortable confines of Compton, CA, intent on proving that his decision to forgo the University of Arizona in favor of turning pro was the right one. Even now, as he’s reestablished himself as a premier point guard in the NBA, helping the woeful Detroit Pistons return to the glory days of Dennis Rodman and Isiah Thomas’ Bad Boys, Jennings, 25, thinks fondly of the wood oven-baked pies that pizzerias made with fresh tomato, basil, mozzarella and pride.

“I really miss the food,” Jennings says, as he’s getting ready for practice. “The authentic Italian food was awesome. I was eager to prove myself and get to the NBA but when I think about it and look back, I really miss that Italian cuisine.”

It was a turbulent time for Jennings. His story was used as a pawn in the media chess game for and against the NBA’s “prep-to-pro” policy, which prevented him from declaring for the draft right after graduating from basketball powerhouse Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, where he’d averaged 32.7 points, 7.4 assists and 5.1 rebounds a game. According to the league’s policy, which was implemented with the 2006 draft, Jennings had to be at least 19 years old and a year removed from high school graduation to enter the draft. So, instead of a year in college, he opted for a year playing professionally abroad.

“The only thing I missed out on by not going to college was probably the parties,” he says. “I mean, college can’t teach you about real life. I think that’s what I learned when I didn’t go to college. Once you get out of school, that’s when you got bills and life becomes real. The best part of skipping college was the fact of being a professional athlete. I was a professional. I was finally a pro. So that’s where my career started but also being able to take care of my family, I had a shoe deal over in Rome, so the opportunity was something that I couldn’t pass up.”

Had the teenage phenom become a star in the Italian League during his rookie campaign, he’d have been a trailblazer, a shining example for others to follow. But things fell apart. In 27 games, Jennings failed to live up to expectations, averaging a paltry 5.5 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. All of the experts across the pond questioned whether he was skilled enough to warrant the Milwaukee Bucks’ use of their first round (10th overall) draft pick in 2009.

With so much to regret about the way he played that year, it’s surprising to learn that the only thing he laments is not fully digesting European culture.

“I felt like I was at peace when I was overseas,” says Jennings, who has seen his star rise significantly since leaving Italy. “I didn’t have to worry about family members or anybody asking me for anything. I was just living my life. The thing I most regret is not taking advantage of really experiencing and taking in the places that I visited while I was there. Greece, Turkey, Slovenia, all these different places. I wish I would have took it in more and really took advantage of it.”

For stories from J.J. Barea, Dante Exum and Shaun Livingston, click here.

The post Hoop Dreams: Sleepless Nights And Homesick Hearts In The NBA appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: You were born in DC. Were you a Bullets fan?

Donnell Rawlings: Don’t say Bullets. You gon’ try to say how old I am, son! I was a Wizards fan. I don’t know nothin’ about Wes Unseld or Abe Polin or none of them people. All I know is I’m a Wizards fan.

SLAM: Who was your favorite player growing up?

DR: I appreciated Wes Unseld, but then it seemed like the Bullets was turning into the UniverSoul Circus. They had Muggsy Bogues and Manute Bol on the same team?! I was like, Is this is a basketball team or a sideshow?!

SLAM: How did you go from the military to comedy?

DR: After the military, I had already taken the test to be a DC cop; in the interim I used to work security in DC and a lot of employees used to go to open mic comedy shows. I went as a heckler and the owner wanted me to shut up, so he challenged me to go on stage and I’ve been doing it ever since.

SLAM: Who’s the funniest player in the NBA?

DR: I know when Shaq was playing he was funny, but I don’t know who brings that playful energy anymore.

SLAM: Are you rooting for Dave Chappelle’s comeback?

DR: Of course. One-hundred percent. It’s not really a comeback, ’cause he never went anywhere, as far as standup. Dave’s a comedian’s comedian who takes it serious. People like that, you can’t keep them from a microphone for too long. I was part of the Radio City Music Hall run, so I’m pro-Dave in whatever he wanna do.

SLAM: Do you mind people still calling you Ashy Larry?

DR: It’s gon’ be something I take to my grave. Partially because of the show and because I really am ashy. Dave asked me what am I gon’ do to prepare for this role and I was like, Just wait 30 minutes. Anybody that knows me knows that I stay ashy.

SLAM: Who’s your favorite player in the League?

DR: Stephen Curry. I watch him because I connect with him. He’s fluent, a technician, making things look so easy. He was spinning a basketball on his finger when he came out the womb.

SLAM: You a closet Warriors fan?

DR: I would want the Wizards to beat the Warriors but I would want Stephen to bust 40 on us. Same way people weren’t fans of Chicago, but of Jordan. I root for the Knicks, too, because I was a New Yorker for 14 years.

SLAM: Do you still play?

DR: One year, when I used to do the radio with Big Tigger, he had a celebrity tournament. Kevin Durant gets a rebound, coming up the court. I don’t know what I’m thinking, I said, I’m gonna defend Kevin Durant. Durant comes past me, dribbles around my back, between my legs and some kind of way I reached out and stole the ball. The whole crowd’s like, “Go Ashy!” In my mind, I was like, I’m gon’ do a 360 dunk. But I pulled up at the three-point line, prayed in eight different languages that it’ll go in, and the shit went in. I got so excited. I called TO and took myself out the game. I was like, That’s my career. I had a triple-single, son, the highlight of my basketball career.

Maurice Bobb is a SLAM contributor. Follow him on Twitter @ReeseReport.

The post Funny Style appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM: We saw you in the Celebrity Game and you looked pretty good out there. What position did you play in high school?

EH: Thanks. I didn’t make a basket, though. In high school I was an inside player, a 4, a power forward. I was very aggressive on the inside.

SLAM: What’s your best skill on the court?

EH: I was kind of like a Dennis Rodman-type of player. I played a lot and dove for a lot of loose balls. I was on the floor a lot. I played defense and was good at rebounding and boxing out. I can still hear my dad telling me, Box out, Erin!

SLAM: So your parents were into sports, too?

EH: I grew up in Chicago, where my parents live and breathe sports. I got scouted for modeling when I was on vacation in Miami, and when I started modeling, I had to choose between modeling for the summer in New York or staying home and going to basketball camp. If modeling didn’t work out, I would lose my starting position on the team. My dad was pissed. He was like, “What are you doing modeling? You are going to miss basketball camp.”

SLAM: Well, it looks like it all worked out for you. Do you still get a chance to shoot hoops now?

EH: I do shoot around every now and then. I usually go down to Chelsea Piers [in New York City] and play.

SLAM: How surprised are people when they learn that you’re a really strong athlete?

EH: My background is high school sports. I’ve played basketball all my life from when I was walking, and I also ran track. But basketball was always a big part of my life. I was always an athlete. And even now, models are like professional athletes. You gotta be a professional athlete to be a Victoria’s Secret model.

SLAM: You’re from Chicago so I have to ask: Are you a Chicago Bulls fan?

EH: Yeah, huge! I’m a die-hard Bulls fan. It’s always exciting when the Bulls are having a good season because it’s my team.

SLAM: I’m assuming I already know the answer to this, but who’s your all-time favorite Bulls player?

EH: Obviously Michael Jordan. I really like Kirk Hinrich. I like Derrick Rose, too.

SLAM: Millions of guys think you’re drop-dead gorgeous, but what kind of guy does America’s favorite Angel think is sexy?

EH: I don’t know…guys who love sports are sexy.

Maurice Bobb is a SLAM contributor. Follow him on Twitter @ReeseReport.

The post Model Behavior appeared first on SLAM.

Eric B & Rakim’s discography is indisputably iconic for hip-hop purists, especially “I Know You Got Soul” and “Paid in Full“, which ranked No. 23 and No. 10, respectively on Rolling Stone’s The 50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time list.

Lyrical connoisseurs also clamor for the dexterous wordplay shown on Follow The Leader’s “Microphone Fiend” and “Lyrics of Fury”.

But it’s his fourth album, Don’t Sweat The Technique—his swan song with longtime partner Eric B—that truly defined his lyrical prowess. He was the lone conceptualist rap pioneer who’d taken rapping about rapping to a towering crescendo and turned emceeing into an art form.

He was Pablo Picasso and an apex predator fused into one artist; an alchemist, deadly with a microphone in his hand.

So, too, is Tony Parker; a virtuoso with the rock, who murders defenders’ ankles at will with his breakneck speed and étonnant repertoire of audacious and improvisational moves that amaze and defy the laws of physics with visceral flair.

Rakim Allah is the hip-hop Tony Parker. And vice versa.

As he enters his 14th season in the National Basketball Association, TP sticks the landing at No. 13 on this year’s Top 50 list.

“I’m calm but deadly, heat up but cool/I’m rough as a right hook but still look smooth/Even when I’m unseen, I show and prove” – “Relax With Pep”

Four NBA titles, a 2007 NBA Finals MVP, six All-Star selections and three All-NBA Second-Team nods and the fleet-of-foot Frenchman is still not getting his just due.

I mean, dude’s gotta be in the top 10, right?

TP’s name is rarely mentioned when talking heads spark up “Best Point Guards in the League” conversations and yet, when it’s winning time, he’s right there, dropping floaters in the lane, putting defenders in the spin cycle on the way to the cup and nailing go-ahead jumpers that propel his team—yes, his team—deep into the Playoffs.

Not the first round, not the second round, we talkin’ deep, Son.

“They wanna know how many rhymes have I ripped and wrecked/But researchers never found all the pieces yet/Scientists try to solve the context/Philosophers are wondering what’s next/Pieces are took to labs who observe them/They couldn’t absorb them, they didn’t deserve them/My ideas are only for the audience’s ears/For my opponents, it might take years” – “Don’t Sweat The Technique”

Last year was the first time since his rookie campaign that TP logged less than 30 minutes per contest. Coach Gregg Popovich, in his infinite “Eff you, NBA!” wisdom, rested his best players as much as possible through the tumultuous NBA season so they’d have plenty of gas left in the tank to get back to the NBA Finals. After the devastating loss to the Miami Heat the year prior, they were on a mission like Skyfall‘s 007 for a shot at redemption, to erase those gut-wrenching losses in Games 6 and 7, to make things right again.

Remember how that turned out?

Timmy showed some hubris and guaranteed the win and the Spurs proceeded to put on a friggin’ clinic against the Heatles in the Finals, playing the kind of exquisite team basketball not seen in the iso-ball heavy modern era. They were in tune on the court like the New York Philharmonic, each crisp pass floating from player to player with the poetic reverie of Bach’s sacred chords in “Mass In B Minor” or, in this case, like a transcendent verse from The R.

Timmy turned back the clock, Manu was back to being that combustible bottle of juke and boom! we’ve all loved over the years, and Kawhi emerged as the Finals MVP and put the L on notice that he got NEXT. Everybody, from Danny Green to Patty Mills to Boris Diaw, had a hand in securing the Larry O’Brien. But none of it would’ve been possible without TP the Point Gawd.

TP put up 16.7 points, 5.7 assists and 2.3 rebounds per last season (17.4 ppg in the postseason). Not otherworldly, but, like The God MC circa 1992, indestructibly consistent with the ability to hit ‘em with a bravura performance when Coach Pop calls his number. Case in point: that time he dropped 33 and 9 on Portland’s noggin in a blowout second-round win.

“Check the Richter Scale, rhymes overload/Blow up and explode abrupt and reload the code/You can’t pinpoint or locate the rate/Or evaluate the up-to-date state/Up front, laid back, coming off on track/Girls want some of this, because I’m all that” – “Relax With Pep”

As TP, Timmy, Ginobili, Kawhi and the rest of the Spurs gear up to defend the title, the landscape has changed. Their biggest foe, LeBron James, made a beeline back to Cleveland, where he’s orchestrated yet another Big Three. Point guards like Chris Paul and Russell Westbrook will get all the press and voter love come February, but don’t sleep on TP. At 32, he’s still an elite floor general and thanks to his contract extension—which is worth $43.3 milli over three years—he’ll still be getting it done for years to come in the black and silver.

But it’s cool, don’t give him any props, he doesn’t need your spotlight to thrive and rack up Ws. Just don’t sweat the technique when June rolls around.

 
Rankings are based on expected contribution in ’14-15—to players’ team, the NBA and the game.

The post #SLAMTop50: Tony Parker, no. 13 appeared first on SLAM.

“We’re not going down, we’re going to win this game tonight. We’re going to come, prepare like we need to do. Plain and simple, we’re going to win this game. I don’t care about guarantees, we’re just going to win the game. Take it like you want it,” said Bosh.

Yeah, about that.

Although the Miami Heat came roaring in the first quarter behind LeBron James’ 17 points, the San Antonio Spurs exacted their revenge and closed out their Finals opponent in five games with a 104-87 win at the AT&T Center.

Kawhi Leonard, the first non-All-Star player to be named Finals MVP since Chauncey Billups in 2004, finished with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds, while Manu Ginobili exorcized his demons from last year’s putrid Finals performance to add 19.

Dwyane Wade only had 11 points and Bosh only 13, as they both seem sluggish and unable to really get in the flow of the offense. James finished with 31 points, but it was all for naught as the Spurs put this game out of reach during the third quarter behind a torrid rally that included Ginobili’s insane dunk over Bosh and Patty Mills’ back-to-back triples.

The Spurs wanted to get back to the Finals after that bitter seven-game defeat last year, but more than that, they wanted another shot at Miami. They wanted revenge. Well they got it.

People couldn’t believe it when Tim Duncan made the prediction that the Spurs would get it done this time. It was out of character for the future Hall of Famer. It was bold. It was raw. It was emotion. But unlike Bosh’s pre-game assertion, Timmy & Co. delivered on their promise and added a fifth title to their coffers under the Duncan and Gregg Popovich era.

“We remember what happened last year and how it felt in that locker room and we used it and built on it and got back here and it’s amazing,” Tim Duncan said. “It makes last year OK.”

And it seems only fitting that as the door is shutting on Duncan and Ginobili’s careers, Leonard’s is just starting to open.

“They just told me, ‘Keep being aggressive,'” Leonard said.

As Wade, James, Miami and the rest of the NBA learned tonight, he not only listened, he heard, digested and responded and we were all witnesses.

The post Spurs Win 2014 NBA Championship, Dethrone Heat appeared first on SLAM.

Michael B. Jordan is done with dying. First, his beloved Wallace character was killed off on HBO’s The Wire with a bullet to the chest, then—after stints on All My Children and Friday Night Lights—his non-fiction character Oscar was fatally shot on a BART platform by a transit police officer in the transcendent film Fruitvale Station. Young Wallace and Oscar won’t be coming back, unfortunately, but Jordan is rising like a Phoenix from the ashes as Hollywood’s next big star. And judging by the way he balled out at the 2014 Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game, the lifelong New York Knicks fan would definitely represent if the TV show he’s developing about a Michigan State basketball player ever makes it to the small screen. 

SLAM: You’re a really good basketball player. Did you play in high school?

Michael B. Jordan: Yeah, I played in high school. Point guard, but in my mind, I’m a forward, my body just stopped growing. I like playing back to the basket but I like to contribute where I can.

SLAM: The game announcer called you Michael Jordan a couple times before he added the B. What’s it like having such a legendary basketball name?

MJ: I wasn’t even listening to what they were saying. I mean, I was born in ’87 and at that time Jordan was just coming into the League and he was becoming a household name. I grew up with a chip on my shoulder. It motivated me to be better.

SLAM: Is that why you added the B?

MJ: I almost made my actor name Michael Bakari. Bakari is my middle name. It means “of noble promise.” But my dad’s name is Michael Jordan, so I wasn’t changing it.

SLAM: It’s funny, you wore number 45 for the game.

MJ: They actually tried to give me number 23 and I refused to wear that one. I said, “I ain’t wearing number 23.” But I ended up going with 45.

SLAM: You’re living out in L.A. now. Are you a Lakers fan?

MJ: I grew up in New Jersey, so I’m a Knick fan. I’m not really a Lakers fan like that. I do appreciate Kobe and what he built there and I’m a big Magic Johnson fan because I’m a Michigan State fan, but I’m an East Coast guy. I love the Knicks.

SLAM: Who’s your favorite player in the L?

MJ: I love Kevin Durant. I used to be a Seattle Supersonics fan growing up, so I rock with OKC, too. I play with them on NBA2K. I’m just a fan of basketball.

SLAM: You not getting an Oscar nod for Fruitvale Station was a ridiculous snub by the Academy.

MJ: Nah man, it’s just great to be in the conversation. There were a lot of great projects and a lot of great performances. Everyone that was nominated deserved it. It was my first time out doing a film like that, so it was just cool to be in the conversation.

SLAM: So tell us, are you confirmed for Fantastic Four?

MJ: I’m not even sure yet. Like some of the projects I have I can’t really talk about yet, but you guys will be hearing some stuff in the near future.

SLAM: What about Creed?

MJ: Me and Ryan [Coogler], the writer/director of Fruitvale Station will be teaming up again. I’ll be playing the grandson of Apollo Creed. I’m really excited about that. Teaming up with Ryan again and working with Sylvester Stallone and everybody over at MGM. I’m really excited about it.

SLAM: You represented for the actors at All-Star. Do you play pickup a lot?

MJ: I play when I can, yes.

SLAM: Who are some other actors who can ball?

MJ: Jaleel White is actually a real good ballplayer, Flex Alexander  is a really good ballplayer. Columbus Short, he got some game when he want to play, but I’d like to put myself up there along with the best of them.

The post B The Man appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb

Pay it forward. Three simple words that mean so much to the balance of life. Gatorade understands this principle, which is why they had former Gatorade Player of the Year, Maya Moore, come back to surprise the newest Gatorade Player of the Year, Brianna Turner, with the prestigious hardware not only for her athletic excellence (she averaged 20.8 points and 11.5 rebounds per game while leading her team to a 38-2 record and a state championship), but for her academic achievement (3.71 GPA) and exemplary character on and off the field.

Moore, who won a WNBA championship with the Minnesota Lynx last season, won the award back in 2007 when she beasted her way to 25.5 points, 12.1 rebounds, 4.3 steals and 3.8 assists per contest and a third consecutive 5A state chip. With this being the 29th anniversary of the Gatorade POY program (over 13,000 State POYs and 260 National POYs have been honored), SLAM caught up with the Olympic gold medalist to talk about winning, striving for excellence and the future of women’s basketball.

SLAM: What should winning an award like this mean to Brianna?


Maya Moore: I think the first aspect of winning this award is the surprise. The Gatorade crew comes to the school and you’re really caught off guard, but the more that it sinks in that you won the award, it’s just really special because you see your family there, you see your coach and your teammates there and you just feel proud because you have your whole community there. It just helps you remember how special your time in high school was as a basketball player.

SLAM: You won this award back in ’07. What’s it mean to be able to come back to present to someone else?

MM: It’s special. I get excited because I know that it’s someone else’s moment and I’m there to help make it special so it’s really cool to be able to make someone else’s moment special. It’s something they’ll never forget. I know I remember very vividly my Gatorade National Girls POY experience and I’m just hoping this one can be very special for Brianna.

SLAM: I’m sure you two will get a chance to talk one on one. Will the subject of her passing on UConn for Notre Dame come up?

MM: It might come up [laughs]. No, I’ll try to keep this day a happy one, so maybe not.

SLAM: Will you be giving her advice on how to succeed at the next level?

MM: Well, that might be a conflict of interest [laughs]. I’m just kidding, from what I can tell, just spending time with her, she has a lot of potential. She’s very tall and athletic. She’s got the tools to become a very great basketball player. She’s a willing passer, too, so she’s going to thrive at the next level because she can do so many things well. If she continues to develop her skills and is constantly trying to be the best player she can, which she has the potential to be because she’s such a tall wing player, it’s gonna be kinda scary to see where she takes her game.

SLAM: What does winning an award like this do for your confidence?

MM: I think it’s just like any other level of success, whether it’s winning a state championship or winning an individual award, the bar is really high for you and you wanna continue to be ready because you know eyes are on you and people are really gonna come at you really hard when they put you at the next level because you’ve had so much success. I know for me, winning motivated me to prepare even better because I knew the next time around, whatever challenge came it was gonna be harder because of the success and people wanting to compete well against you. Winning the award definitely motivated me to go in hungry and that’s not necessarily common because you can kind of get content, after you win sometimes but if you’re a competitor, you understand there’s gonna be harder tests coming down the road and I think Brianna will approach it the same way.

SLAM: You’ve won on every level. What drives you?

MM: I think anything that I do I wanna do it to the best of my abilities. I’ve been extremely blessed along the way to have so much help that there’s no way that I can take credit for where I am today. I’ve had my part in it, of course, but I like to prepare and work as hard as I can and be the best person I can. But I’ve had so many great coaches come along and awesome family that supported me from day one. I’ve played for some of the best teams ever put together all around the world, and there’s just so many doors that the Lord has opened for me to play on the kind of teams that I’ve played for and the support from the communities that I’ve been as well, so I’ve been very blessed. But I also love to compete. If there’s something for me to win, I definitely want to win it. No question that you have to have an extreme successful drive to be successful over time.

SLAM: What does it mean to have the support of Gatorade behind you?

MM: It’s huge. It gives you a lot of confidence. If a prestigious organization like Gatorade is honoring you, it definitely makes you look at yourself differently as a high school athlete and you feel a sense of accomplishment and professionalism to be a part of the Gatorade family. I know when I went out to Los Angeles as a senior, it was another level of realizing how big of a deal this award is with all the national high school winners from other sports. It’s something that you never forget. Take this experience with you and it helps you grow up and appreciate where you’ve been even more.

SLAM: And what about you having the support of Jordan Brand?

MM: It’s still a very special time. I’m in my third season as a pro and people are still excited about me being the first female basketball player on the line. They’re excited to see more of me and anything in the Jordan Brand, and the exciting part is there are still people out there discovering more about the brand and women’s basketball. It’s an exciting time to keep people informed about what’s coming down the line. I know something fun I like to do during the WNBA season is I wear special Js on different days. During special games, you’ll see me in a different Jordan, so I’m excited to see what I’m going to bring out.

SLAM: What about the WNBA? What is it going to take for the league to get to that next level of fandom?

MM: It’s not a matter of product, which is the great part. I know we have an awesome league, an awesome group of professional athletes that put on amazing basketball night in and night out. I think it’s about spreading the word, letting other organizations get a taste of the amazing game we play in the WNBA. And have different sponsors come in and follow the game and the value that we bring to our community and our fans. We’re making progress in that area. Just this past Monday I flew into Minnesota to be a part of announcing our new jersey sponsor and it’s unprecedented in the WNBA—having the Mayo Clinic on the front of our jerseys. So that’s just an example of how the league is growing and how people are buying in and seeing the value of our team. It’s an exciting time, we’re growing and we’re still relatively young, which is exciting to know we still have untapped potential.

The post Q+A: Maya Moore appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

Detroit Pistons big man Andre Drummond finally had his proper coming out party during All-Star Weekend at the BBVA Compass Rising Stars Challenge. Playing like a man on a mission, Dre dropped 30 points and 25 rebounds on ‘em for a 142-136 win over Team Webber for Team Hill. After missing out on the game last year because of an injury, Drummond showed up and showed out for the W and the MVP hardware.

It was enough to make everyone take notice.

But for today’s NBA player, it’s not just about substance on the court, of which Drummond has boatloads; it’s about style off the court, too.

Normally, Drummond gets an assist from teammate Brandon Jennings, but while he was in New Orleans, the second-year player from UCONN got a style assist from the good folks at Footaction, who enlisted NBA stylist Rachel Johnson to dress him from head to toe in pieces from their impressive selection.

By the time the session was finished, the 6-10 center was photo shoot fresh and runway worthy.

SLAM caught up with the Mount Vernon, NY native to talk about how Footaction help him elevate his style and, of course, how his play as a rising star helped his evolution as a basketball player.

SLAM: You really made a statement in the Rising Stars game. Was that your intent?

Andre Drummond: I didn’t get a chance to play last year it was tough for me. I feel like I didn’t get a chance to show my actual talent and this year I came out and had my mind set on winning the MVP and winning the game, I told my family and friends that I’m going out to win the MVP and that’s what I went out and did.

SLAM: Your team is under .500. Do you think that keeps your from getting the props you deserve?

AD: This weekend, just being able to get away for a few days and clear your head and have some fun with your peers that you were drafted with and some of the new rookies that came in, too, it was great. It was an exciting game, you know, the battle between Dion [Waiters] and [Tim] Hardaway Jr, that’s gonna be talked about for quite some time, so it was just an exciting game overall.

SLAM: What’s your favorite part of All-Star Weekend?

AD: My favorite part of the weekend is the NBA Cares stuff and just being able to go out and just help people that really need it and seeing how happy they are to see us working on their house or building a playground. That just means so much to them, so for me, that touches me that I’m able to do things like that.

SLAM: Footaction really has you swagged out. What’s your normal style like?

AD: I’m a fashion killa. I’m from New York City, I’m from Mount Vernon. So we all can dress, we got the swag. I like to pattern myself after A$AP Rocky.

SLAM: Is it tough to find clothes that fit?

AD: It’s tough sometimes, but the best part about being in this League is I make a little money so I’m able to find tailors and find people to alter the clothes that I get.

SLAM: Are you surprised by the way Footaction was able to style you with their clothes?

AD: I didn’t even know their fashion style was this big honestly. I knew they had great footwear, but just being here and seeing the great stuff that they got, I’m real impressed.

SLAM: What has surprised you about the level of style in the NBA?

AD: Being here last year and just watching how guys dress and how they carry themselves, I just wanted to emulate that and carry myself as an All Star.

SLAM: David Stern just retired, but he’s mostly responsible for stepping up the level of fashion in today’s League. Do you think players would be this stylish without that rule change?

AD: I think with all the great fashion out there now, it would have hit eventually.

SLAM: What are your thoughts about the second half of the season?

AD: I’m just worried about my team and making a big run for the Playoffs. Right now, we just need to play as a fast paced team and not just settle for jump shots, and limit our turnovers.

SLAM: Kareem Abdul0Jabbar says that the center position is a lost art. You agree?

AD: Guys just have different parts of their game now, it’s a league where guys are multitalented, you gonna find a guy that’s 7 foot that can handle the ball and a 5-9 guy that can jump out the gym. It’s not just about being stagnant.

SLAM: Do you think you can add Kareem’s famous sky hook to your arsenal?

AD: I don’t see why not.

The post Footaction Helps Andre Drummond Elevate His Style appeared first on SLAM.

When I was a kid, I was gifted this game called “Operation” one Christmas. Let me tell you, it was friggin’ addictive. If you don’t know the game, it’s simple. It’s an electronic game of skill where a player has to “operate” on a patient named “Cavity Sam,” who has a bulbous red light bulb nose that lights up when you eff up. The object is to remove Sam’s funny ailment parts with a pair of tweezers. If you touch the sides while trying to remove say, his “wretched ankle” for example, the nose buzzer sounds—“AAHHT!”—and you’re screwed because you lose your turn.

That first week or so, you’d have thought I was making a twisted Kanye West beat with all that blasted buzzing. But miraculously, I got better and soon mastered cutting up ol’ Cavity Sam.

So as I sat down and thought about what I would say/write about the enigmatic Dwight Howard, who falls out of last year’s top 5 to the No. 8 spot on this year’s list, I recalled that special time when I “couldn’t get right” learning how to play that damn game.

Dwight Howard is me. Or rather, he’s the young version of me who kept effin’ up attempting to develop fine motor skills while playing a classic game.

“I don’t want to leave Orlando.”

AAHHT!

“No, I really don’t.”

AAHHT!

“OK, I’ll opt in.”

AAHHT!

“OK, I do wanna leave Orlando but I still want people to like me.”

AAHHT!

“I want to go to Brooklyn.”

AAHHT!

“I’ll be a Laker but I don’t want to sign an extension yet.”

AAHHT!

“I want to be the Lakers’ first option.”

AAHHT!

“My back hurts.”

AAHHT!

“My shoulder hurts.”

AAHHT!

“I’m not getting enough touches.”

AAHHT!

“I want the ball more in the fourth quarter.”

AAHHT!

“Get rid of Kobe and I’ll stay.”

AAHHT! AAHHT! AAHHT!

Well, you get the point.

Like me in the early stages of learning to play Hasbro’s finest creation, for the past nine seasons, the 6-11 pivot from Atlanta has been trying to become an elite center in the NBA while touching all of the sides and setting off all the alarms.

And ’12-13 was the worst. In his transition from O-Town to Hollywood, the seven-time All Star went from averaging 20.6 points, 14.5 boards and 1.9 swats per outing to 17.1, 12.4 and 1.4, respectively.

AAHHT!

Most people would admonish Dwight for his continued miscues—verbal and nonverbal—with the tried and true adage, “put up or shut up,” but since I live in Houston and want D12 to do well in my own backyard, because, let’s face it, we long to revisit those legendary “Clutch City” days in the land of the Trill, that motto needs revision.

Put up and shut up.

That’s right, Dwight. Muzzle it and live up to your self-proclaimed Superman moniker.

Quit bumpin’ your gums. Quit complaining. Quit bellyaching. Quit worrying about what players who aren’t playing anymore have to say about your game. Quit worrying about Orlando letting another player wear your number. Quit worrying so much about stats.

Quit fueling the fire with whiny words and waffling ways and stoke the flames with spankin’ new go-to moves in the post. French Montana may be “Dwight Howard in the post, dawg,” but in reality, when looking at your track record on O in the paint, that don’t mean ish. HAAN!

Your signing with the Houston Rockets is a chance at a much-needed fresh start. It’s kismet. Hell, Daryl Morey practically got on one knee and proposed to get you to the 713. Cherish your new home. Covet it. Protect it. Put on a freakin’ hard hat and go to work, son. Become a beast in the paint. Plant a flag in the lane because that’s your house.

In practice, that’s your time to be vocal. Put some bass in your voice. Be particular about your spacing and when and where you want the rock. Demand the rock.

Seal off your defenders, get position. And if you don’t get the ball on time, reposition, battle for it, seal again. Use those powerful shoulders. Get brolic on ‘em. “Deebo” dudes when you have to. James Harden is a willing passer. He’ll get you the rock in due time. He’ll figure out which shoulder to deliver the ball to. Kevin McHale and Hakeem Olajuwon will make sure of it. You’ll get your touches.

And when you get that Spaulding, you better have moves, countermoves and countermoves to those countermoves. The dunks are cool, but be more than that. Step your game up. Hakeem was a scientist with it on the low block. And McHale? Nobody could stop dude down low. Nobody. Learn their secrets. Watch film. Listen. Take notes. Lots of them. Learn to have answers to complex defensive schemes. When the D collapses on you, know what to do like it was written. Let it become instinctive.

It doesn’t matter what any pundit or Shaq or Kareem has said about you. F#@k a shelf life. Put up superstar numbers and the peanut gallery shuts the hell up with the quickness.

And know this: You’re only going to get the ball in the fourth quarter if you learn how to shoot free throws (49.2 percent from the charity stripe ain’t the business). You want to be a closer? Cool. Learn how to shoot freebies.

And that pick-and-roll you despise so much? Get over it. You convert over 70 percent of your shots off the pick-and-roll. You want shots? You can eat all day off Harden and Jeremy Lin picks, D. We’re talkin’ fat fat full like Precious at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

You wanna smile? Smile after you shake a dude out of his sneakers for a silky smooth hook shot, turnaround or reverse layup. Smile after you tattoo the rim with a Slamadamonth-worthy dunk. Smile after you smack an opposing player’s shot attempt into the cheap seats. Smile after you put up a triple-dub comprised of points, rebounds and blocks. Smile after you sink two game-winning free throws. Smile when Daryl Morey finally puts an NBA Championship ring on it.

And when you touch the sides and set off the buzzer again by fouling out or getting shut out or letting every dude from the other team all up in the lane for a deuce…

AAHHT!

Own it. Don’t point fingers. Don’t blame teammates or coaches. Take responsibility. Own it.

And then use it.

Do all of this and I promise you’ll get the last laugh when the season’s over. Do all of this and there’s no doubt you’ll become a master technician on the post, dawg. Do this, and you’ll finally quiet all the haters, make SLAM look stupid for demoting you three spots and get back into the top 5 where you belong.

[poll id=”616″]

Rankings are based on expected contribution in ’13-14—to players’ team, the League and the game.

The post Top 50: Dwight Howard, no. 8 appeared first on SLAM.

And then there was one.

Things are different now for Rajon Rondo. Way different. Like “holy crap is this team even the Boston Celtics anymore?” different. There’s the trade that gutted the former Champs, shipping away Paul Pierce’s daggerific shots and Kevin Garnett’s intimidating defense and impassioned leadership to the team in Jay Z’s borough.

But hey, that’s no sweat off of Rondo’s back.

“I didn’t feel anything,” Rondo told the Boston Herald. “I actually landed in L.A. the night of the Draft and I got like 45 text messages coming through the phone. I thought I was traded. Paul and Kevin were traded, I actually talked to both of them, text messages, and I talked to them on the phone. It’s part of the business. It’s not the first teammates that I’ve been close to that have been traded away—(Kendrick Perkins)—it’s part of the process.”

Then there’s the defection of Doc Rivers to the Los Angeles Clippers. Yep, you read that right. The Clippers. So the coach who molded and shaped Rondo from a raw lump of Kentucky Wildcat clay took his Xs and Os to Lob City and Rondo will now be led by a baby-faced rookie NBA head coach.

What? Rondo worry?

“I give Doc a lot of credit,” Rondo told ESPN. “Doc was a great coach to play for. He was very hard on me, he helped me become the player I am today and I give him a lot of credit. But now he’s gone to L.A., that’s that.”

Oh, and to make things even more interesting, there’s the comeback. Rondo had surgery to repair his partially torn ACL back in February and likely won’t return to the court until December. Sure, he’s “participating” in practices, but that don’t mean diddly until he laces ‘em up when it counts. And even when he does return to action, he’s got a tough road ahead of him if he wants to Adrian Peterson his way back to the point guard everyone loves to watch in action.

Will he be as explosive as he was prior to the injury? Will he be as quick? Will he be as athletic? Will he still be able to slice up defenses in the lane like a hot Ginsu knife through butter? Will he still be able to whip passes all over the court as if the NBA regulation Spaulding were a tiny yoyo in his hands? With questions like these hanging over his head, he’ll be starting from the bottom like Drake when he makes his way back.

“I’m excited about the fresh start,” Rondo told ESPN. “I’m excited every year with each team, but for me to get back on the court, I just want to compete. I haven’t competed in a while, and I’m a very competitive player and a very competitive person. I miss being out there on the court with my teammates and helping them win.”

So when you total all that up and look at the pieces that will be around him this upcoming season, it’s pretty easy to figure out why this strong-willed point guard slips from his sweet No. 8 perch on last year’s list to his less-than-stellar No. 19 spot this year.

By all other accounts, though, Rondo lived up to his high billing last season. He went from 11.9 ppg to 13.7 ppg and 4.8 rpg to 5.6 rpg. His dimes stayed about the same (11.7 to 11.1) and his steals were a push at 1.8. The difference, though, was that it was clearly Rondo’s team last year and he stepped up to the challenge and took care of his business like EPMD, in spite of the team’s losing ways (20-23).

Before he went down on January 25 against the Atlanta Hawks, Rondo had elevated his field-goal percentage from 44 to 48 percent and racked up a League-leading 5 triple-dubs. What doesn’t look good on his resume, though, is the fact that Beantown had a better winning percentage (21-17) for the second half of the season without their fearless leader on the floor. Rondo racks up assists like it’s a bodily function, but he has to make sure he’s also making his team better and creating more shots for his teammates. With a band of journeymen suiting up alongside him this year, all eyes will be on his ability to “elevate” the play of his teammates.

Now that defenses will be more focused on him, he’s going to have to develop a more reliable jump shot from mid-range and the three-point line. And for the love of God, he has to sink his free throws. I mean, 64.5 percent from the charity stripe? What the eff is that about? We’ve all heard about the deficiencies in Rondo’s game before, but with the loss of two Hall of Famers that helped shoulder the burden, his glaring weaknesses will be shining on the parquet like the friggin’ North Star.

Additionally, Rondo will have to learn to take over in the fourth quarter like his top-tier peers on the ball. When it’s winning time, Chris Paul takes over and delivers in the clutch better than FedEx. Rondo, however, shies away from taking shots in the waning minutes and is afraid of shooting freebies with the game on the line. That has to change this year.

Call me crazy, but I think Rondo can make the leap. I can just hear ol’ Tommy Heinsohn now, yelling out “Rondo for the win!” at the top of his lungs as Rondo seals the deal on a sweet 18-footer. I can just see Brad Stevens jumping for joy until his glasses fall off after Rondo perfectly executes one of his signature plays to put his team up with no time left on the clock. That next level of superstardom is all there for the taking and if Rondo wants a spankin’ new max deal from Danny Ainge and, more importantly, a return to SLAM’s top 10, he’ll have to use his freakishly large hands to reach out and claim it.

[poll id=”606″]

Rankings are based on expected contribution in ’13-14—to players’ team, the League and the game.

The post Top 50: Rajon Rondo, no. 19 appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

If Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s signature skyhook was the League’s most unblockable shot, Hakeem Olajuwon’s classic “Dream Shake” was the League’s most unstoppable move. But whereas the skyhook’s substance was obvious, the subtle brilliance of Olajuwon’s patented Shake—the dizzying combination of nimble footwork and an array of intricate spin moves, jukes and fakes—wasn’t discernable to the naked eye. Still, every defender who had to stare down the former soccer player as he made his way toward the basket knew this: Embarrassment was the end result. Case in point: the Western Conference Finals in ’95. Olajuwon destroyed the San Antonio Spurs’ David Robinson, the League MVP and former Defensive Player of the Year, with an epic performance (35.3 ppg) that helped the Houston Rockets eliminate the favored Spurs en route to their second straight NBA title.

Recently, Mitchell & Ness released a throwback No. 34 jersey that Olajuwon wore in ’96-97. The former League MVP, who averaged 21.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and a whopping 3.1 blocks over 18 seasons, phoned SLAM from Amman, Jordan, to talk about being picked over Michael Jordan, jerseys and why he’s the L’s most sought after low-post teacher.

SLAM: You were drafted No. 1 overall in the ’84 Draft before Michael  Jordan. Ever hear any flack about that?

Hakeem Olajuwon: No. Any time in basketball you have a choice to choose a quality big man, you take the big man. Of course Michael Jordan is exceptional, but they never questioned the decision where you take a quality big man over a guard.

SLAM: Could you imagine going anywhere but Houston that day?

HO: For some reason, I had this feeling Houston was going to win the coin flip and I was gonna be in Houston. I was hoping it, and everything came through as I expected, thank God.

SLAM: How long was it before Houston fans started wearing your jersey?

HO: It was immediate because fans were wearing my jersey from my Phi Slama Jama days. When you see fans wearing your jersey, showing that loyalty, it puts a soft spot in your heart because they honored you with wearing your number. They’re showing you that you are their favorite player so you feel so special and you want to treat them special also because they chose you as their favorite player.

SLAM: Mitchell & Ness recently released one of your old jerseys. What’s that mean to you?

HO: Any time the basketball world reflects on a player’s career, there’s no question that it’s a big honor. I feel so privileged that I’ve made that much of an impact in basketball. When you hear people compliment you and rank you among the elite players that played the game, it’s humbling and mindboggling.

SLAM: How did you develop your great Dream Shake move?

HO: It was a development of movement from playing soccer. It didn’t translate into basketball until later on in my career when it became more instinctive. When my opponent is not giving me anything, my first reaction is to read what the defense is giving me and take it, that’s the efficiency of a player able to read what he’s given and take it. If you give me a jump shot, I’m going to take it; if you get physical, I’m going to spin off; if you are undecided, I will force you commit to something. So basketball is a very intelligent game, you have to be very precise in your decisions.

SLAM: Players flock to you for tutelage in the offseason. What’s the most important lesson you’ve taught them?

HO: From a basketball perspective, I teach them the joy of turning basketball into a science. For example, if you know about construction and engineering, if you want to do some remodeling and you have a load-bearing wall, you cannot move it. But when you have a column that’s not load-bearing, there’s lots of possibilities because it moves. So when we create a move in basketball, you make a player shift his weight to his load-bearing leg and then you attack that leg because now he cannot move. When I work with young players and see the expressions on their face, it’s a true joy for me. They realize that basketball is a science.

The post The Professor appeared first on SLAM.

It ain’t Cinco de Mayo, but it’s Cinco de NBA Finals and your boy is back in the mix in the Alamo City for the continued saga that is the San Antonio Spurs versus the Miami Heat for the ultimate bragging rights: the NBA title.

Game 4 was one for nostalgia, where Dwyane Wade turned back the clock and put up a signature postseason performance that reminded hoops fans of “The Flash” circa 2006, when the Marquette alum took over games singlehandedly, literally taking the Larry O’Brien from the grips of the Dallas Mavs over the stretch of four games.  Bum knee?  What bum knee?  D Wade and his knees went off for 32 points, including two on his patented Euro-step, swipe-the-ball-across-your-face-then-slam-it-home move.

LeBron James “added” 33 points and Chris Bosh chipped in with 20 points and 13 boards.  That’s 85 points from the Heatles’ Big 3.  When they play like that, there’s really no beating them.

If the Spurs want to bounce back, they’ll need Manu Ginobili to stop playing like Manure.  This has to be his worst postseason play ever.  I got the the arena early and watched Manu put up some shots.  Even in shoot around, he wasn’t shooting like himself.  He must have missed half of his shots.  Something is way off for the Argentinian.  If he can’t get right–no matter how well Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and the three-point shooting dynamic duo of Danny Green and Gary Neal are playing–the Spurs are goin’ down.

As for Miami, D Wade got in a full practice session pre-game.  His shot looks great.  Better than that, though, he had his two sons out there with him, throwing him the ball as his hoisted up shot after shot.

Whoever wins tonight takes a commanding 3-2 lead in the series and puts the other team in a must win situation for Game 6.

Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads that are rockin’ with us tonight.  Let the games begin!

First Quarter

– The Heat are going with the same starting five of James, Wade, Chalmers, Miller and Bosh.

– Funny thing about people refusing to put on the Spurs tees on their seats when the jumbotron finds them, is putting it on would be a SIGNIFICANT upgrade to what they have on…

– In an effort to get Manu going early, Pop put him in the starting lineup.  Manu, Tony Parker, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard and Tim Duncan are the starting five.

– Good seeing Hootie sing the national anthem, but where the hell is the Blowfish?

– Spurs win the tipoff.  Manu hit his first shot.  Sign of the times?

– Manu has it going early with the dimes.

– LeBron in freight train mode.

– That missed Alley was kinda hot.

– Nice dunk in the Duncan.  Spurs up 11-6.

– They’ve shown that Manu three a few times.  His foot was on the line.  Surprised they didn’t change that.

– Wade with 6 already.

– Coach Pop looks smart for starting Manu.

– They changed Manu’s three to a two.  Score now 15-12 instead of 16-12.

– Danny Green shoots an airball for his first three point attempt.

– LeBron ties it 17-17 with a three ball of his own.

– That was Tony Parker’s first point of the night.

– Jesus Shuttlesworth in the game. Not to be confused with Yeezus Shuttlesworth.

– Place goes nuts on TP’s scoop shot off the backboard.  Spurs up 21-17 with 3:46 left in the first.  Miami to talk it over.

– Tony Parker givin’ the Heat a “Hammy Check”

– Spurs have a 10 point lead now.

– Tony Parker tellin’ the Heat to hurry up with his damn croissants!

– The Spurs came to play tonight.  They go up 29-17 with 59 ticks left.

– Spurs end the first quarter on a heater.  Up 32-19.

Second Quarter

– Battier with the nice corner trey.

– Tiago Splitter stuffs it to keep from getting blocked.

– Leonard with the tear drop.  All the Spurs are learning from TP.

– Bosh on the boards.  Spurs take a timeout.

– Mariachi band has some pipes.

– Danny Green gets that three to go.  Spurs up 15 now.

– Green heat check!

– So they like Michael Jackson songs in AT&T Center.  That’s all the DJ plays.

– Green is heatin’ up!

– Nice fast break dunk by ‘Bron.  Heat down 11 now.

– Big time four point play by Ray Allen.

– Heat cut the lead down to 5.

– Nice J by Bron.  Heat within 5 again.

– Green can’t check Bron.  Pop needs to make an adjustment.

– Battier nearly full body tackles Manu on the three point attempt.  Manu to shoot three FTs.

– Bush League Battier?

– Spurs end the half up 61-52.

Hate that I’m at the game.  I’ll have to monitor Twitter to see what Jay-Z has up his sleeve for halftime.

Third Quarter

– Bron with the first points of the second half.

– Just like that, the Heat are only down four.

– The Spurs needed that three.

– Danny Green breaks the NBA Finals three point record with 23 and counting…

– Nice pass to Wade for the deuce over Timmy D.

– For those like me that missed the halftime Jay-Z commercial, here it is: http://www.magnacartaholygrail.com.

– Helluva defensive sequence by the Spurs.

– Nice use of the mix match by Bosh for two.  Miami closes it to four.

– Green with ANOTHER three for the game.

– Now THIS is the Manu the Spurs needed.  He has 15 points and 8 assists.

– That was Euro gold by Manu.

– The Heat are falling apart.  Spurs lead back up to double digits.

– Bron has a quiet 22 points so far.

– Well what do you know, Manu is NOT dead…

– Crowd is chanting Man-U, Man-U, Man-U…

Fourth Quarter

– That was ugly ball movement by the Spurs.

– Manu has 22 points. He is ballin’ right now!

– The Spurs are up by 14 now.

– That three by Leonard really creates a gap.  Heat down 17.

– Timmy with the putback.  Spurs by 19.

– They make some really cheesy promo vids here in Spurs land.

– Bosh has 4 fouls.  Could mean trouble.

– Ray Allen stops the bleeding with a corner trey.

– Just like that, Heat close a 20 point lead to 13.

– TP with the airball tear drop.  Hardly ever see that…

– Manu is really back from the dead tonight.  He must’ve heard all the taunts.

– TP has 21 points now.

– The Spurs seem to be sustaining the Heat’s run in the waning minutes.  Press row is starting to file out.

– Miami within 11 now on the Ray Allen trey.

– That was a crucial offensive call right there.  Ray was certain to hit that open three.

– Manu trying to do too much on that play.  LeBron is holding TP.

– Pop is yelling “turnovers” right now, incessantly.

– That three by Green put the Spurs back up 13 with 1:06 left. I think the fat lady can start warming up…

– Did I tell you or did I tell you? I said if Manu brought his A game, the Spurs would win.

– James Jones cold off the bench with a three.

– That’s it, folks. Spurs take Game 5 114-104 for a commanding 3-2 lead in the series. See you in Miami!

The post NBA Finals Game 5 Live Blog appeared first on SLAM.

SLAM La Familia, it’s your boy Maurice Bobb coming to you live and direct from San Antonio’s AT&T Center for Game 3 of the NBA Finals!  Are you ready?  Are you stoked?  Are you still talking about LeBron James’ block on Tiago Splitter? Of course you are!  As per usual, I drove up to San Antone (that’s what the locals call it, or maybe that’s just the drunk guy outside of the BBQ spot I stopped at) from Houston.  Can you road trip?  Yeah?  Not so fast.  It was raining cats and dogs until I got outside of H-town city limits and I had to endure truck drivers passing each other on a two lane highway for oh, 150 miles.  But hey, I got here just in the nick of time to get my game credentials and elbow my way pass the Texas Gazette beat writers through press row for a seat.

Just a few sidebars before tip-off: I checked for myself and no, there is no statue of Tim Duncan in front of the arena.  Not yet.  And for those asking, no, Kareem Abdul Jabbar is not out front petitioning for his own statue in front of the Spurs’ arena either.  And as far as I can tell, there are no fans waving Eva Longoria’s head on a stick to taunt Tony Parker.

As both teams are warming up on the court, let’s look back at Game 2, shall we?  First of all, wow, the Spurs were blown out of the building.  That 33-5 run the Heat dumped on ‘em was like watching the Russian beat Apollo Creed to a pulp in Rocky IV.  If Coach Pop & Co. want to avoid another mollywhoppin’, they’ll have to cut back on the turnovers (they went from 4 to 17) and get better shooting from their Big 3.  Timmy D, Tony P and Manu Ginobili shot a combined 10 for 33 from the field last game.  No way they can win like that.  And what the hell is wrong with Manu?  He needs to put some pep in his Euro step.  And fast.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Argentinian struggle so mightily.  Danny Green, you keep shooting, though.  A perfect 6 of 6 from deep?  Let’s see if the kid from Long Island can keep handling his business behind the arc like his fellow Strong Islanders, EPMD.

Game 3 is as crucial as it gets, so if San Antonio wants to snag the W, Coach Pop’s gonna have to turn his pep talk into a pep rally.

On the other side of the ball, King James, who is averaging almost a triple dub (17.5 points, 13 rebounds, 8.5 assists) in these Finals, will keep doing what he does best: breaking down the defense and dominating from all over the floor.  Seriously, is there anything this guy can’t do?  As for D Wade, they need him to get his knee right and step it up if they want to handle their business in the Spurs’ house.

To be honest, I didn’t give Coach Spo much credit when it came to X’s and O’s, but I’ll give him this much: he’s showin’ up and showin’ out with that clipboard this postseason.  He runs his team with a quiet cool and since the Heat are locked in and looking to repeat, I doubt if he has to do or say much for LBJ and the rest of the world class wreckin’ crew to put another ring on it.

So grab your brews, wine, O’Doul’s or whatever it is you drink and/or nosh when watching the game and strap in with us, because we’ll be here all night offering all manner of analysis, snide/smart-alecky comments and game calling.  Make sure to tip your waiter.

In strange news, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan both arrived late to the arena due to inclement weather. Wonder if Coach Pop’ll bench ’em for that?

– Game time, Peeps! Let’s get it!

– This crowd is really into it. Case in point: they just went nuts on that Kawhi Leonard three-pointer.

– I like AT&T Center, but their Internet sucks you know what. I’m having to post from my iPhone, people.

– Nice dunk, Timmy!

– Coach Spo wants to talk about that stuff.

– Spurs fans are really supporting their team. Heat fans could learn a thing or two from them.

– Wade with a nice J. Worth noting that he was getting up some shots before the game and almost hit every one of them.

– Manu gets it to go. Can this be a good sign?

– Miami closes to within 3 with that Wade layup. Coach Pop wants to discuss, what else? Turnovers.

– Manu with the pump fake and the hard body two-gander down the lane!

– Wade seems to moving pretty, pretty good tonight.

– Birdman and Danny Green into the game. Threes and put backs comin’ right up!

– Threes, please! Gary Neal

– The Birdman takin’ flight with a mean two-hander on a dime from ‘Bron.

– Tiago Splitter with the nifty move!

– Spurs play breaks down the close the first quarter. Spurs up 24-20.

– Spurs shot 61% in the first quarter. I’d say that’s decent…

– Nice WTF shot, Manu.

– Gary Neal is Mr. Automatic from deep.

– Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award just awarded to Bill Fitch. Well deserved.

– The Kiss Cam always has that awkward moment where a dude wants to kiss the girl he brought to the game, but gets shot down. Doh!

– Shane Battier in the game. Guess he didn’t order the turd sandwich tonight.

– Norris Cole with the corner three. Spurs cling to one point lead with 7 minutes left.

– Gonna have to start calling Matt Bonner “Red Head Kingpin” from now on.

– Danny Green with the three ball. Spurs up 32-26.

– Around here, they pronounce Jesus like this: “Hey sooz”

– ‘Rio with three fouls already? That may hurt come crunch time.

– Nice outlet pass Timmy! Spurs up 40-30.

– Spurs on a 13-4 run.

– Neal with another three point bomb.

– Mike Miller answers with one of his own.

– Wade climbed over somebody’s back like they had a stepladder attached to them.

– Miami making a run in the waning minutes of the half. Closes gap to four.

– You can not, I repeat, can not, leave Mike Miller open.

– Gary Neal nails a three at the buzzer. Spurs up 50-44 to end the first half.

– Hopefully they will fix the bleepin’ Internet during the half. It’s ridiculously hard to live blog from my cellphone :-/

– Hey, look Ma, I’m live blogging from my laptop again!

– Ok, time to peel yourselves away from that engrossing halftime show with Magic Johnson and the crew.  The second half is upon us.  LeBron has to come alive in the second.  Four points is crazy low production from your MVP.

– He should have thrown it up for Timmy D to catch an alley.

– Haslem egged that one on.

– Timmy can hit the J, too…

– Green with another bomb.  Spurs up 11.

– If Green would have gotten that one on Bosh…

– Spurs crowd is now copying Heat fans’ “White Stripes” influenced chat.

– Mike Miller stops the bleeding once again.  Spurs up by 10.

– Danny Green is earning some extra bucks in these NBA Finals.

– Mike Miller is cookin’ out here!  He has 15 for the game, so far…

– Oh lordy!  Manu gets up for another slam dunk!  Did he eat his Wheaties today?

– Maybe Tim Duncan should get stuck in traffic more often…

– The Spurs are putting on a three point clinic right now…

– Paging Tony Parker…paging Tony Parker…

– Forgot to mention that we ran into David Robinson before the game.  That man is still very loved in these parts.  Sidenote: I think he gets his jeans from the same place as Michael Jordan.

– Gary Neal’s been studying Tony Parker’s teardrop…

– And just like that, the Spurs are up by 21.

– Hearing Tony Parker had to go to the locker room, but is now back on the bench.  Let’s hope he’s not hurt.

– They might as well bring in T-Mac…

– LeBron finally gets off 4 points with that 3.

– LeBron now has 11 points with 26 seconds left in the third.

– Spurs up 78-63 to end the third.  LBJ starting to cook, he has 13 after being stuck on 4 for most of the game.

– Can the Spurs hold on without Tony Parker?  12 minutes to find out.

– Back to back threes from Gary Neal. Ouch.

– That fast break was perfection!

– This is starting to get out of hand for Miami.  They are down 23 with 7:47 left in the game.  This crowd is crazy hype.  If someone hits another three, the roof will explode.

– Gary Neal, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard are 13 for 20 from three point land.

– T Mac in the game with 6:39 left!

– This is gettin’ ugly.  Spurs up by 31…

– This crowd can’t wait for T-Mac to get buckets.

– Why has DeJuan Blair been in Pop’s doghouse?  He has game.

– That’s all, folks.  Spurs get revenge for that Game 2 blowout with one of their own, win 113-77 at home.

The post NBA Finals Game 3 Live Blog appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

Thanks to his epic performance on the world stage at the 2012 Olympics in London, where he became the first man to win the 100-m and 200-m double at successive Games, Usain Bolt needed no introduction when he took center court at the 2013 Sprint NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Houston. In a game full of megawatt celebrities, the world’s fastest human—and his signature lightning-bolt pose—stole the show when, in the waning minutes of the first quarter, he switched gears and sprinted past the defense on a “fast” break for a wicked two-handed slam dunk. SLAM caught up with the self-proclaimed “greatest athlete to live” to talk about his love of hoops and why he’s a ride-or-die Boston Celtics fan.

SLAM: What was it like playing in the celebrity game at All-Star Weekend?

Usain Bolt: It was fun. We got beat bad, because their team was much more serious and played a little harder than I thought they would, but I really enjoyed it and it’s something I would do again. Kevin Hart made me laugh the whole time I was on the court. He said ridiculous stuff, so it was fun to get to do that with him.

SLAM: And you caught a nice dunk.

UB: I’m more of a better soccer player than a basketball player, but I’m 6-5 so I can throw down. I can dunk.

SLAM: How much of a basketball fan are you?

UB: I’m a big basketball fan. It’s a lot of teams, but I’m a Boston Celtic fan. I’ve been a Celtic fan since Kevin Garnett got there. I was a Timberwolves fan and then became a Boston fan when KG came. I’m a KG fan. Everywhere KG goes, I support.

SLAM: Why do you like KG so much?

UB: KG for me, he’s a fighter, he’s a leader, he’s a champion. I seen him go through a lot. He’s very tough mentally, and he goes out there and plays hard and always gives 150 percent. So for me, that’s the biggest thing. Even when he was injured, he was always there with his team, always supporting them, always pushing them to be the best, so for me, that’s something big. That’s a leadership quality that I like and appreciate.

SLAM: You’re a freak of nature on the track. Who’s your equivalent in the NBA?

UB: I’d say right now LeBron, but I think Kobe. Everything he does, I’m like, “Oh God.” That’s what you say when Kobe does something amazing. But I’m not surprised.

SLAM: How often do you play ball these days?

UB: I played basketball all my life growing up, but because I do track, my coaches never let me play, and they always try to stop me from playing, so I stopped. I don’t get to play a lot of basketball anymore.

SLAM: How many times a day do you get challenged to a race by random people?

UB: I get challenged to races every day. Anywhere I go, I get that.

SLAM: Is it possible to break your own record?

UB: I train hard and I work really hard for what I want, so I think there’s a possibility that I can go faster and break my own record, yes.

The post Supersonic appeared first on SLAM.

Rookie years are hard enough in the NBA, but for Thomas Robinson, the No. 5 pick in the 2012 Draft, things just got real. The Sacramento Kings traded the Kansas standout at the trade deadline along with Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Patrick Patterson, Toney Douglas and Cole Aldrich, effectively washing their hands of the player they most coveted coming out of college. The player who led Rock Chalk Jayhawk nation all the way to the national championship game on almost passion alone, after somehow picking up the pieces enough to play after the tragic loss of his mother, grandmother and grandfather. We’ve heard of teams giving up on a top-5 player before, but rarely during their rookie campaign.

Although T-Rob was off to a slow start in the L—he averaged 4.8 ppg and 4.7 rpg in 16 minutes per game off the bench—his considerable potential as a power forward is still there like Ragu. He’s a maniacal workhorse on the low block, he can run the floor in transition and finish with authority. Not to mention the fact that his athleticism, work ethic, rebounding and defense are off the bleepin’ charts. This kid’s dunks have the same fury and power of a young Mike Tyson’s right cross. Robinson has a lot to learn, no doubt about it, but the wrong thing to do is to bet against this 6-10, 240-pound competitive force of nature (word to Skip Bayless).

SLAMonline caught up with the rook less than 48 hours after the whirlwind trade took him from Sac-Town to H-Town to talk about his inaugural season, his time with the dysfunctional Kings and where he goes from here.

SLAM: Welcome to Houston.

Thomas Robinson: Thanks.

SLAM: So do you like Houston so far?

TR: I like it, man. Social networks says it all. Seems like people are happy that I’m here, so I’m excited.

SLAM: How do you feel about being traded in your rookie year?

TR: I don’t know…happy, disrespected. Somewhere between those two. I feel like I got dumped. That’s how I feel. Bad breakup. So I’m gonna make my ex hate me the next time they see me.

SLAM: What was the first thought in your mind when you learned that you’d be going to the Rockets?

TR: One of my closest friends plays here (Marcus Morris) but then he called me and told me he getting traded, too, so I was like, “Who else getting traded?” He told me two power forwards, so I saw opportunity.

SLAM: Photos surfaced of you working out with Kevin McHale. What’s it like to learn from a great like him?

TR: It’s amazing. He knows every trick in the book. He’s great at his position and everything he knows about the game he can teach me. It’s not like a guard teaching me or wing player. It’s somebody that played my position. He knows what it’s actually like to be under the basket.

SLAM: What’s the first thing he said to you?

TR: Honestly? He didn’t like my career since I got to the NBA. The reason? He said that I hadn’t been playing like I played in college. He understood the situation but he said looking from the outside in he didn’t like it. But now it can be a different perspective.

SLAM: What can we expect from you as a Rocket?

TR: I’m not gonna set any expectations. I get to play. I’m happy about that. I’m just gonna go from there. I haven’t showed anything yet. It’s almost like getting drafted again.

SLAM: Well, how do you see yourself helping out the Rockets?

TR: The fact that they get out and run. They’re a running team. That will fit in right with me. I get down the floor pretty well and then I’m a rebounder.

SLAM: What did James Harden say to you?

TR: Just come in and work hard. I don’t need to score; that’s his job. Just do what I do. As long as I do my job, I’ll be fine.

SLAM: Do you feel like you got a fair shake in Sacramento?

TR: I felt like I didn’t get a fair chance to show what I got put in this League for and I really don’t know why but I do know that I got a chance here.

SLAM: From the outside looking in, the Kings look like a soup sandwich. Is that really the case?

TR: I won’t say all that. Every team, got they problems. That’s about as far as I can go with that [laughs].

SLAM: Did you get any veteran mentoring in Sacramento?

TR: I haven’t experienced that yet. Some of the guys did work with me, but I’m not two or three years in, I’m still in my rookie season. But it ain’t about them no more.

SLAM: What’s been the biggest adjustment for you so far in the NBA?

TR: Knowing if I’ll get enough playing time and new team, new city. I just think that change and the off-the-court stuff is really the hardest part for me. On the court, that comes. If you get reps, the better you get.

SLAM: What facets of your game do you need to work on?

TR: At this level, finishing under the basket. I don’t have a problem getting there at all, but sometimes, I tend to rush it once I do get there and not finishing as well as I know I could.

SLAM: What grade would you give yourself for this year?

TR: I’d grade myself a D-minus.

SLAM: What grade can you pull that up to by the end of the year?

TR: I think a B or an A. If I have the opportunity to play. You learn by experience man, so the best way to learn is the get thrown in the fire. Of course, I’m far behind right now because half the rookies already had a season playing 30 plus minutes, so I mean, but it won’t take me long to catch up.

SLAM: So you feel like you’ve fallen behind in your development compared to the other rookies?

TR: I wouldn’t say that because I never stopped working. I just wasn’t playing. I never left the gym. I was still in the gym probably more than anybody on my team. I can’t count many people that are in the gym more than me. Or I can count on one hand how many people stayed in the gym longer than me, so I was still working. I still got better as a player, I just didn’t get to play.

SLAM: Bill Self just crossed the 500-win mark as a coach. How great is that?

TR: He’s a great coachn man. He’s one of the best and I think he pushed a lot out of me and no matter who you are, he don’t take no BS.

SLAM: Do you two still talk?

TR: Oh yes, we still talk.

SLAM: The ESPN article really showed a personal side of you. What’s been the response of that article in your life?

TR: Made everyone want to pull for me. I thought it was a good article.

SLAM: So, do you have your sister with you full-time now?

TR: I’m still going through all that right now so she not permanent with me, but hopefully she will be by summer.

SLAM: What does she think of all this?

TR: She don’t understand. All she knows is I’m playing. She don’t get the details of it.

SLAM: Hakeem lives in Houston. You hoping to learn from him?

TR: Hopefully. Heard he’s a little expensive though [laughs]. If he want to volunteer to help me, that would be a blessing.

SLAM: Why do you play with such ferocity?

TR: Thinking I always got something to prove. That might not be the case half the time but just the way I think.

SLAM: If you could take parts of five different players’ game, who would those five players be and why?

TR: I’d take Mike’s competitiveness and his work ethic. I’ll take Dennis Rodman’s rebounding. I’ll take Magic’s passing. KD and his whole mentality to the game and I’d take LeBron’s IQ.

SLAM: I see you as a combo of Dennis Rodman and Karl Malone. How long before you embody that?

TR: The defense and the rebounding that comes naturally. I don’t have to practice that. So that’s something that I know from this day until I work on my offensive game, I know I’ll always have. Can’t nobody teach me how to go and get a rebound or play defense. The work ethic, too. Can’t nobody teach you that. The offensive part has to come. That’s the great thing about working with Coach McHale. He knows that. He can teach me that. I’m not there yet, but I think over time, I can get there. But what’s gonna keep me in this League will be the work ethic, the defense and the rebounding. I think I’ll fall a little more on the Rodman side early, until my offense gets better. And it will.

SLAM: So you can get there?

TR: I want to do it all, man. I want to be the worst nightmare. That’s where I plan to get to.

SLAM: So “Worst Nightmare” is your new nickname?

TR: Yeah, nickname me Freddy. Freddy Kruger. Never slept on [laughs].

SLAM: Finish this sentence: In five years, when I see you, I’m going to tell you _____.

TR: In five years, when I see you, I’m going to tell you I told you I was gonna be one of the top bigs in the NBA.

The post Q+A: Thomas Robinson appeared first on SLAM.

Whether he’s Shaqtin’ A Fool and serving up witty banter alongside Ernie Johnson, Kenny Smith and Charles Barkley on TNT’s five-time Emmy Award-winning post-game show, Inside the NBA, or putting together top-tier comedy shows (Shaquille O’Neal All-Star Comedy Jam) that launch careers (Kevin Hart) or making headline grabs with his antics, Shaquille O’Neal is still the same force to be reckoned with now as he was when he was wreckin’ shop against all comers on the low block in the NBA.

Not surprisingly, the former Laker great, never one to rest on his laurels, has another endeavor in the works. TruTV, the Turner-owned cable network best known for hit series such as Impractical Jokers and Hardcore Pawn, just signed off on 10 episodes of Upload with Shaquille O’Neal, a series that will focus on the future Hall of Famer scouring the ‘Net for LOL-themed videos and clips, as well as original skits, parodies and viral videos put together by the four-time NBA Champ and his team of writers. Shaq Diesel will be joined by comedians Gary Owen (Think Like A Man) and Godfrey (7 Up’s “Make 7 Up Yours” Guy), who will help bring the funny. Lucille O’Neal’s 7-foot baby boy chopped it up with SLAMonline to talk NBA All-Star Weekend, Kobe Bryant and comedy.

SLAM: What did you like most about All-Star Weekend?

Shaquille O’Neal: Just coming here, seeing all the entertainment, seeing all the superstars and all the parties, of course. It was an easy one for me because I actually live in Houston. It’s usually hectic getting the whole family together, getting a hotel, but I actually live in Houston, so I stayed at the crib with the fellas and fellas in hotels around the corner. But for the last couple years, I’ve been in Daddy mode, so I remember when my father took me and my cousin to our first All-Star game and I got to see Dr. J play, so right now with me being in Daddy mode, it was good to get my kids to the game. They all love LeBron and DWade and Kobe and those guys, so they got to see them.

SLAM: Who is your favorite player in the League right now?

Shaq: LeBron is somebody I see taking over. He’s hot right now. He’s doing something that’s rare. I see him getting four MVPs.

SLAM: And you’re OK with your kids liking LeBron more than you as a player?

Shaq: Oh yeah, no problem with it. Never that. Even though my dad was the best player in my neighborhood I’ve seen in my life, Dr. J was the man.

SLAM: There was a photo circulating on the Internet of you and Kobe talking during All-Star, what did you guys talk about?

Shaq: We were just laughing. You know, I think it’s a real misunderstood misconception that we hate each other. They don’t understand that it’s business. You either focus on the relationship or focus on the task. And I was focused on the task. So whenever you have two Alpha Males like me and Kobe, you’re going to disagree from time to time, but we never hated each other. When I see him and his wife and his beautiful daughters, it ain’t like we’re gonna go to blows. We had words, we had beef, but when you look at what we’ve done on the court, we’re the most dominant little man, big man ever. Ever created. I don’t care who you put us up against. We were the most dominant little man guard to big man in the League. And if I had it to do all over again, I’d do it the same way. Create the drama, create the press, and create the arguments. We won three out of four and that’s all that matters. We had a good laugh and it ain’t really nothing to talk about. I think a lot of the stuff was more about the media because they got tired of talking about our dominance. They had to come up with something else. Oh, they don’t like each other. But obviously we liked each other enough to win three out of four.

SLAM: Tell us about your new show on TruTV, Upload with Shaquille O’Neal.

Shaq: We just talk about all the funny clips and videos on the Internet. There’s a lot of different shows out there, but you know how they say a picture is worth a thousand words? It’s the same thing with clips, so a lot of people put they spin on clips. Mine is gonna be different because I have two comedians helping me. I got Godfrey and I got Gary Owen, so they’re comedians by trade and they’re funny. I got some good writers on the show, too. It’s on TruTV. TruTV’s kinda out there, so they let us do what we want and for the TruTV audience, I think it’s gonna be great.

SLAM: With the way you love comedy, you must have wanted to be a comedian in another life.

Shaq: Actually I did. I’ve always been the class clown and I’ve always been funny. Comedy is something I wouldn’t do, though. It’s like being an MC. That first line gotta be dope. If that muthafuckin’ first line ain’t dope, you gonna be in trouble, so it’s probably something I wouldn’t do, but I like comedy. I believe laughing relieves a lot of stress, so when I saw that Russell Simmons wasn’t doing Def Comedy anymore, I saw that it was an opening and something for me to do and I have the number one comedy brand in the world and I’m not going anywhere.

SLAM: You’ve made some comedians’ careers.

Shaq: I made Kevin Hart. Well, I don’t wanna say made Kevin Hart, but we had a great platform for him to do what he does best. We just wanna do great shows and create other opportunities for other people. I’m just trying to create good shows. We’re just getting off a 25-city tour. I’m sure somebody sitting down somewhere is that next comic hopefully they’ll be on my tour one day.

SLAM: You’ve been on the show with Ernie, Kenny and Chuck for a while now. How do you think you’re doing so far?

Shaq: When it comes to being an analyst, you either speak from the experience side or you speak from the research side. I speak from the experience side and fans they wanna hear that. Our show is the number one show and we also make you laugh. Like me, I don’t wanna hear all the bullshit from people that never played. Like Jalen Rose.

SLAM: Whoa. Shots fired?

Shaq: I said it. It’s a quote.

The post Q+A: Shaquille O’Neal appeared first on SLAM.

If you don’t know DJ Irie, get familiar. He’s the official DJ for the Miami Heat. The originator. The first to ever do it. In any professional sport. Those break beats in between those eye-popping alleys from DWade to LeBron? Irie. Those arena-rocking grooves when Coach Spo calls a timeout or after the Heat start to mollywhop an opponent? Irie. Matter of fact, any time you tune into an official NBA event, whether it be the Celebrity Game or the East/West All-Star teams’ practice or TNT’s official part at the House of Blues, that’s Irie on the 1s and 2s, keeping the party on turn up status.

Not one to just spin tunes that rock your body, Irie is also an in-demand product pitchman. From Hennessy (he was at all the primo Henny All-Star events) to Heineken to New Era, the turntablist born Ian Grocher is a burgeoning brand and he knows how to market it. SLAMonline caught up with the St. Croix, Virgin Islands-bred DJ in between gigs to talk about what it’s like to mix dance, house and hip-hop jams for the teeming masses with real vinyl, NBA All-Star Weekend and, of course, the Miami Heat.

SLAM: So how was your All-Star experience this year?

DJ Irie: Houston is a fun town for All-Star Weekend and was very practical as well.

SLAM: What’s your best story from ASW?

DJ Irie: I guess probably Charles Barkley last night. Charles was celebrating his birthday, so he was onstage trying to dance and DJ last night at the House of Blues. That was probably the most interesting thing I saw all weekend. I’ve been doing most of the NBA stuff on the corporate side so when I finished and Flo Rida went on, the DJ closed down, and that’s when Charles came down and got onstage. He was turnt up. It was Charles, Ron Harper and Kenny Smith. Kenny started clowning on both of them. Charles was dancing it up; it was a trip. Charles was trying to get the DJ to play certain songs and Charles was singing along to “Ni–as in Paris.” I was like, “Charles gets funky for a 50-year-old.” He gets it in. He knew it word for word.

SLAM: You were the DJ for all of the official NBA events. How did you get started doing that?

DJ Irie: That was kind of organic because, first of all, I was the first official team DJ in the entire League, not just basketball but all professional sports. After the Heat came up with the concept of having a DJ, we had folks from the NBA coming down to our games and hearing about what we were doing. Felisa Israel, she handled NBA Entertainment at the time, she actually came to one of our games and saw me doing my thing and I remember she came up to me and she was like, “Make sure you’re available because you’re coming out to All-Star, we’re going to have you do all of our All-Star stuff.” I was like, OK, that sounds cool. My first one was Atlanta. That was like ’01 or ‘02 something like that. And every year since, I’ve done all the official NBA events. So it was kinda organic from there.

SLAM: For a DJ, you have a lot of corporate endorsements. How did that come about?

DJ Irie: That part of the business was something that was grown strategically. Number one, what I wanted to do was expand the relationship from just doing the one off event. So for all the brands that we’re in partnership with, when they would do an event like the Super Bowl, they would call on us to come and perform. But what we wanted to do was first and foremost build that relationship where it’s not just a one off, where we come in and do a party and never speak again. I wanted to cultivate the relationship and show them the value that we can provide on a yearly basis.

What I got them (corporate sponsors) to understand is that the audience that we have access to night in and night out, these are folks that are coming to the nightclub and events with lots of discretionary income and putting down $2,000, $3,000 and $4,000 for a bottle of liquor. If they can do that, they can do a lot of other things as well. So we started to paint the picture of our access and our particular demographic and audience and I got them to understand that. And I started to understand what the initiatives for the brands were and what kind of market share they were looking to increase and those conversations started to open up and they started to realize, “Hey wait a minute, this guy’s a great DJ, we can use him for parties and stuff but he’s also a great messenger, he can deliver our message on a clear and consistent basis. He reaches thousands and thousands of people on a weekly basis, carrying our message.”

And that’s how it came to fruition. Our first partner came on board and other companies started seeing what we were doing and started to relate to it. It was a no brainer, so today our partnerships include Heineken, Barcardi, Red Bull, Verizon, Carnival Cruise line, New Era, the list goes on. These are brands that go hand in hand with what we do in our lifestyles. It’s very organic because we use these products everyday. It was a natural fit.

SLAM: So how did you start DJ-ing? What was your first gig?

DJ Irie: My very first time DJ-ing was at a New Year’s Eve party. And the funny thing about it is the way that it came about. I used to collect records. I started out by being a record collector, a record connoisseur [laughs]. When I heard a song, I wouldn’t want a cassette, I wouldn’t want a CD, I had to have the record, I liked the way the vinyl felt. So this girl came to my house that I had a big crush on and I showed her around the house, showed her my room and I had about 5,000 records. I had them all over the place. So she comes in my room and sees the records everywhere. I’d never DJ-ed a day in my life, right?

So she came in my room, saw all the records all over the place and she was like, “Oh my god, look at all these records! I didn’t know you were a DJ!” And I’m like, Obviously, why else would I have all these records? [Laughs] She’s like, “Oh my god, I love DJs, that’s so cool!” So long story short, this was around December and she’s like, “Hey, what are you doing for New Year’s?” Whatever you’re doing, let’s hang out, let’s bring in the new year together. She said that’s great, not only that but I wanna call my dad and tell him to hire you to DJ our New Year’s Party and I’m like, Whoa, wait, what? She was like, “Yeah.” She thought I was a DJ so I had friends that were DJs, so I asked them for pointers, I pulled it together and showed up at her house party.

I had never mixed two records in my entire life, didn’t know how to scratch, didn’t know how to do nothing, but I did know how to press play though. So I literally just put together a bunch of songs that I thought were cool songs. I would play a song, I’d play the whole song, the song would finish and I’d get on the mic and I’d be like, Whoa, that was an awesome jam! You guys like that? They’d be like, “Yeah!” Well, here’s another one! I lucked out because apparently her dad was a general manager of Planet Hollywood and he had a full top shelf bar, so I look at that night and say I had co-DJs: Jose Cuervo was there, Johnnie Walker was there. Everybody was so twisted, they didn’t realize that I winged it. And that’s how things started because her dad hired me to play at the restaurant every week.

SLAM: You have two Championship rings from being the official Miami Heat DJ. What’s it like spinning for them?

DJ Irie: The Miami Heat isn’t just an NBA franchise or an organization, it’s a family. It truly, truly is a family. And it goes beyond the word, it goes beyond how we conduct ourselves and how we deal with each other because guys like Dwyane, LeBron and Chris, we have a rapport that goes beyond the court or the arena. Whenever Dwyane’s having a birthday party, they always get us involved. Whenever I’m having my Irie Weekend or anything to benefit the foundation, Chris is there to support, LeBron is there to support. It really is family. They’ll be like, “What you doing tonight? Let’s go grab a bite to eat. We haven’t been able to catch up in a while.” Chris came to Miami, got settled in and said it wouldn’t be official if you didn’t perform for our wedding. It really is family. It’s nothing that I’ve asked of them that they haven’t been 100 percent happy to come out and do. They’re really great guys.

The post Q+A: DJ Irie appeared first on SLAM.

Charles Barkley just turned 50. Let that sink in for a moment. The man who defied the role model image in one of Nike’s most successful campaigns, elbowed all comers domestically and internationally (did dude from Angola ever recover?) and joined Kareem, Wilt and the Mailman as one of only four players in NBA history to compile at least 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 4,000 assists, is now taking a victory lap for being perhaps the best power forward—especially under 6-10—to ever to play the game.

During All-Star weekend in Houston, the good folks at TNT invited SLAM to come hang with Sir Charles and the guys from its highest rated show, Inside the NBA, for its live broadcast at the Shark Bar. It’s no secret that H-Town’s basketball faithful love the Round Mound of Rebound from his days with the Houston Rockets. But ever since the ’93 MVP left the game that plucked him from small town Leeds, AL, and took him to the 1992 Olympics and ultimately, all the way to the Basketball Hall of Fame, his star has been on the rise with hilarious turns on everything from David Letterman to Saturday Night Live. Recently, Sports Illustrated asked 124 NBA players to pick their favorite announcer and the Chuckster ran away with the title.

Known for telling it like it is with no apologies, Barkley was his usual loquacious self, diving headfirst into TNT’s nonstop coverage of the L’s most celebrated weekend of the year. In between the doubleheader between the Miami Heat and the Oklahoma City Thunder, the best basketball mag on the planet asked Chuck a few questions and, lucky for us, he had a few answers.

SLAM: Happy Birthday, Chuck!

Charles Barkley: Thanks, I appreciate it my brother.

SLAM: You just turned 50. Looking back, what’s your proudest moment?

CB: I don’t have one proud moment, man, I’ve just had an amazing life. I mean, you grow up in the projects in Leeds, Alabama, you don’t think you’re gonna have the life that I’ve had. I don’t think you can pick out one moment.

SLAM: What about your life as a whole?

CB: It’s been great, it’s been amazing the life I’ve lived, you know. Just the basketball part, playing in the NBA against Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Patrick Ewing, Karl Malone, and then you go into television, I been doing this a long time. I can’t even put it into words how amazing my life’s been.

SLAM: The All Star Game was in Houston. You played there. What did that mean to you?

CB: I always look forward to the All-Star Game. The NBA does a fantastic job of celebrating the game. It’s nonstop action, it’s a great weekend.

SLAM: Are you tired of all the LeBron James vs Michael Jordan comparisons?

CB: Well, I’m not tired; LeBron’s a great, great, great…I mean he’s unbelievable. But I think before we can put him in the same class as Michael Jordan he’s got to win four or five championships. I mean he’s bigger, stronger, but I don’t think you can try to compare the two until LeBron wins more than one championship. He’s got to win four or five championships but he’s one of the best players I’ve ever seen in my life.

SLAM: Before LeBron left for Miami, you said it was a mistake and you didn’t like it. Now that he’s won a Championship, do you feel the same way?

CB: I do. I do ‘cause I think if he won a championship in Cleveland it would mean more to those people than it does to those people in Miami. You have to try to build your own legacy. He was a two-time MVP, if I were a two-time MVP and I was playing in my hometown I wouldn’t leave to go anywhere. People would have to come and join me.

SLAM: What do you make of people voting on who would win one-on-one between MJ and LBJ?

CB: Michael Jordan is 50 years old, man. That’s just silly.

SLAM: You played in MJ’s era. Did you guys ever play one-on-one?

CB: No, no, no. I like my chances against anybody. I don’t think anybody can guard Michael and I don’t think anybody can guard me.

SLAM: Will you be running for governor of Alabama?

CB: I haven’t decided, man, the political process is so skewed right now. I’m not sure it’ll be fun for me to do that to be honest with you.

SLAM: People love your commentary. Does that come natural for you?

CB: Sometimes I have to criticize guys to try to make it fun, I mean, I’m out there trying to bust other people. I want all these guys to do well, but when they do something stupid or don’t play well, I try not to kill ‘em, I try to make ‘em laugh a little bit.

SLAM: Do the players ever get mad at you for putting them on blast?

CB: I talk to those guys all the time. They know that I’ma be fair, I’ma be honest, I think they respect that I don’t have a standard. I don’t treat stars worse than I treat regular players, I try to treat everybody fair.

SLAM: How’s Shaq doing on the show?

CB: Shaq’s doing a good job. We’re having a lot of fun working together. It’s a whole team, though, man, me, Kenny, Ernie and Shaq got the easiest part of the whole deal.

SLAM: Are you ever going to get on Twitter? You would be great on Twitter.

CB: No, I’m never gonna do the Twitter. I don’t feel the need to voice my opinion on everything and argue with these idiots, so I’m never gonna do that.

SLAM: So that’s why? You don’t want to get into it with followers?

CB: Sure, I don’t need that. One thing you have to learn when you’re in the limelight, no matter what you say, half the people like it and half the people gonna dislike it. So I choose not to get involved in that.

SLAM: How will you celebrate your birthday?

CB: I’ll probably just chill out with some friends. I’m not gonna do anything crazy.

The post Q+A: Charles Barkley appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

The clock struck noon on a Monday, signaling practice’s end. Most of the Houston Rockets, coaches included, peel off the hardwood in droves, headed toward the locker room, headed toward home. Many members of the Rockets make it there quickly, unbothered by the media contingent present. Others, like Jeremy Lin, don’t. When it comes to Lin, the media acts like he’s Justin Beiber and they’re the paparazzi: Everyone wants a photo or sound bite, no matter how bland it is.

Then there’s James Harden, Houston’s undeniable leader, still on the court hoisting up shots; still working on his game while everyone else is working on leaving. Far from being an unusual occurrence, this is commonplace for the fourth-year shooting guard.

Shot after shot after shot, alone on the court in a nearly empty gym, Harden pulls the trigger on his lefty J. As the shots rise, the balls spiral tightly in a perfect arc, until they kiss the net. Harden shoots from the top of the key—money. He moves to the left wing—money. To the right wing—money. Finally, he works both corners and baseline—cha-ching. With each shot attempt, he holds his form, following through and expending maximum lift and effort, as if there was a real defender with outstretched hands held aloft, trying to deny a jumper that’s wet as water.

If God is, as they say, in the details, then the practice court is James Harden’s chosen place of worship. The whole sports world laughed at (and still, to this day, laughs) at Allen Iverson’s rant about practice; James Harden doesn’t laugh, though, because there is nothing funny about preparation. His new franchise and teammates learned that immediately after his late October arrival, after his internet-shattering trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder, when the reigning Sixth Man of the Year told his new teammates to tuck in their jerseys so they could get to work. After all, as Harden sees it, success is about details, details, details.

“Most of the time, it’s the small things you have to pay attention to,” says Harden, the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft and a member of the 2012 Olympic team. “Tucking your jersey in and really focusing when Coach is talking, those are the small things that matter. We have to lock in, especially with us being a young team. We have to do all the small things because we have to build ourselves from the ground up, from scratch.”

When Harden finally finishes shooting for the day, he and a reporter sit in the dressing room adjacent to the players’ locker room. The questions and topics of conversation jump around like salmon leaping out of the water as they return to their spawning grounds.

His look is stark and jarring. From the beard, plumed magnanimously from his youngish face with the hubris of a lion’s mane (Beardsanity, Fear the Beard, it’s who he is now and it’s never coming off) to the mohawk, which coupled with his lush and bushy facial construct, peeks atop his dome, almost imperceptibly like a stylistic afterthought, it’s made for the court. Off it, he’s just a laid-back guy. Chill, mellow and prone to playing Madden and NBA2K. To talk of the bow ties and outrageously eccentric sport coats that show off Harden’s very own brand of swagger. After skipping around all these topics, what he ultimately settles on is an unexpected compliment.

After OKC’s 124-94 drubbing of the Rockets, Kevin Durant lobbed a few choice accolades reverently toward his “brother for life.”

“Nothing,” Durant says after being asked what surprises him about how well Harden has played in his new role as the go-to guy. “He’s scoring the ball, assisting, you know, doing all the stuff he did for us. He’s a great leader; he cares. If you have a guy that cares and wants his teammates to do well and he’s unselfish, the sky’s the limit. After he got traded, I just told him to go out there and be himself and that’s what he’s doing. Like I said, he’s a brother and I’m glad he’s doing well.”

Here’s the comment that leaves Harden nearly speechless: “I think he’s one of the top two shooting guards in the League,” Durant says. “There’s Kobe and him at the top. He’s playing phenomenal right now. I’m happy for him.”

“That’s a great compliment,” Harden says. It’s made extra special because, growing up in L.A., Harden was a huge fan of Bryant’s.

“Just to be in that same breath with Kobe…he has five Championships, MVPs and things like that. That’s a great compliment, but I just try to work hard and just play my part. There’s a lot of great shooting guards out there, a lot of great players in this League. What separates me is that I can make plays, but I’m not a point guard. I score the basketball but I wouldn’t label myself as just a scorer either. I’m just a complete basketball player as far as being able to help my team win even if I’m not scoring the ball well. I just try to go out and play hard and be consistent with everything I do.”

Long before he scored at least a 20-piece in 21 consecutive games (and counting as this issue went to press) and at least a 25-piece in 14 consecutive games, one more than Moses Malone’s previous record for the longest streak in franchise history, or before averaging 26.4 ppg (fourth-best in the L) through 39 games, an almost 10-point jump from last year’s 16.8, Harden was a 6-1 pudgy freshman with asthma at Artesia (CA) HS.

“Coming into high school, I always needed my inhaler,” Harden remembers. “When we ran miles, I couldn’t really breathe, it was bad [laughs]. I just started being more active, playing a lot more and grew out of it. In college, it came back a little bit, but now I’ve fully grown out of it.”

Consistency and work ethic were the pillars that drove Harden to wake up early every morning to catch the 6 a.m. bus from Compton to Lakewood to hit the court before class. They kept him focused on basketball and not the bad things happening in the city that sidetracked so many other kids. They allowed him to shake his reluctance to take over games and lead his squad to a 33-2 record in his senior year and a second straight state championship. After averaging 18.8 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.9 assists, the beardless Harden was named a Parade and McDonald’s All-American.

“The pivotal time for me as far as when I thought that I was good enough to make it to the NBA was probably my junior year of high school,” Harden says.

Harden points to his high school coach, Scott Pera, for “molding me into the player that I am,” but consistency and work ethic mean everything to him because they mean everything to the biggest influence in his life: his mother, Monja Willis, a single mom who raised Harden and two other children.

“One of the most important things I learned from my mother was just her work ethic,” says the 2009 consensus collegiate All-American and Pac-10 Player of the Year. “She don’t really do a lot of talking, she just shows it. She was basically a single parent raising me, my brother and my sister, working two jobs, being at all my games. She just got it done. No matter what it took. That work ethic rubbed off on me.”

That steely resolve Harden inherited helped prepare him for the added pressure that comes with becoming the go-to guy who recently signed a five-year, $80 million contract extension. It allowed him to hit the ground running, racking up an unprecedented 82 points in his first two outings with the team. It’s propelled him to be the player he always knew he could be, even before his whole world was undone by OKC and rebuilt in the same day by Houston.

“It’s a completely different role from what I was used to,” Harden says. “First of all, not only am I having the ball in my hand a lot more, but now I’m starting. So it’s been about getting adjusted to that and having a lot more responsibilities with the basketball. It’s my job to keep the defense on their toes. I have to be craftier because defenses are really loading up and keying in on me now. I’m the number-one option, so I have to make the right passes at all times. When I have an opportunity to attack, I gotta be aggressive. There can’t be any indecisiveness. That was the switch that I flipped when I came here, and I’m used to it now. I’m in a comfortable role and I know what to expect every single game, and I know how I need to play for us to be successful.”

Successful is an understatement; who’d have thought the Rockets would be sitting at 20-14 this early in the rebuilding process? It’s all a testament to the way Harden has stepped in and led his team with a calming charisma. He’s catapulted the team’s offense to a League-leading 106.24 points per with an artistic arsenal of Euro steps, balletic swoops and glides into the lane and an uncanny ability to get to the rim while leaving defenders perplexed in his wake. Plus, the guy has managed to weaponize the free throw to the tune of 10.3 FTAs per, an MJ-esque figure that hasn’t been topped by a wing since Allen Iverson in ’05-06. Simply put, the 6-5 southpaw is the star GM Daryl Morey’s been pinning for since the Yao Ming dynasty fell.

“Daryl Morey’s belief in me gave me all the confidence in the world leaving Oklahoma City, not knowing what to expect, not knowing what I was going to,” Harden says. “They just welcomed me right away, made me comfortable and said, ‘You got the keys. We running with you. We’re going to follow behind you.’ So I embraced being a leader. My discipline has to be on point at all times for my teammates. Leader is a new role for me, but with the work ethic that I bring every single day, whether it’s in practice, shootaround or in a game, my teammates can see that James Harden is always ready to go.”

All signs point to this being the year that Harden gets his first All-Star nod. And isn’t that fitting, getting the opportunity to play among the best in the League in his new backyard?

“Being an All-Star would definitely mean a lot to me,” Harden says. “It would mean a lot after being traded here and my first year making the All-Star Game. It would also mean that we’re turning things around here and building our chemistry. Like I said, we’re all young, too. But my goal is to make the Playoffs this year. I came from a similar situation where we were all young and we built and built to get better. During my first year there, we made the first round of the Playoffs. The second year, we made the Western Conference Finals. Then, last year, we made the Finals. So it’s like I’m starting all over again. But this time I’m in the driver’s seat, I’m the leader. And I’m trying to do something very special here.”

The post Driver’s Ed appeared first on SLAM.

A few minutes into the break between NBA TNT’s doubleheader of Lakers at Celtics and Bulls at Nuggets, Kenny Smith, 47, the former Houston Rockets point guard and current analyst for the network’s highest-rated show, Inside the NBA, known for being one of the best on-air personalities in the game and a tireless ambassador for all things basketball, hops on the phone with SLAM to do what he does best: talk hoops.

On the dais for your consideration is TNT’s extensive live NBA All-Star coverage that will feature the guys that flank the Jet on a nightly basis on the Emmy Award-winning show: Ernie Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Charles Barkley. This is the network’s 11th consecutive year bringing fans all of the marquee events live and direct from the NBA’s premier star-studded weekend, this year from Houston, the city that catapulted the Jamaica, Queens native into basketball lore, after his Game 1 performance in the 1995 NBA Finals against the Orlando Magic, where he made 7 three-pointers to help Houston win in overtime on the way to their second straight NBA title.

Kenny’s championship memories are alive and well when he thinks of going back to Clutch City, where he’ll act as the mayor emeritus of sorts, welcoming all of his NBA brethren and the celebrity glitterati to “his city” for All-Star Weekend. “It’s a basketball celebration, a celebration of former, present and future players,” he said. “It’s like all the trading cards are walking around in one city.” Kenny will be all-in, involved with copious amounts of events like celebrity golf tournaments and his annual Friday night party with Gentleman Jack at an undisclosed location and, of course, the 17-plus hours of NBA action TNT will broadcast live, including the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, in which he serves as the Commish, with Team Shaq and Team Chuck facing off. Get ready, Houston, it’s about to go down Kenny “the Jet” Smith style.

SLAM: The first half of the season—what are some things that stick out? Who are your players to watch?

Kenny Smith: There are a lot of teams that are getting better as the season goes along. Chicago and Denver. Gotta like that there’s teams that are getting better. I think overall, there are more teams instead of individuals this year. When you say ‘Who’s having a great season?’ you got to say more ‘this team is’ now more than you would say ‘this guy’ with the exception of Kevin Durant and LeBron. Those two guys are having exceptional seasons. But we get a lot of ‘this team is doing great.’ Look at the All-Star Game, you know, for every guy that made it, other than those two guys, there’s someone else on their team that you could say had a case to make All-Star. Golden State, Chicago for Boozer, you got a case. And some weren’t even the best on their teams at times.

SLAM: What do you think of the new point guard renaissance in the NBA?

KS: The point guard position, no matter if you’re playing a bad team, you gotta come ready to play. If you play the center position, you can say ‘OK ,I’m just better than this guy.’ But that point guard position is not like that. You playing against a 16-35 team, you playing against Kyrie Irving. You play against a 14-35 team, you playing against John Wall. You play against good players every night at that position.

SLAM: You played PG. How are points different now than when you played?

KS: I think they’re better players individually now. I think the only thing that made our generation better was we were more skilled. I think in the era that I played in, we made better decisions as point guards. Consistently across the board we were better at that position.

SLAM: Why is that?

KS: You can probably point to multiple things, but I think it’s because it was an older league and you couldn’t come in as a young player and look inexperienced.

SLAM: Big changes are coming: David Stern is leaving the game and Adam Silver is in. How do you think the League fares moving forward?

KS: I think the blueprint is already there. I think Adam Silver had a lot to do with everything, you know, behind the scenes. He was a big part of the consultation and the thought process for David Stern already, so I don’t think he’s gonna miss a beat.  And I think his useful energy will take it other places. Without question the League is in good hands.

SLAM: What players get your midseason awards? MVP? DPOY? ROY? MIP? Sixth Man?

KS: Oh, OK. We going deep, ain’t we? MVP? Kevin Durant right now edging out LeBron. DPOY? I think it’s won in the second half of the season when the games count. So that’s a tough one right now. ROY?  Damian Lillard. MIP? Tim Duncan. Last year he was just OK and he’s improved to me the most.

SLAM: So you don’t buy into the idea that you can’t be a star and then get the MIP award?

KS: I don’t believe in that. Steve Nash, the year he won the MVP, was the most improved player as well. Because he had been in the League eight years as just a good player and then he was the most improved player. Sixth Man? I’ma go with Jamal Crawford.

SLAM: You think KD will pass LeBron as the best player on the planet? And if so, when?

KS: I thought he would by now honestly. I said that three years ago. I think I said three years ago that in three years he’s gonna be the best player on the planet. You can look it up on YouTube. Charles and Chris Webber killed me. And I was like ‘OK, but watch.’ And now he’s the second best player. They were saying, ‘Are you kiddin’ me? He’s not gonna be the fifth or sixth best player.’ OK, now he’s number two. He’s not number one, but he’s got an opportunity to be close to that.

SLAM: Who is your sleeper team that’ll make noise in the Playoffs?

KS: The Denver Nuggets is always a team that’s like a maybe, with their effort and energy.

SLAM: The All-Star Game is in Houston.  What does that mean to you?

KS: A lot of fun. I have a lot of events to go to and do. My annual events that I normally do. On that Friday night, I have my staple Friday Night event. I see all my friends there. I got some great partners that came onboard with me: Sprint, VisiKard. I’m excited.

SLAM: Between all of the TNT coverage and your events, are you gonna get any sleep?

KS: Zero. None. 5-Hour Energy will be my friend.

SLAM: The Slam Dunk Contest has been weak as of late. You were in the dunk contest three times, even made the final against ‘Nique. Can the League get people excited about dunk contest again?

KS: I think this is gonna be one of the Top 10 dunk contests of all time. These guys are not known, but it’s kinda like if you told me to go find the Top 10 Dunkers in the world, I could get 10 guys you never heard of, but it would probably be the best dunk contest you’ve ever seen. These guys fall in that category.

SLAM: So you think they found the right contestants this time?

KS: I don’t think they found the right guys, I think it’s cyclical and this is a cycle where it’s on the upswing. These guys jump out the gym and they’ve been in dunk contests before, maybe not at this level, all of them, but they’ve been in them and they don’t need any props.

SLAM: So tell me what we can expect from your coverage of ASW?

KS: We got Charles he’s turning 50, so we got a big show on that. Just the normal things and just like what this weekend’s all about and insight. And we’re gonna continue to bring that.

SLAM: Why does the show work so well?

KS: We respect each other for who we are. We don’t try to put anybody in a box. We all try to create a box. It’s not ‘you talk then I talk,’ we have a conversation, just like we’re watching a game on the couch.

SLAM: You enjoy playing the straight guy next to Chuck?

KS: The funny thing is, before he got here, I was not the straight guy. I was a little loose and a little wild. But then he comes and put the kerosene on the fire. Ernie and I was kinda doing it and then all of a sudden, when Chuck came it exploded and I became the so-called straight guy.

SLAM: You ever going to convince Chuck to get on Twitter?

KS: He’s anti-Twitter right now.

SLAM: Team Shaq or Team Chuck?

KS: Team Shaq. With Kyrie and Lillard, they could get 30 apiece if they wanted to. This is gonna be a big loss for Chuck. And afterward, he’s gonna hear about it a lot.

SLAM: You’re a Houston guy. Where should people make sure they go in between the action?

KS: I’ll give you a break down. During the mornings, go to a breakfast place. As simple as it sounds, IHOP is a good breakfast place because it’s gonna be quick, fast and easy. Then you’re gonna have to hit Pappadeaux one time. You gotta hit Pappadeaux and you have to hit Carrabba’s. My man Johnny Carrabba’s always got it poppin’ in there. You gonna have to hit the Galleria Mall. You gotta hit that to get your gear right. You’re gonna have to hit Kenny Smith’s Friday night event. That’s invite-only. You gotta figure out a way to get in. You gotta figure out a way to get in (laughs). If you’re a girl, make sure you go get a babysitter, go get your hair done, go to Galleria to get the dress. You have to go. Saturday night you gotta go to the Bayou Center, it’s gonna be popping. That’s a must. You gotta go get the throwback Houston Astros and Houston Rockets hats. Fitted. Don’t go with the snap-backs on these. You gotta go with the old school ones.

SLAM: Anything you’d like to add before you rush off to talk Bulls vs Nuggets?

KS: I’m good…just make sure you get an invitation from my guy for a my party Friday night.

The post Q+A: Kenny Smith appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

People in Portland still talk about “the dunk.” It happened in Game 2 of the ’92 NBA Finals. After the defending Champs beat the Trail Blazers 122-89 in Game 1, Chicago Bulls’ fans felt the mano-a-mano between Michael Jordan and Clyde Drexler was a one-sided affair in favor of His Airness.

That awoke the sleeping giant. Clyde went into Over-Glide mode, punching the ball through the rim over Bill Cartwright with the same force as Iron Mike Tyson’s right cross. That posterizing jam was the turning point, allowing the Blazers to even the series at 1-1. The Bulls went on to win the chip in six games, but Portland never forgot about The Glide’s dunk, which is why, to this day, he remains one of the most popular players to ever lace ’em up in the City of Roses.

Mitchell & Ness recently paid homage to the high-flying Hall of Famer by releasing a throwback No. 22 jersey in the rare red, black and white colorway that Drexler wore during his rookie season in ’83-84. SLAM caught up with the former member of the ’92 US Olympic Dream Team to talk about jerseys, short shorts and fans.

SLAM: You dropped all the way to No. 14 in the ’83 Draft. Did that leave a chip on your shoulder?

Clyde Drexler: No. I was just happy and thankful to be drafted. It didn’t matter to me as long as I had the opportunity to pursue my dreams. All I wanted was to play in the NBA. Once you get there, it’s all up to you anyway, no matter how you get there.

SLAM: Were you happy to go to Portland?

CD: I think Portland has the strongest fan base in the NBA. When I went to Portland, it was like a college environment. It was probably the best thing for me. The organization was supportive and I had a great group of veterans around me. And Jack Ramsey was a great head coach.

SLAM: Mitchell & Ness recently released the throwback Blazers jersey you wore during your rookie season. What’s that mean to you?

CD: First of all, I think it’s a tremendous honor. Mitchell & Ness does a great job when they come out with the authentic jerseys and I’m honored to be a part of their latest promotion. And it’s quite an honor to my days as a Trail Blazer, which I loved.

SLAM: How long was it before Portland fans started wearing your jersey?

CD: It took a while because I held out of camp my rookie year and missed a lot of the plays and formation of the team Jack Ramsey put together. I was averaging like 10 minutes a game until the All-Star break. So I only got 10 minutes. No more, no less. Coach Ramsey said until you learn to play young man, you will not be effective in my system.

SLAM: What did you think about those short shorts you had to wear when you played?

CD: I loved the short shorts. We could actually run and do stuff in them. We didn’t have to pull them down and pull them back up all the time. I never had a problem with my shorts.

SLAM: What was your style back then?

CD: My style would be simple elegance. I wasn’t flashy.

SLAM: Do you feel like the NBA still needs a dress code?

CD: Most guys in the League are professionals and a lot of them love fashion. I don’t think we have a problem in basketball because guys make a lot of money and love to look good.

SLAM: Do you think you got your just due as a player?

CD: I’m not one to complain. Everywhere I go, fans always say, “When you played, I didn’t see nobody better.” So if that’s the consensus from the fans, it’s a great honor because the League was full of great players and to hear that there was nobody better, that’s a tremendous compliment.

SLAM: How do you grade your career as a whole?

CD: I wanted to be as good as I could be and I worked as hard as anybody whoever played this game, so if you look at my career from the very beginning, you’ll see the quest for excellence.

The post Johnny Blaze appeared first on SLAM.

The past year-plus has been very good for Kevin Hart. The diminutive comedian starred in his hugely successful comedy tour, film and DVD, Laugh at My Pain; co-starred in the hit movie, Think Like a Man; has a recurring role on one of the funniest shows on TV, Modern Family; hosted the MTV Movie Awards; and managed to outshine most of the NBA’s superstars during All-Star Weekend in Orlando. Fresh from stealing a win as player/coach against Ludacris in the rapper’s Celebrity Basketball Game over LudaDay Weekend in August, Hart sat down with SLAM to break it all down.

SLAM: How big of an NBA fan are you?

Kevin Hart: Huge. Even though they didn’t let me play, I’ve stayed loyal to the League and participated in their All-Star Weekends and I make it better. This coming year, I’m actually thinking about signing up for the Dunk Contest. I’m having them lower the rim for me. I think it’s a great idea.

SLAM: You’re from Philly. Are you a Sixers fan?

KH: I love the Sixers, but we lost one of our good guys, Lou Williams. Losing him pissed me off, but it’s actually better for his career; he’s home, he’s in Atlanta, he’s happy. But hopefully, with the trades we got, we actually put ourselves in a position to win some games this coming season. But yes, I’m a diehard Sixers fan. Diehard.

SLAM: You’ve made fun of Shaq, LeBron, DWade and Kobe. Have any of the players gotten mad at you for making fun of them?

KH: No, because they can’t mess with me when it comes to jokes. If I was a boxer, I would be undefeated. People expect that. They know that about me. They know that I’m quick, I’m witty and I’m funny. But at the same time, it’s all love. It’s all with people that I have relationships with, and I think that’s one thing about the NBA that I really do embrace. I literally know all those guys and they’re good friends of mine. I support them and in return they support me as well.

SLAM: NBA players have MVP awards and Championships. What’s the comedy milestone for you that signals you’ve made it?

Kevin H: When you look at the greats like Eddie Murphy, like Bill Cosby, you look at Martin Lawrence, Chris Rock; I can go down the list of people. Those men are looked at on a comedy pedestal. You know, Richard Pryor. They’re put on a pedestal, so when people talk and those names come up, I want to be a person who is mentioned along with those comedy greats. So for me to do that, I have to do a lot in my career, and right now there’s a lot more that I need to do.

SLAM: What does it feel like for you to have fans quote lines like “pineapples!” or “alright, alright, alriiiiight!” from your comedy special?

KH: It’s love. The thing is, it’s all support. Your fan base supports you the best way they know how and reciting your material, that’s their way of relating to you as a comedian. So it’s all love and it makes me smile, man. It lets me know that I’m doing the right thing.

SLAM: So what’s next for you?

KH: I have the Let Me Explain theatrical release coming, which I’m shooting in New York, and tons of movies. I got a lot of movies coming out next year. I’m taking over, so get ready to laugh.

The post Hart to Heart appeared first on SLAM.

When a player reaches double-digit years in the NBA, the substantiality of their professional career worth boils down to one simple equation:

career points + career rebounds + career assists ÷ Championships = legacy

As he enters his 10th season in the League, Dwyane Wade, who moves down one spot from last year’s No. 5 ranking to this year’s No. 6 ranking on our list, has his eyes on the legacy he’ll leave as a player in the L. Don’t believe it? Just look at his move from Jordan Brand, a sneaker built by his childhood hero, Michael Jordan, the man he patterned his game by, to little known sneaker outfit, Li-Ning. In a word, the whole move was all about his legacy.

And for all of his masterful, YouTube-worthy Euro steps, his blow by moves to the rack, his posterizing dunks over unsuspecting defenders—that means you, Anderson Varajeo, his crafty step back J’s, his unrelenting acrobatics in the lane, his in-your-face, sticky like fly paper, one-on-one defense, for Flash, it all comes down to the numbers he’s posted with the only team he’s ever suited up for: The Miami Heat.

Let’s do the math, shall we?

Over the course of nine years, Wade has amassed 14, 990 points, 3,020 rebounds and 3,697 assists over 596 career games (2,776 points, 619 rebounds and 586 assists over 110 career Playoff games). And for the cherry on top? Wade has 1,055 steals and 611 blocks (182 steals and 125 blocks in the postseason).

He has two Larry O’Brien trophies. One Finals MVP trophy. Eight All-Star appearances. And this can’t be overlooked, one free-agency coup de grâce.

To those that think it was mere coincidence that Chris Bosh and LeBron James defected to South Beach from Toronto and Cleveland, respectively, simply because of Pat Riley or, for the warm weather, know this: they went to the 305 for one reason and one reason only: to play with Dwyane Wade. Of the NBA’s most celebrated and hated triumvirate, Wade it its elder statesman. He’s the face. He’s the soul. He’s the OG. And all OGs know the ultimate key to everything athletes are seeking in the professional ranks. It’s the immutable truth. It’s the golden rule.

The path to greatness is along with others.

To those “experts” who would balk at such an idea, there is this undisputed fact: no one has ever done anything on their own. No one. Not MJ, not Magic, not Bird, not anyone.

So when the choices were laid out in front of him, like food à la carte on a buffet table at the Sizzler, who did the Chosen One choose to join on his way to erasing the gaping hole in life? What kingdom did King James choose to join to climb that last mountain to an NBA title?

Dwyane Wade’s kingdom.

That’s the ultimate arbiter in the curious case of DWade.

The numbers, they all count. And it matters that he’s missed games due to injury. As this season begins, he’ll be making his way back from his second surgery on the same knee. And it also matters that, unlike LBJ, he is on the other side of his prime. But even with all of that, Wade is still a top-five player in the NBA. Sure, he had to be bumped to No. 6 for this list, but for me, I can’t put him below No. 5A in my mind.

Need a big play? Call on Wade. Need someone to clear it out and hit the game-winner? Draw one up for Wade. Need a lockdown defender to shut down the other team’s top scorer? Turn Wade loose on him. In a League chockfull of stats and metrics and definable qualities by which to judge a player, Wade is indescribable. He’s in a class of his own.

And when it comes to taking the credit, he passes it onto his teammates. Ain’t that just like DWade? Word to Jay-Z.

And after 10 years of excellence, opulence, decadence (still on my Hov ish) at the two guard spot, Wade is still a competitive force of nature.

And although the Heat is LeBron’s team now, Wade is still the one everyone—you, me, the team, the fans, hell, even LBJ—relies on to finish the game.

Win it for us, DWade.

He’s still the one players come to for advice. If LeBron is the Commander-in-Chief, he’s still the Five-Star General. He’s the one who’s actually been to war. He’s still the one who brought Miami its first ever NBA title. Miami will forever be his house.

He’s Dwyane, not Dwayne. Even the way he spells his name makes more sense now to the good folks at Scripps than the way the Rock spells his.

Wade changed the game and the name.

Now, how’s that for a legacy?

[poll id=”481″]

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’12-13 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Maurice Bobb, Rodger Bohn, Brendan Bowers, Franklyn Calle, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Adam Figman, Eldon Khorshidi, Eddie Maisonet III, Ryne Nelson, Ben Osborne, Allen Powell II, Sam Rubenstein, Jonathan Santiago, Abe Schwadron, Leo Sepkowitz, Dave Spahn, Ben Taylor, Tzvi Twersky, Peter Walsh, Tracy Weissenberg, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Dave Zirin.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

The post Top 50: Dwyane Wade, no. 6 appeared first on SLAM.

A dunk is only worth two points.

For all of its bluster. For all of its authority. For all of its kinetic energy. For all of its rim rockin’, reckless abandon, it’s still only worth two points.

We’ve all heard this. We’ve heard it to the point that it’s a saying. We’ve heard it from European ballers. We’ve heard it from coaches, from opposing fans, from analysts, from posterized players. It’s only two points.

But there’s an even older saying. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it. It’s inflection. It’s body language. It’s the look. It’s tone. It’s subtext. Context.

Almost every player on an NBA roster can dunk. They have hops, they can elevate and even dunk in another player’s face. With authority. Lots of players can dunk, but they’re not saying the same thing as Blake Griffin we they do.

See when other players get open for a breakaway or a lob, you get excited, sure, but when Griffin does, there’s a catch in your throat, your heart skips a beat. Time literally stops. Because you know. You know what’s coming.

That’s the difference.

Blake Griffin is an artist and the rim is his canvas.

And no matter where we fall in the spectrum of basketball fan–diehard, unrepentant homer, stat troller, annoying front-runner, we are all mesmerized by Griffin’s aerial artistry. Even if you’re a stats geek. Even if you’re all about player efficiency and investigating a player’s PER, whatever the _____ that is (read: I know what it is, but I still don’t want to understand it). There’s something about what Griffin does in the air before he tattoos a rim that takes us all back to when we first wanted to dunk. When we demolished subpar mini goals that our parents bought us as kids or when we were too old to play on elementary school hoop courts but ventured there anyway because everyone could get “in the game” dunks on those eight foot goals.

Griffin brings all of that back to the surface.

And even if you never played or picked up a Spalding, Whoa! that Griffin is amazing to watch!

But here’s the rub: none of it matters if you don’t WIN.

And yeah, Griffin and the Los Angeles Clippers have already had that moment. You know, that moment of crossing the threshold. It was almost imperceptible but there was a moment, even before Chris Paul came to town. There was a moment that we all stopped laughing at the Clips.

And it wasn’t because of anything the owner Donald Sterling did. His basketball and racist missteps are the stuff of comedy legend. Still.

No.

It’s because of Griffin.

Now, if pressed, most people would haggle over when that moment happened, but they’d all agree it was somewhere around the time of the dunk.

You know, the dunk that turned Timofey Mozgov into a verb? From that moment forward, no one, and I mean no one, wanted to be “Mozgov’d.”

That was when we all took stock and stopped laughing. We started paying attention. That’s when we put Griffin on the map. And that’s why we put Griffin on this list.

But the reason why Griffin hasn’t budged much on this list, ranked in at No. 12, is the dunks to wins ratio. If Griffin was the pretty girl we were all going “ga-ga” over at school, we’re all finally at the point of looking past the beauty and we want to see more of what makes her special, like personality, intelligence, likeability.

That’s where we are with Blake.

“Where’s the substance to his game?”

Can he hit the mid-range J? Can we count of his footwork on the low post? When the games on the line and there’s no clear path to the rim for some PDA, can he deliver the game-winner?

For last year’s shortened season, Griffin averaged 20.7 ppg and 10.9 rpg while shooting 54 percent from the field. All Star numbers without question. And there’s no doubt that he’ll do those numbers or better this year. But here’s what it all comes down to and there’s just no getting around it: Griffin has to show us he’s more than the best dunker in the L. Griffin has to develop a consistent shot a la Karl Malone. He has to become a better defender. He has to make other players better.

And that’s where all of the “Kevin Love is a better power forward than Blake Griffin” arguers find purchase. Love does all the fundamentally sound things on the court that we can all appreciate. If Griffin can add those elements to his game, he can quiet of his detractors and they’ll be no stopping him. On the ground, in the air or otherwise.

[poll id=”473″]

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’12-13 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Maurice Bobb, Rodger Bohn, Brendan Bowers, Franklyn Calle, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Adam Figman, Eldon Khorshidi, Eddie Maisonet III, Ryne Nelson, Ben Osborne, Allen Powell II, Sam Rubenstein, Jonathan Santiago, Abe Schwadron, Leo Sepkowitz, Dave Spahn, Ben Taylor, Tzvi Twersky, Peter Walsh, Tracy Weissenberg, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Dave Zirin.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

The post Top 50: Blake Griffin, no. 12 appeared first on SLAM.

We fudged up.

There are efficiency metrics. There are statistical analytics. There are shooting percentages. There are field-goal percentages and advanced stats. There are copious amounts of data and other mindnumbing minutiae that ultimately help narrow the field and pinpoint who we, the SLAMonline Brain Trust, should or shouldn’t champion as one of the NBA’s elite for the upcoming season.

But even with all of that, even with all of our expertise, hours of DVR’d games on NBA League Pass and our collective appreciation of what it takes to be a star player in the L, sometimes, we just flat out get it wrong.

The fact that James Harden didn’t make this list last year is on us. Our bad. You may now guffaw and deride as you please. Enjoy it. Revel in it. We deserve it.

But you can’t blame us, can you? After all, more often than not, star players don’t hail from a team’s second unit. Top 50 players aren’t considered role players. Well, most of the time, that’s true—99 out of 100. But every now and then, there’s that one who comes along and does it.

John Havlicek did it. So did Kevin McHale. Vinnie Johson. Manu Ginobili does it with impunity.

So yeah, we botched it last year. We screwed the pooch. We dropped the ball.

But a lot can change in 365 days. Since being snubed, Harden went out and won the Sixth Man of the Year award, helped his team make the NBA Finals and topped it off by winning a Gold medal as a member of the United States Olympic Basketball Team.

This year, we know better. This year, we can see the writing on the wall.

We don’t just “Fear the Beard,” we “Revere the Beard.” We love the audacious nature of it, the way it pays homage to Mr. T and Rick Ross at once. No individual shtick struck more of a chord with NBA fans than the “Fear the Beard” movement, and with good reason. Everybody loves the beard; they marvel at the beard, they want their own beard, yada, yada, yada, everything with the beard. We get it. But there’s more to this Euro-Step maestro than his signature facial hair. Much more.

How that can be quantified by way of justification for a new max contract is relative, not only from a value standpoint but from a salary cap viewpoint, as it pertains to the Oklahoma City Thunder’s bottom line, and that’s somewhat besides the point for this discussion. But this can’t be disputed: If OKC has any hopes of usurping the Miami Heat as the best team in NBA, they need this silky smooth southpaw on the roster. They need his crafty forays into the lane. They need his off-the-charts instincts with the rock. They need his deadly mid-range game. They need that jumper that can be oh so wet from deep. They need those thunderous tomahawk dunks. They need the efficiency with which he initiates the offense. They need that steely competitive swag that comes through in the clutch during the waning minutes of the fourth quarter. If they want to make it back to the NBA Finals and win this go ‘round, they’ll need Harden’s 16.8 ppg, 4.1 rpg and 3.7 dimes a contest and all the intangibles that go unmarked in the stat sheet.

Here’s the point: James Harden just makes things better. He makes OKC better. He’s the icing on the cake. If you’re one of millions of comic book fanboys, he’s the Robin to Superman and Batman. He’s the difference maker. And as good as Harden was during his third year in the League—and whoa, was he good—he’s only going to get better.

This year, look for the man with the perfect porno name (James Harden? Tell me you didn’t think of numerous connections with that name and his ability to “penetrate”) to continue to drain three balls, mid-range Js and free throws, while executing pick-and-rolls and interior and perimeter passing better than Bob Cousy.

James Harden, the top-20 player. We got it right this time, didn’t we?

[poll id=”467″]

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’12-13 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Jake Appleman, Maurice Bobb, Rodger Bohn, Brendan Bowers, Franklyn Calle, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Adam Figman, Eldon Khorshidi, Eddie Maisonet III, Ryne Nelson, Ben Osborne, Allen Powell II, Sam Rubenstein, Jonathan Santiago, Abe Schwadron, Leo Sepkowitz, Dave Spahn, Ben Taylor, Tzvi Twersky, Peter Walsh, Tracy Weissenberg, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Dave Zirin.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

The post Top 50: James Harden, no. 20 appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

Jay-Z and Kanye West may “ball so hard” in their juggernaut anthem, “Ni**as In Paris,” but the real ballers are the streetball vets who lace ‘em up for the Quai 54, a storied streetball tournament held just a stone’s throw from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Now in its 10th year, the Jordan Brand sponsored tourney has cemented itself as the go-to event in Europe for hard-nosed, über-competitive hoops.

Last year, I attended France’s “beautiful expression of streetball culture” and recapped the event in KICKS 14. I was amazed. I was in awe. I was beside myself, not only with the locale, but with the level of competition, the organization and the entertainment. You’d expect almost any event in the City of Lights to be grandiose or étonnant and it was, but it was beyond my wildest expectations, so when I got the call to return, well, I couldn’t pack my bags fast enough.

This year, as an event partner, SLAM will broadcast the two-day elimination tournament here. So you won’t have to hear second hand about how Ray Allen lit up last year’s event with his deep ball prowess or how Brooklyn’s own Fabolous rocked the crowd with his litany of hits during halftime of the championship game. You can see it all for yourself, right down to the international teams from the United States, Japan, Latvia, Germany, the Netherlands, Canada, Guinea, Iran and France, the rap battles, the dance competition, the jaw-dropping women you’d expect in a city teeming with models and, of course, the slam dunk contest.  Last year’s winner had more hops than Blake Griffin on a pogo stick.

“You don’t want to miss this year’s Quai 54,” says event founder Hammadoun Sidibé, who started this event 10 years ago in the 54 Quai Michelet de Levallois in the suburbs of Paris. “This is the 10th event we’ve had and each year we try to do it bigger and better and this year will be no different. You will see teams from all over the world compete to see who is the best at streetball in the world. And you will see great entertainment throughout the weekend. People wait all year for the Quai 54. You will see everything Paris has to offer and I promise you that you won’t be disappointed with what you see.”

The live stream telecast will begin Saturday morning when the first game is played at 11 a.m. Eight games are scheduled for the first day, with entertainment such as a double dutch act, a French Rapper performance, the Clash Rap battle and the three-point contest interspersed throughout the day. Sunday’s telecast will begin at 10:30 a.m. for the first quarter final game. Seven games are scheduled, with the final championship game beginning at 8:05 p.m.

This year’s halftime entertainment is definitely an MC your familiar with, so make sure you stick around all the way to the championship game to see if the defending champs, the French squad La Relève, are able to defend their crown. And keep your eyes peeled for me in the throng of basketball aficionados posted up in the makeshift stands circling the blacktop in the Parc du Champ de Mars. I’ll be the one with a macaroon from Ladurée in one hand and an iPad loaded with Rosetta Stone for français in the other. Au revoir!

The post Quai 54 Preview appeared first on SLAM.

words Maurice Bobb | portraits/cover shot Trevor Paulhus

Sometimes, you have to swing for the fences. About a month ago, when thinking of story ideas for SLAM, I sent Ben a very simple email asking if he’d thought about featuring Anthony Davis? Of course, I thought a story on college basketball’s latest clear-cut future franchise player was already in the works. As it turned out, they were trying to land the shot-blocking sensation for the cover, but there were roadblocks to getting it done since he had no agent at the time (and still doesn’t—making him the last big-time prospect in this year’s Draft not to). I replied that I had a way to get in touch with Davis, and right away, I got a phone call from Mr. Osborne:

“You sure know how to get me to call you, don’t you?”

“Yes, Ben, I do”

From there, it was all about taking unorthodox channels to get to what would turn out to be one of our most coveted cover story subjects to date. At one point, I was to hear from Davis’ parents. After a long, worry-filled week of no response from the ‘rents, Ben and I began to get a tad bit nervous. The closing of the magazine was near and still, we didn’t have our cover subject locked in.

On about the last day we could set something up for this issue, I got a phone call from an unknown number. The area code was 312. Chicago. I snatched up the phone like it was a field mouse and I was a hawk swooping in for the kill. And wouldn’t you know it? It was Anthony himself, being gracious and understanding in helping us meet our deadline.

Now you have to understand, Davis is only 19, so when you’re betting everything on a 19-year-old’s word, without the benefit of an agent or handler, things can go off the rails in a flash because, to a man that age, things happen and they invariably do happen.

But like a smooth tactician on a hot streak in Vegas, we rolled the dice. I flew into Lexington the night before the scheduled shoot to get everything ready and woke up early to make the donuts.

As a writer who has covered sports and hip-hop extensively, I can tell you that celebrities are notoriously late to just about everything, especially photo shoots and interviews. In this game, there’s a whole lot of “hurry up and wait” before you wrap a shoot or interview.  That’s just the way it is. But right as the clock struck 9:30 a.m., which was our call time, in comes Ant. And this was the Friday before Memorial Day weekend to boot!

As our esteemed photographer Trevor Paulhus worked his magic, I observed Anthony. The thing that stood out to me was how humble he was. Here’s a kid who basically wore a Superman cape throughout the NCAA Tournament and actually saved Lois Lane and was a lock to go No. 1 in the 2012 NBA Draft and to look at him, you’d think he was just another kid on a college campus getting ready for the holiday weekend. And, there was no entourage. Just his buddy Will, who made sure Ant stayed on time for his flight to Oakland that afternoon.

Going into it, I knew all about Davis’ game-changing defense, fleet-footed athleticism and unshakeable poise, but that day, I saw something I hadn’t seen in a kid of his stature in a long time: appreciation. This kid really appreciates where he is in life. He appreciates the fact that he is on the cusp of his lifelong dream to be in the NBA. And after speaking to him and knowing what drives him, I understood why he never lost his cool when other teams tried to rattle him with hard fouls and other cheap tactics. I understood why, in the championship game, when he couldn’t buy a bucket, he locked in on defense, Windex’d the boards and secured Coach Cal’s first-ever National Championship. I understood this kid and I liked him. So much so, that when he dons a New Orleans Hornets uni next year, I’ll be cheering for him like a real Hornets fan with a beignet in one hand and a po’ boy in the other.

For my cover story on Davis, I just tried to keep it simple. I wanted to humanize him. Too often, reports on college kids are static and filled with stats or feats of strength on the parquet floor. What I wanted to do was delve into what makes this kid tick; what drives him; what it was like to sprout from 6-2 to 6-10 practically overnight and go from barely being on the radar to being the radar. With Anthony’s considerable help in the form of great answers to my questions, all that and more is in the ish.

Ed’s Note: Thanks for the perfect lead-in, Maurice. This was indeed a stressful but thrilling cover to pull off. And for all the people who asked after the first post how we did this shoot five days before the Lottery took place: We shot Anthony in gear from every single team in the Lottery. That, plus shooting him in Kentucky gear, took a good three hours, and as Maurice says, we are very grateful to Anthony for his time. All that said, an issue of SLAM is always much more than just a dope cover. What else is in this one? A feature on Kevin Garnett by the increasingly high-profile Lang Whitaker, an amazing Old School q+a with Tommy Heinsohn, a revealing piece on DeMarcus Cousins and all sorts of stuff to get you hyped for the summer season, including an extensive and photo-driven piece on the new film, Doin’ It In The Park. Start checking for the issue in New York today and in the rest of the country next week.—Ben Osborne

The post SLAM 160: On Sale Now! appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

When it comes to NBA All-Star Weekend and its events, there’s a natural order to things: The players play and the writers write. But thanks to Li-Ning, a China-based sneaker and athletic apparel company founded by Olympic medal-winning gymnast Li-Ning, basketball scribes, bloggers and sneakerheads got a chance to put down their pens and laptops for a moment and lace ’em up for the 2nd Annual Media Run Pickup Game at Celebration HS in Orlando.

The folks over at Li-Ning provided the “players” with full uniforms down to the socks. The idea was to have all the would-be ballers try out the new Turningpoint Year of the Dragon kicks, designed by brand spokesperson and NBA shooting guard Evan Turner, in-game situations, rather than just experience them via press kits with pictures in JPEG format to then compose reviews for their respective readers.

Speaking of which, the custom raised herringbone outsole and midsole technology of the Turningpoints created maximum traction for holding court and quicker directional changes, which proved to be highly necessary, especially for those of us who needed extra assistance making cuts or coming to a complete stop after building momentum barreling down the court for a bunny. The shoes were surprisingly nimble, provided great ankle support and came in a stylish black and red colorway.

Now, back to the game:

This year’s contest acknowledged the rich heritage of the Li-Ning brand by evoking the symbol of the Chinese Lunar New Year: The Water Dragon. The teams were divided into two elements: Kuang (Wild, unrestrained, fiery power) and Yi (calm, cool and collected).

The game, hosted by TV star Michael O’Malley (Glee and Shameless), proved to be more competitive than expected, with players having a hard time negotiating the restrictions of a 24-second shot clock and referees making calls against erstwhile moves to the cup that included hacking, traveling, double dribbles and/or moving picks. There was plenty of color commentary from O’Malley, lots of airballs and too many turnovers to count, but in the end, the game got interesting and competitive, coming down to the wire in the closing minutes. Brandon Smith led all scorers with 20 points and willed the Yi team to a 55-47 victory. Of course, SLAM was a member of team Yi because, let’s face it, all we do is win, win, win, no matter what.

Not only did Team Yi get the W, but they were also presented with a sizable, shiny trophy and on-going bragging rights that will linger and sting Team Kuang until next year’s contest in Houston.

Also, as an added bonus, future journalists were treated to some career advice by none other than ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, who shared his personal story of triumph in the field and cautioned the high schoolers about selling themselves short and settling (professionally) on just having “a job.”

“You don’t want a job because a job is just something that you do so you can pay your bills,” Smith said. “And not only that, it just wears on you because you know in your heart you’re not doing what it is that you want to do. If you don’t have a passion for what you do, every day is going to be like work. But if you pursue a career, obviously that involves doing what you wanted to do. When you’re doing something you wanted to do, the only time it feels like work is when you’re tired. It’s a helluva lot harder to be tired if you love what you do and are having fun doing it. If you send that message to kids at this young age, they should be able to get it and they should be able understand it because if they don’t, there’s a heavier price to pay that they can imagine.”

The post Li-Ning All-Star Media Run 2012 appeared first on SLAM.

Orlando may be Dwight Howard’s town, but that didn’t stop his Eastern Conference All Star teammate Dwyane Wade from putting on for the city this weekend with a slew of charity events inspired by President Barack Obama’s Fatherhood Initiative.

The Miami Heat guard started his 5^th Annual All-Star weekend off with Friday’s “Fatherhood Heroes” Roundtable Discussions event with special guests from the White House Office of Faith-Based & Neighborhood Partnerships and Office of Public Engagement, the “Work Hard, Play Hard” Rally, where Wade, along with his Wade’s World Foundation, unveiled two brand new basketball courts for Tangelo Park Elementary School and ended on a high note with yesterday’s All-Star Luncheon, which raised money to support the Tangelo Park Program, a community-based educational initiative to benefit children and families living in the Tangelo Park neighborhood in Orlando.

Flash hosted the luncheon with chairperson Harris Rosen (President & COO of Rosen Hotels & Resorts).

“Well you try to go into communities and look for someone doing great things in that community,” Wade said. “There’s so many to pick from but I think Mr. Rosen was the reason why we decided to do this with Tangelo Park. It’s because of all the great things he’s trying to do here.  I mean to much is given, much is required, and he has a lot and he’s given a lot, so we wanted to make sure we could come here and help.”

Also on hand to help people open their wallets with aplomb was Grammy Award-winning artist Estelle, who blessed those in attendance with her hit “American Boy.” And for those of who appreciate a crowd peppered with beautiful women, actress Gabrielle Union was on hand looking as if she’s just stepped off the red carpet.

Everyone was wearing their Sunday’s best, but it was the kids who shone the brightest, looking dapper and wearing megawatt smiles as their favorite athlete presented the check to the initiative.

“The biggest thing a kid can do for me is smile,” Wade said. “That’s what I love to see. I love to see the smiles on kids’ faces. That shows happiness. Especially when we do an event and we go out to Tangelo Park and you just see these kids just grinning with big smiles on their faces just to see you show up and be there.”

Wade’s appreciation for being the object of these kids adoration is more than just lip service. The Jordan Brand athlete remembers when he was a kid who longed for athletes to care enough to show up.

“I’ve been that kid before where I needed hope and I needed someone to show up and be there,” Wade said. “And to be able to come here and to leave something behind is priceless.”

So who did Wade want to meet when he was a kid?

“There’s a lot of celebrities I wanted to meet as a kid and I’ve gotten to meet most of them,” Wade said. “I always wanted to meet a Magic Johnson. I always wanted to meet Michael Jordan. And I wanted to meet winners like Bill Russell. It’s so many people and I’ve had the distinct pleasure to not only see them but have conversations with them and feel their presence and greatness so I’ve been blessed.”

The post Dwyane Wade Brings Charity Magic to Orlando appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

The NBA’s latest campaign boasts that BIG things are coming, but it doesn’t get any bigger than the reigning Mr. Olympia, Phil Heath. We caught up with The Gift himself for our Dime Drop in SLAM 154 and as is the case in most of these interviews, there was a lot left on the cutting room floor. Here, we’ll treat you to Heath’s Dime Drop interview as well as some of the other quotables that didn’t make it in the mag. And since we’re only a few days into the New Year, the tips the champ doled out for getting ripped may serve you well. If not, you can pass them on to Boris Diaw.

SLAM: So you won state in high school?

Phil Heath: Yes, Jamal and I won the state title together in ’98 in the Kingdome. That game is on YouTube now that I think about it. Those were some great times. In fact, I just saw on Twitter where someone asked Jamal, “What was your greatest basketball moment?” and he said, “Winning a state championship in 1998.” Jamal was a beast. He transferred to Rainer during my senior year. My numbers went down from like 16 ppg to like 12 ppg, but it was fun because we won. Guys would double Jamal when he’d penetrate, he’d kick it out to me and I’d knock it down. My three-point percentage was over 45 percent. Or I’d steal the ball and dunk it on the other end.

SLAM: You could dunk?

PH: Not only could I dunk, but I was also always our representative in high school slam-dunk contests. I could do 360 windmills and all kinds of cool dunks back then.

SLAM: A lot of guys came out of Rainer Beach.

PH: Oh yeah. Players that came in after me that made it to the League were Nate Robinson and Terrence Williams. Doug Christie played there, and when I was a freshman, Jason Terry was a senior at Franklin.

SLAM: Any of the guys clown you for ditching basketball for bodybuilding?

PH: Guys I know like Jamal and Chauncey Billups think it’s cool. Some guys will make fun of a bodybuilder real quick, but then dunk on somebody and flex their biceps. Where do you think they get that from? They get it from us.

SLAM: Who’s your team?

PH: I have season tickets to the Denver Nuggets, but to be honest, I just root for guys I know. No matter where Jamal and Nate play, I’ll be their No. 1 fan. I grew up a Sonics fan; I’m so pissed that we don’t have a team anymore, because Kevin Durant is such a beast.

SLAM: Which NBA players would make great bodybuilders?

PH: I’d say Dwight Howard, Tony Allen and LeBron James because you can see it. But best overall would be Nate Robinson.

SLAM: Do you still play?

PH: Occasionally, but I don’t dunk anymore. Wouldn’t be so smart when I’m carrying 270 pounds.

SLAM: What was it like to win your first Mr. Olympia title?

PH: For me it’s pretty cool because I never thought in a million years I’d be the best bodybuilder in the world when I was growing up, especially playing basketball. But it feels great to know that beyond reasonable doubt I am the best at what I do for a living and not a lot of people can say that. I mean, in basketball, it’s who’s the best point guard or who’s the best player in the NBA. Even when the MVP is still crowned, they still say this guy or that guy is still better. But when you’re Mr. Olympia, there is no one better. There have only been 13 Mr. Olympias in its 47-year span and during that same time period there have only been eight presidents so you see how unique that really is. So in a way, I’ve already made it to the bodybuilder Hall of Fame. I’ve already etched my name in history. And I’ve only begun my career; it’s just really getting started.

The post Dime Drop: Phil ‘The Gift’ Heath appeared first on SLAM.

Don’t worry, Dwyane Wade didn’t drop one spot in our rankings this year as some sort of penalty for his heated exchange with NBA Commissioner David Stern during the lockout meeting. In fact, we loved the passion. And no, Flash didn’t get bumped in the rankings because he didn’t win the 2011 NBA Championship as the ringleader of the highly favored Heatles. The reason he went from No. 4 last year to No. 5 this year is simple: One player got that much better and proved that he deserved a promotion into the Top 5. So as much as it pained us to do it, Wade had to acquiesce his position on this list.

But No. 5 is no consolation prize. Not by a long shot.

As a Top 5 player in the world, Wade still makes the grade as an elite player and superstar that a franchise can hang its hat on and here’s two key reasons why:

1. Wade is still an elite scorer.

With his poetic collection of stutter steps, swoops and glides, Wade gets to the basket at will, shaking opponents on D with that patented staccato footwork, slicing to the rim with the certainty of an object caught in a magnetic field’s line of force. The only player in recent memory who could match Flash’s ability to get to the rack, Allen Iverson, is no longer lacing ‘em up for the L. And when Miami needed buckets in the postseason, Wade got ‘em to the tune of 24.5 ppg, good for the sixth best average in the postseason.

2. Wade is still an elite defender.

We all know he was robbed of his rightful place on the NBA All Defensive First Team. Not only is Wade’s perimeter defense (on ball and off the ball) top notch, his ability to protect the rim is uncanny. Remember when he got all Alonzo Mourning on Dallas during the Finals and denied Tyson Chandler at the rim for a dunk? How many 6-4 guards you know that could do that? Not surprisingly, Wade averaged 1.1 blocks a contest all season and 1.3 during the postseason. Wade is also one of the best in the League at getting a steal when his team needs it most.

A two-way player with a maniacal killer instinct? That’s Wade. But if Wade is so great, why is he at the bottom of the top five?

Here’s where things get tricky.

While Wade is clearly the Alpha Male of the Heat, his own teammate, LeBron James, is considered the better individual player. Confusing? Of course it is.

This is easy to understand, though: During the ’11-12 season, James will further establish himself in Miami and Wade’s reign as the King of South Beach will begin to wane. How can we be so sure? It’s already happening.

After Flash allowed James and Chris Bosh to ride shotgun last year, his numbers took a small hit, dropping to 25.5 ppg down from 26.6 ppg and 4.6 apg down from 6.5 apg. And even though he jumped in field goal percentage to 50 percent from 47 percent the previous year and his rebounds jumped from 4.8 to 6.4, James led the team in all those same categories (except rebounding led by Bosh at a meager 8.3 per) and had a legitimate MVP caliber season.

Additionally, Wade has a long history of injuries and his penchant for journeying into the lane with reckless abandon doesn’t bode well for his long-term durability.

Still, I can’t think of any team that wouldn’t ride or die with a player who can single-handedly take over a game anytime he wants to when healthy. Seriously, Wade is a one-man wrecking crew. He can’t be stopped—when he’s healthy.

Dallas may have shocked the world last season for the title, but I’d bet the farm that Miami will be right back in the mix for the O’Brien trophy next season and Wade will be more than instrumental in making that happen.

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’11-12 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Maurice Bobb, Shannon Booher, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Jon Jaques, Eldon Khorshidi, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Quinn Peterson, Dave Schnur, Abe Schwadron, Dan Shapiro, Irv Soonachan, Todd Spehr, Tzvi Twersky, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Ben York.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

The post Top 50: Dwyane Wade, no. 5 appeared first on SLAM.

We waited a long time for this Dirk Nowitzki. It’s been 13 years since the Dallas Mavericks used their 9^th pick in the 1998 NBA Draft on a gangly, 7-footer from Wurzburg, Germany that captivated our basketball imaginations with an unprecedented ability to stroke it from deep, from 20, from 15, hell, from any-friggin’-where on the court, all while making it look like taking candy from a baby. This kid has the goods, we thought. So we endured. We shrugged off his romp through the Paul Mitchell hairstyle catalog. He’s European, that’s how they wear their hair, we explained. We let him off the hook for those early exits in the Playoffs because it was clear he didn’t have the help he needed to get over the hump. With the right pieces around him, he’ll get it done, we said.

Eight seasons in, it looked like our wait was over. Dirk started stomping with the big dogs and put the Mavs on his back all the way to the 2006 NBA Finals, taking a two-game lead in the series over Miami. Dallas has this in the bag, we thought.

But then, things fell apart like a soup sandwich. Dirk and Co. served up a meltdown for the ages. Four L’s in a row. It was Buffalo Bills-esque. And Dirk? He was Jim Kelly 2.0.  Persona non grata.

After that epic collapse, we hammered the German like he was a railroad spike. Worse, we did it with pingy, two-word jabs:

“He choked.”

“He’s soft.”

“Not clutch.”

“He’s European.”

It was open season on Dirk’s heart and mettle, so much so, that even Dwyane Wade took a swipe:

“He wasn’t the leader he’s supposed to be in the closing moments.”

So how did Dirk respond? He went back to the basics with trusted advisor/shooting coach/Yoda Holger Geschwinder and beasted his way to a monster MVP campaign in ’07. Dirkus Maximus was ready for redemption, we thought.

But then The Golden State Warriors happened. Ousted in the first round, Dirk was deflated, which was counterproductive, since we beat him up for his lack of clutchness repeatedly like he was a piñata draped in lederhosen. And rightfully so. He who wears the crown…

Fast forward to June 2011. It had been 13 years and change and yet, here we were, still waiting on Dirk to breakthrough. Difference was, we were no longer holding our breath. There were too many other superstars to root for: Kobe, Durant, ‘Melo, CP3, Wade, LeBron. It was never gonna happen for Dallas, not with their one-star constructed band of outcasts. Sure, they stayed winning in the regular season, but they’d never be “Charlie Sheen” in the postseason. We were sure of it.

But Mark Cuban knew. Jason Terry knew. Tyson Chandler knew. Dirk had been concocting unblockable, one-legged J’s with Geschwinder.  He’d been perfecting his iso game, his toughness, his clutch gene. He’d been demanding the ball in crunch time and delivering like FedEx. He’d developed into a bona fide leader. He’d finally become that Dirk. They all knew that we’d see it and believe. Again.

The final number was 582. Mathematically, 582 points doesn’t seem like much, but all those step-back, fadeaway jumpers, long balls from behind the arc and the 175 ice water free throws Dirk dropped on the Blazers, the Lakers, the Thunder and the Heat on the road to redemption were nothing short of extraordinary.

Those 24 straight freebies he drained on OKC in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals after he had every Thunder defender thrown at him futility jumping like schizoid Jack-in-the-Boxes to thwart his J? Ridiculous. The way he drained shot after shot with OKC’s collective hands across America in his face? He couldn’t stop, wouldn’t stop. And that 40-point outburst to fuel a furious 15-point comeback in the waning five minutes of Game 4 that included the up and under scoop shot that was a la Cirque du Soleil? Are you kidding me? And Game 2 of the NBA Finals? You could practically hear the theme song from “Rocky” as Dirk mounted an unforgettable comeback after “celebration gate” for the W, scoring the final nine points with 2:14 minutes remaining. That lefty spin move past Chris Bosh to the cup to seal the deal was better than any alley-oop or tomahawk dunk we’d seen all year. And just when you thought he couldn’t do it again, he went righty on Udonis Haslem for the deuce to win Game 4. The fact that he did all this with a torn tendon in his left middle finger and no legitimate All-Star sidekick will forever cement his legend in NBA Finals lore.

It was one man against the three-headed monster. Eff Jim Kelly, Dirk was now David, who’d slain Goliath.

Advantage Dirk. No choke. Not soft. Super clutch. First European to carry his team to a title as the undisputed anchor of said team. And as for being the leader he needed to be in the closing moments? Well, you can ask Wade how he feels about that now.

So after all of his postseason heroics, Dirk only moves up two spots from last year’s rankings to No. 7?

No. 7?

Somehow, the numbers don’t quite add up on that one. Dirk is the champ, the best player on the best team in the world. All roads next season have to go through him. But alas, this is about the upcoming season and what a player’s projected to do. We have no clue as to what Dirk will do for an encore to a perfect title run, but we’ll be right here, locked in, and waiting for another amazing performance.

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’11-12 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Maurice Bobb, Shannon Booher, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Jon Jaques, Eldon Khorshidi, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Quinn Peterson, Dave Schnur, Abe Schwadron, Dan Shapiro, Irv Soonachan, Todd Spehr, Tzvi Twersky, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Ben York.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

The post Top 50: Dirk Nowitzki, no. 7 appeared first on SLAM.

After watching him bend, contort, lean, writhe, slash, juke and Euro step his way to the basket like a whirling dervish for the deuce for lo these many years, I’m convinced: Manu Ginobili is some kind of magician.

How else could he knife through two, three and sometimes four defenders for that lefty tomahawk dunk? Or shake and bake his way past defenders for that patented step back J? Or cradle a Spalding around his back like a rock-a-bye-baby lullaby for another one of his WTF shots that kiss the glass with the kind of expert English reserved for pool hall hustlers? And who could forget the way he snatched a bat down midflight with his bare hands during a game?

Forget that he’s No. 28 on our list this year, Manu is friggin’ Houdini.

The icing on the cake was the corner jumper he nailed while falling out of bounds to stave off elimination in Game 5 against the Memphis Grizzlies during the first round of the 2010 NBA Playoffs. As the shot left his curled fingertips, it’s not hard to imagine him mouthing the word “Voila!” as the ball tinkled the twine to save the San Antonio Spurs’ playoff hopes.

And the crazy part? We’re immune to it all. We’re immune to his startling body control and Darwinian exploits into the lane. We’re spoiled by the Bahia Blanca, Argentina native’s feats of strength (Festivus for the rest of us!). We don’t flinch at the news that he plays full throttle despite a small fracture in his right arm. He’s an international wunderkind with the rock? Meh. He can beat you from anywhere on the floor? Yawn. We’ve watched the former Italian League MVP pull so many rabbits out of his hat that it only elicits a restrained Kanye shrug from fans when he goes all abracadabra on defenders.

For years, Ginobili has been tagged as underrated—which raises hackles for those who consider him overrated, but how can a player who has a Euro league title, an Italian league title, three NBA championship rings, an Olympic Gold medal, a Sixth Man of the Year Award and three nods as an NBA All Star be underrated? Truth be told, it’s just a case of perception. We see what we want to see.

We rely on Kobe, LeBron, Wade and Durant for our nightly “oohs” and “ahhs” on ESPN’s highlight reel, but the focus is seldom on the crafty two guard who slipped to the 57th pick in the 1999 draft. Ginobili drafted after the likes of Trajan Langdon, Frederick Weis and Jonathan Bender? Bet no one saw that blowing up in their face. And although he’s been reliable as HBO’s original programming with career averages of 15.3 ppg, 3.9 apg and 4 rpg, Ginobili continues to dwell in the shadows of the swiftness that is Tony Parker and, of course, the greatness that is Tim Duncan.

Obi Wan Ginobili’s numbers won’t raise any eyebrows either, but they have steadily increased for the last three years: 15.5 (’08), 16.5 (’09) and 17.4 ppg (’10). And at 4.9 dimes per contest the last two seasons, he’s almost as much of a distributor of the ball as the Frenchman.

With The Big Fundamental on the steady decline, Ginobili will have to steady the ship and serve as Coach Gregg Popovich’s key scoring option (he was the team’s leading scorer in the playoffs at 20.6 ppg) if the Spurs are to recover from being ousted in the first round last year. All he has to do is stay healthy, which is easier said than done considering his nagging injuries and penchant for taking no play off. Additionally, his ability to get into the teeth of the defense and space the floor will open up opportunities for burgeoning post man Dejuan Blair, sharpshooter Gary Neal and even Richard Jefferson, should he manage to find his long lost game during the lockout.

The Spurs have been consistently good this past decade, but let’s face it, this year, they’ll only go as far as Ginobili takes them. And if you think Manu doesn’t have enough tricks left up his sleeve to push San Antonio into the 2012 playoffs, get ready, cuz you ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

Notes
• Rankings are based solely on projected ’11-12 performance.
• Contributors to this list include: Maurice Bobb, Shannon Booher, David Cassilo, Bryan Crawford, Sandy Dover, Adam Figman, Jon Jaques, Eldon Khorshidi, Ryne Nelson, Doobie Okon, Ben Osborne, Quinn Peterson, Dave Schnur, Abe Schwadron, Dan Shapiro, Irv Soonachan, Todd Spehr, Tzvi Twersky, Yaron Weitzman, DeMarco Williams and Ben York.
• Want more of the SLAMonline Top 50? Check out the archive.

The post Top 50: Manu Ginobili, no. 28 appeared first on SLAM.

With the realization that the NBA Lockout may be lingering on like an apathetic brother-in-law on your sofa, players have taken to the streets, literally, by playing in various streetball tournaments and games to keep their skills sharp, and well, because they flat out love to ball.

We brought you as much coverage as the law allows of the Goodman League, the Drew League and every other contest involving a Spalding. Now we’re proud to announce that good friend Rochelle Brown and her V Firm PR, along with NBAer Marquis Daniels, will be hosting their own fall league, The Southern Hospitality Showcase, to fill in the gaps of basketball action until David Stern and the gang gets it together.

The league’s first game will be played in Atlanta on September 30 and will include Daniels, Jason Terry, Kendrick Perkins, Nate Robinson, Josh Howard, John Wall, Damien Wilkins, Jeff Teague, Al Harrington, Stephen Jackson, Josh Selby, Trey and Travis Thompkins, JJ Hickson and Rajon Rondo. Additional names to be released later.

World renowned DJ Irie will be on the 1s and 2s, and there will be a special halftime music performance courtesy of Def Jam Recordings. Victory H2O, Def Jam, The Cube Lounge, C9 For Champions (Exclusively for Target), Q6 Entertainment and Grey Goose will sponsor the contest with proceeds benefiting Morehouse Athletics, Sickle Cell Research and the American Heart Association.

The event will be held at Morehouse College’s Forbes Arena. Doors open at 6 p.m. Game starts at 8 p.m. There will be an after-event immediately following at Compound Atlanta from 10 p.m.-4 a.m.

The post Southern Hospitality Showcase Kicks Off in Atlanta appeared first on SLAM.

Originally published in KICKS 14

by Maurice Bobb / @reesereport

On a sweltering June morning in Paris, a provisional blacktop bedecked with the Jordan Brand logo under each basket sizzled as if it were a skillet prepped for frying bacon. The scene was the Trocadéro, which crowns the Chaillot Hill and offers a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tower. The event was the most known unknown streetball tournament in the world, Quai 54. About to open the doors to the public, Quai 54’s founder, Hammadoun Sidibe, instructs his retinue as they let in thousands of fans that had been waiting since 4 a.m. to take part in the hip-hop hoops spectacle. Not too many years ago, before Quai 54, the Entertainer’s Basketball Classic at Rucker Park was every streetball fiends’ summer hooptopia. But now, in its fourth straight year with the backing of Michael Jordan’s shoe empire, the international tournament with modest beginnings at 54 Quai Michelet de Levallois in the suburbs of Paris has become the juggernaut of street basketball in Europe.

“Jordan Brand looked at it as an opportunity to help take the game of basketball global as well as show the rest of the world that the brand was going global,” says Gentry Humphrey, GM of Jordan Brand International. “It was a natural thing to do and I think the partnership has been great and every year we’ve tried to up our game a little bit. I think when you take a look at where we are today, it’s going be hard to top next year, but we’ll see.”

The synergy between Jordan Brand and Quai 54 has vaulted the one-of-a-kind event to the next level. The only tournament to ever get its own custom Jordan Brand shoe, the two-day Quai 54 is now a platform for players who are getting the opportunity to double as tastemakers.

“This year is special for me because of the people, the event, the Eiffel Tower location and to be able to have our own special shoe,” says Sidibe. “It’s a Jordan V Retro, a classic with a special colorway just for us. The great thing is Jordan Brand had a great vision for the Quai 54. They saw what we did with the international teams and decided that they have business in all of those countries…They drive us in a good way and we drive them in a good way. I am very proud to be sponsored by them. I want them to sponsor us forever.”

Over the course of two days, streetball legends and pro ballers on 16 teams from all over the globe—the Netherlands, Belgium, Japan, Latvia, Canada and the US, among others—donned custom Jordan Brand uniforms and Quai 54-exclusive, limited edition Air Jordan V Retro and Jordan Iso II kicks to play in an elimination-style competition.

“We partnered up with Foot Locker Europe’s House of Hoops and created a special outdoor shoe for this event called the Iso II,” explains Humphrey. “Three years ago, we introduced the first theme where we tried to combine the sport of basketball along with something that represents Paris: The Wine and Grind. We did the elements of fine wines with the grind of the basketball court and we did two shoes for that event. The second year we introduced the Air Jordan I and we had this burst of color that was kind of a big influence with it and we did that with an outdoor basketball shoe. This year, we came up with the theme of the blending of two worlds…The colors are bright and we applied that to two shoes: the outdoor basketball shoe in black and green and then the Air Jordan V in a special black and green. Usually, we don’t do any Retros for special events, but because we have a big focus in this particular tournament, we decided to introduce Retros in this event.”

The legendary Air Jordan V Retro has a classic premium tumbled black leather upper with luminous green accents on the lace tabs and outsole. The Jumpman adorns the tongue and back of the shoe, as per usual, and has the Quai 54 logo embroidered on the side. Unsurprisingly, these hard-to-find Jordans have sneakerheads foaming at the mouth.

“This year for the Retro V, we only offered it in the white base all throughout Europe, that’s it,” says Humphrey. “Then we did a limited edition version in black and green and we only did 54 pair, for Quai 54 players as well as special guests of Quai 54 and influencers within the Jordan Brand. So unless you buy them online or from a special store in Europe, you can’t get these in the US.”

Shoes laced and tightened, legions of basketball enthusiasts sardined into the venue as the first jump ball of the 2011 Quai 54 was tossed into the baking Parisian sky. As the players played and the fans cheered, a 13-year-old named Ibrahim refereed. Diminutive and skinny, the impish ref, Q-Tipped with a fresh pair of true blue Air Jordan IIIs, doled out fouls and charges like a young Steve Javie. The games were played under FIBA rules and one motto: Bring Your Game, Not Your Name.

“This tournament started out in the hood,” says Nhamo Shire, founder of the famed Midnight Madness tournament in England. “Look at the genesis of Quai 54 over the last five years. You’ve got teams now coming in from Japan, China and now it’s truly global and people have the awareness of this tournament on a global level. The brand awareness is through the roof. The swag is on a million right now, it’s ridiculous. It’s come from humble but authentic beginnings. It wasn’t about putting on a tournament to floss, it was about competition. It’s just that right timing, right place and Jordan Brand jumped on it because it’s like a boutique brand, and Paris is like a boutique city, and so I think those combinations just exploded.”

Shire reiterates that Quai 54 is about a lot more than basketball and sneaks, though. “You have the basketball here, obviously, but you’ll see the dancing, the MC-ing, double dutch, all the elements of our culture that is now mainstream. We never had that in Europe, so it’s a big thing.”

The post French Bliss appeared first on SLAM.

Originally published in SLAM 151

by Maurice Bobb / @reesereport

It was fitting, really. Clad in a white silk shirt tied into a knot above his navel and a leopard print scarf draped over a brown leather vest, Dennis Rodman entered the 2011 Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame press conference. The man known on the court for collecting wins, bruises and bundles of rebounds—and off the court for dating Madonna, marrying Carmen Electra, rockin’ a kaleidoscope range of dyed hair and halter tops and boas—never changed for anybody. Never stopped pushing the envelope. Never stopped living by his own set of rules. Not for David Stern. Not for Michael Jordan. Not even for the Hall of Fame.

“This [being elected into the Hall of Fame] represents the fact that they looked past all the negativity,” says a 50-year-old Rodman. “It’s them saying, ‘He actually changed the game a little bit. He changed the way guys rebound, changed the way people played defense, changed the way people look at the game, approach the game.’ I wasn’t a good scorer. I wasn’t the best athlete. I never tried to get everybody looking at me.”

No? That’s funny, because everybody tuned in to see the Dennis Rodman Show—reality TV before there was reality TV. A vast legion of fans cheered the infectious, fist-pumping enthusiasm and antics exhibited when Rodman played. And they watched—though they didn’t necessarily cheer—when, midway through his career, the undersized power forward hid his skin in a menagerie of tattoos, piercings and dyes.

At that point, around 1992 or so, Rodman himself says he was no longer an athlete; he was an entertainer. And his immense basketball acumen almost got lost in that. Almost.

Pound for pound, rebound for rebound, loose ball for loose ball, the L had never seen a player quite like The Worm; a competitor who had the will to do what others wouldn’t at the expense of his body.

Rodman’s gazelle-like sprints up and down the court were picturesque. The way he seized those 11,954 career rebounds with that little something extra was as poetic as a Gil Scott-Heron verse over a J Dilla beat. The way he mind-fucked cats while D-ing them up was Bill Duke from Menace II Society epic. Whether playing hungover, drunk or sober, Dennis the Menace was always one with the rock.

By the time his 14-season career was all said and done, on an individual level, Rodman’s balls-out effort had netted him seven First-Team All-Defensive selections, seven consecutive NBA rebounding titles and two Defensive Player of the Year awards. On a team tip, all Worm did was win, win, win. A member of two dynasties—he won two rings with the Bad Boys Pistons and three with Jordan’s Bulls—Rodman played with such pizzazz that he transcended the third-fiddle status he occupied on those championship teams. Just ask those he battled against.

“I think the world of Dennis Rodman. I always have,” says Karl Malone, whose Utah Jazz lost to Rodman and the Bulls in back-to-back Finals. “It is no doubt in my mind that Dennis Rodman should be in the Hall of Fame. It’s no doubt. He got my vote. You look at what that young man did on the basketball court. He should be in the Hall of Fame. Print that. Anybody don’t like it, tell ’em to come see me.”

No one from the HOF committee had to go see The Mailman. While the actual voting remains a mystery, Rodman is a member of the 2011 Class, which will be inducted in Springfield on August 12. We recently caught up with Dennis about what it all means to him.

SLAM: First of all, congratulations on making the Hall of Fame.

DENNIS RODMAN: Thanks.

SLAM: Did you ever doubt your chances of getting in?

DR: The way I am, I felt that I wouldn’t get in. I just figured they’d say, “Dennis, you do too many things off the court that doesn’t represent us or the Hall of Fame.” And I didn’t take offense to it. I just said, OK, whatever. I had a great time, I had a great career, I won everywhere I went, but I didn’t expect it.

SLAM: Has it sunk in yet?

DR: It still feels like a joke. Honestly, I thought it was a joke. My agent called and said, “Dennis, they thinking about putting you in the Hall of Fame.” Then I got another phone call from Detroit and they said, “We’re gonna retire your number,” and next thing you know my agent called and said, “Dennis, you’ve been elected to the Hall of Fame, but keep it on the down low.” I was like, “You’re kidding, right?” It was the day I had to go to Detroit to get my number retired, and it’s ironic because the day I go get my number retired is April 1. April Fool’s Day. That’s why I thought it was a joke.

SLAM: What about when it settles in—will you be happy that you made it?

DR: Yes, this ranks up there fairly high. I never even dreamed of this, being in the Hall of Fame, being an All-Star in the League. I did my job, had fun entertaining the crowds, so as far as this right here, this is more like I’m just trying to soak it all in for my kids who never seen me play, especially for my son. This is all for you, bro. I’ve done my job and did it very well. I hope you’ll be proud of me.

SLAM: What feels better: this or winning a Championship?

DR: This is probably the same as winning a Championship. You happy you in. I can go live my life again. You can’t take it back. It’s there to stay.

SLAM: You almost seem dismissive about what you’ve accomplished.

DR: I’m actually trying to put basketball behind me. I’ve done it. I love it, but now I’m moving on to other things. I can always look back and say, “Hey, I’ve done it. I was one of the best in the world.” I can’t talk about basketball all my life, because my life has moved on and transitioned into something else. I have my own app with GetintheGame.com on teaching rebounding and defense techniques. I’m a celebrity DJ all over the world with my partner DJ Vic Latino in Ibiza, Madrid, St. Tropez and Tokyo, Japan. It’s all on dennisrodman.com. But I can appreciate this for now, and after that I can lay it to rest. It’s all there for people to see and there’s nothing else to say.

SLAM: How does a kid from South Oak Cliff, Dallas, make it all the way to the HOF?

DR: When you live in that environment and you [have] less than nothing to live for or just nothing to even gain in the environment and living off food stamps and stuff like that, I could have easily been dead or in jail. For some good reason, I never did partake in that. I looked at it, ran out the door, ran to the gym every day. I just started playing basketball—that was my outlet. I don’t know what drew me to do that every day ’cause I easily could have taken the wrong road.

SLAM: Did you ever have a favorite stat of yours?

DR: No, I played every game like it was my last. I played hard. I played hard, man. I just wanted to win, win, win.

The post The Worm’s Turn appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @ReeseReport

The NBA Lockout has every hoops fan up in arms, especially after a season where the excitement and action was at an all-time high thanks to a storybook post season that may have been one of the most engaging in years. Some players are spending their time doing odd jobs, others are all over Twitter planking, owling and all other manner of questionable public interaction, others seek out contracts with the rebound chick—European teams, and then there are those players, like Marquis Daniels, that shift the focus to those that need it most: the less fortunate.

This weekend, Daniels’ Q6 Foundation, a non-profit organization that focuses on giving back to underprivileged children, will hold its 5th Anniversary Celebrity Foundation Giving Back for Good Weekend in his hometown of Orlando.

“Giving back to my community is one of the most important things in my life,” says Daniels. “Especially here in Orlando. This is the place that helped me get to where I am in life. The lockout is definitely a tough situation, especially with me coming off an injury. But in times like these, we’ve got to stay together as a unit and fight for what is right.”

And since it’s such a great cause, we at SLAM decided to put our hands in the cookie jar and co-host the Winter Wonderland in July event this Saturday night at the Mercedes Benz Lounge at the Amway Center.

Kelly Rowland, ex-member of Destiny’s Child, will also host the event that will bring out such NBA stars as Tony Allen, Josh Howard, Josh Powell, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady and Rajon Rondo.

“Who else but Kelly Rowland would give everybody ‘motivation’?” says Daniels. “This will be an event you really don’t wanna miss.”

The weekend will begin tonight with the Annual Champions Dinner and Reception at the Peabody Hotel honoring Arizona Cardinals’ Pro Bowler Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Honorary French Consul for Central Florida Brigitte Dagot, Children in Education Manager for the City of Orlando Brenda March and Journalist for the Orlando Sentinel Shannon Owens.

Before Saturday night’s main event, the celebs will take to the field at Edgewater High School for the Celebrity Kickball Challenge.

“When I was growing up, kickball was my favorite thing to do,” says Daniels. “I think it’ll bring the kid back in everybody and the kids will get an opportunity to hit their favorite celebrities with the ball.”

As always, SLAM will be on the red carpet and bring you exclusive pictures of everyone who came out to be seen.

For more information on the Q6 Foundation, please log onto www.Q6foundation.org.

The post Marquis Daniels’ 5th Annual Celebrity Foundation Weekend appeared first on SLAM.

When you go on a magical Playoff run and win an NBA championship like we just did, it’s all about celebrations: parties with the Larry O’Brien on South Beach with rogue Miami Heatles in Club Liv; award media tours on shows like ESPN’s PTI; reading the Top 10 List on David Letterman; parades on the owner’s dime; and even drunken bouts of public intoxication in tees emblazoned with subtle messages like “How’s My Dirk Taste?”

But after the confetti settles and the last of the “fans” have gone back to their menial existences, it’s time to get back to basketball business, not the least of which is getting better as a team to compete with all the teams that are now on your arse to knock you off the mountaintop. But like Jay and ‘Ye said, Watch the Throne, because we’re makin’ moves, power moves that is.

First order of business? Coming up roses with our late first-round pick. Yeah, we know, this draft is the equivalent of finding a pet rock on the gravely road behind your grandmother’s house in the country, but hey, stranger things have happened, right? Manu Ginobili was drafted 57th overall in 1999, Monta Ellis 40th overall in ‘05, Carlos Boozer 35th overall in ’02 and Gibert Arenas—pre-Onyx throw ya guns in the air—was one helluva steal at 31st overall in ’01.

At this point, all of the front-runners are wearing their spankin’ new team fitteds, but Cubes, Donnie Nelson and our draft “experts” have been mining draft analysis reports, watching pre-draft workouts and crunching stats while eating ungodly amounts of Weiner Schnitzel and we’ve come to this:

With the 26th pick of the 2011 SLAMonline Mock Draft, the Dallas Mavs select…

Donatas Motiejunas of Benetton Treviso (Italy) by way of Lithuania.

Sorry Josh Selby, we thought long and hard about taking you off the board with this pick, but when an athletic, potential mismatch-scoring 7-footer falls in your lap like this, you take him every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

The knock on this kid is that he stays away from contact and has deficiencies as a defender, rebounder and competitor. But let’s be honest, you won’t find a kid coming out of college this year that doesn’t have these kinds of flaws.

What we like about this smooth-shooting lefty is his mix of size, length and agility. Standing 7 feet and weighing in at 222 pounds, this forward/center runs the floor well, has excellent hands around the basket and has a very effective pick-and-pop game. Jason Kidd and JJ Barea will make this kid shine like new money. We can just hear Mike Breen call this kid’s feathery shot as it falls now, “Bang!”

Then there’s his lethal face-up game and ability to take cats to the rack off the dribble. Remember, I just said this kid is a 7-footer. How many 7-footers outside of our own Dirk Nowitzki do you know that can cross you and drop a J in your grill? And he’ll only get better going at it with The German in practice.

Analysts say Motiejunas underwhelmed at the adidas Eurocamp when he was Sir Brick-A-Lot, but word has it that his subpar shooting came on the heels of an intense weight lifting session. He faired much better in a later workout albeit with a much smaller audience. Plus, while playing with Benetton Treviso, Italy’s top division, he averaged 12.4 ppg on 58% field goal shooting while playing 23 minutes per. We all know individual workouts pale in comparison to actual competition, right?

With Nowitzki and Brian “The White Debo” Cardinal getting older and Brendan Haywood having the offensive acumen of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s Sandy Lyle character from “Along Came Polly,” we can use this kind of scoring punch from a big coming off the pine.

And hey, how often do you get a chance as an NBA franchise to out-Euro the San Antonio Spurs?

Motiejunas is a long shot, as is any pick outside of the lottery, but with a little time and guidance, he may end up being a steal of felonious proportions.

The post Mock: Donatas Motiejunas, 26 appeared first on SLAM.

Like we always do at this time…

Game 4 of the 2011 NBA Finals is upon us here in the Big D and Adam Figman and I are once again in the trenches to give, give, give, give it all we got.  As I spew every interesting facet of this contest between the 2-1 series leading Miami Heat and the “must win Game 4” Dallas Mavs, A Fig will be holding down the SLAM Twitter at @SLAMonline for your RT-ing pleasure.

As always, the side stories to this series are all over the place.  First, there’s LeBron James and his supposed legacy killing deferment to Dwyane Wade in the fourth quarter.  It’s not enough to win a championship.  No, not for LBJ.  He has to be the Finals MVP to live up to who Scottie Pippen built him up to be and who NBA fans want him to be.

Then there’s Jason Terry.  After getting called out by Dirk Nowitzki earlier today for his less than clutch play, look for The JET to try to get off the runway. It may be tough, though, since turbulence stands at 6’8, 250 pounds.

If the Mavs don’t win this game, everyone will say what they’re already thinking, but were afraid to say out loud: This series is over.

Strap up NBA Fans, this one should be one for the books.

7:04 – Word has it that JJ Barea will be replacing DeShawn Stevenson in the starting lineup tonight.  If so, that’s a clear sign that Dallas wants to attack Miami right out of the gate.

7:15 – New Golden State Warriors Head Coach Mark Jackson just said to put in bold letters that the Warriors will make the playoffs next year.  Mama, there goes that…wishful thinking?

7:34 – Mavs just took to the court for layup drills.  Naturally, the fans on hand applauded.

7:35 – Heat came out to the disapproval of the fans.  I think I heard a couple of cheers, though.  Maybe it’s your boy Eboy.

7:41 – Adam and I had our row to ourselves Sunday night, except for Rachel Nichols sitting with us for a brief spell.  Now our row is full with guys speaking Spanish from media outlets I’ve never heard of.  As long as they don’t say “Pinche” I’m good.  Ha!

7:51 – Both teams lined up for National Anthem and Starting Line Up announcements.

7:53 – Kelly Clarkson singing the anthem.  Good choice.

7:56 – Mavs spared no expense for their starting line up announcement.  Video on jumbotron is really high quality.

8:05 – Game time!  Who you got?  Mavs?  Heat?  Let’s get it!

8:07 – First basket of the game?  Dirk Nowitzki.

8:08 – Second basket of the game?  Dirk Nowitzki.  Mavs up 4-0.

8:09 – Chris Bosh finally gets the Heat on the board with 9:31 to go in the First Qtr.

8:11 – And the Oscar goes to… Mike Bibby!

8:12 – Bosh ties it at 6 with less than 7 minutes left in the 1st.

8:13 – Jason Terry checks into the game for the first time tonight.  Will the JET get off the runway?

8:19 – Tyson Chandler brings the ruckus on a dunk.  Mavs up 12-8.

8:20 – The Custodian misses a three ball and commits a turnover.  Sub!

8:21 – JET with a WTF shot that goes in.  Bosh draws foul on Chandler on the other end.

8:23 – JET lines up for a three and drains it.  Maybe The German should call him out more in the media.

8:28 – That look JET threw Mario Chalmer’s way had a very “whoop yo ass” vibe to it.

8:30 – Brendan Haywood back!

8:31 – I’ll say this for Chalmers: he brought a lot of that rock chalk Jayhawk fire with him to Miami.

8:33 – JET missed both gimmies.  Not a good sign.

8:33 – Seriously, the instant replay is going to get one of these refs hurt badly.

8: 35 – Cardinal back in?  Ok, did Corey Brewer piss in Carlisle’s Cheerios?

8:36 – End of the First Quarter.  Score tied at 21.

8:37 – Fans shooting half court shots for a big screen TV.  Two of them actually hit ’em.  Will the televisions be on eBay tomorrow?

8:40 – Bosh is the first player to double figures with 10.  In other news, Barea is shooting worse than a drunk guy playing Pop a Shot.

8:46 – Haslem has 3 fouls already.

8:48 – Bosh with the uppies.

8:49 – Bosh has 14 points.  Only player on the court in double figs.

8:54 – Stevenson with another three ball.

Sidenote: You can almost see the desire Terry has to please Big Brother Dirk out there.

8:59 – Dallas retakes the lead: 38-34.

9:02 – Nice dish to Anthony by LeBron for the duece!

9:03 – D. Wade with the nice English on the lay up.  I would hate to play him in pool.

9:05 – Fans here in Big D extra amped after watching “The Time Is Now” vid on the Jumbotron.  Troy Aikman, Tony Dorsett, Emmitt Smith and Nolan Ryan all featured.

9:08 – Wade joins Bosh in double figures.  He has 13.

9:11 – End of the first half.  Heat up 47-45.

9:35 – Mavs take 49-47 lead on Barea pull up J.

9:36 – Apparently, Dirk has a three-digit temperature.  Flu game flow?

9:37 – LeBron really not himself so far.  Has three fouls now.

9:38 – Bosh doesn’t like lil JJ.

9:39 – Great acting job by Bosh to get that foul call.  He has 20 after a couple of freebies.

9:42 – Can’t wait to see what Gregg Doyle asks LeBron at tonight’s presser.

9:43 – Damn, D. Wade, that was just NASTY!

9:45 – I need a replay of that Wade cross.  That was filthy McNasty!

9:47 – LeBron has 4 points right now.  FOUR points.

9:50 – The Custodian a Bosh Stopper?

9:51 – First miss for The German at the charity stripe in these Finals.

9:56 – Nice try, Brian Cardinal, but you don’t get those calls vs. LeBron.

9:58 – Wade with the uppies for an alley.  Nix “The Flash” nickname, Wade…you’re Batman.

10:02 – End of the 3rd.  Heat up 69-65.

10:03 – The Maniacs, Mavs’ rotund dancers, shakin’ their girth to delight of home crowd.

10:05 – Last 12 minutes of action.  Who wants it more?

10:06 – Dirk with the shooter’s bounce to start the fourth.

10:08 – Mike Miller, cashing three point checks.

10:09 – Carlisle wants a breather.  Heat off to a 9 point lead.  Adjustments, adjustments, adjustments…

10:12 – Terry for two.

10:13 – Terry, with the near celebration in front of the Heat bench.

10:16 – Wade back.

10:17 – Wade is killin’ ’em like F-A-B-O-L-O-U-S.

10:19 – DENIED by the rim!

10:20 – Mavs literally fighting for their LIFE right now.

10:22 – Can’t believe Mavs are even close with the way Wade is playing.

10:23 – And JET gives Mavs their first lead in a LONG time.  79-78.

4:36 left to play.  This is superstar makin’ time!

Sidenote No. 2: Dallas has some serious Bettys.  Damn.

10:30 – Dirk missing wide open looks.  No bueno para Big D.

10:32 – Dirk to the line.  He could use the breather.

10:35 – HUGE rebound by Chandler.

10:36 – Wade missed the last FT.  82-81 Mavs.

10:39 – The crowd is crazy loud right now for their Mavs.

10:39 – Now THAT was CLUTCH!!!

10:41 – Can the Mavs hold?

10:42 – Mavs up 84-83.  Playing not to lose?

10:43 – Terry can meet Dirk’s media challenge with these two FTs.

10:44 – Mavs up 86-83.  Ain’t nobody got no timeouts left.

10:47 – That’s it SLAM Fam.  Mavs win Game 4 86-83.  As always, thanks for rocking with us.

10:46 – Mavs hold on to win Game 4 86-83.  Terry answers the call to finish with 17 points.

The post NBA Finals Game 4 Live Blog appeared first on SLAM.

Day 3 in the Big D and the mood around town is fairly upbeat after the Dallas Mavs came up short in the 88-86 Game 3 loss to the Miami Heat. Adam Figman and I were on the front lines last night live-blogging and Tweeting the play-by-play and gave you as much of a behind the scenes look as we legally could.

It was an exciting game, especially in the fourth quarter, with Chris Bosh, fresh off a mean eye-jammie, draining the go-ahead, wide-open J, and Dirk Nowitzki coming oh so close to tying it up with a contested fall away jumper with four seconds left to play.  Don’t lie, no matter which team you were rooting for, you held your breath thinking the German was going to send it into overtime.

The entertainment didn’t stop there, though.  Down in the media interview room, CBS Sports writer Gregg Doyle got his literary blank handed to him by LeBron James when he asked him about his “shrinking in the moment.” James proceeded to chide him about only reading the offensive stats on the stat sheet, gave him a little refresher course on the merits of defense, and told him to go back, look at the game footage to see what he did defensively and come back with a better question tomorrow.

Before picking his face up off the interview room floor, Doyle ran out with his tail between his legs faster than Usain Bolt in the final stretch of the 100 meters. Not surprisingly, the Internets were abuzz with ridicule for the smooth-domed scribe for his questionable “question.” His column deriding James left much to be desired because he really didn’t offer substantive evidence to support his LeBron shrinkage argument and he heard about it.

Funny moment number two was Dirk’s comment, “It stinks in here,” when he was entering the room for his presser. It was inadvertently heard by all, even in TV land. To be fair, it was hot as a sweatshop in that room. Way too many members of the media were crammed into that tiny space and after all that perspiration and what I’m guessing was a lack of hygiene on the part of some, it must have reeked of pits and deadline pressure.

Additionally, to be right there in the room when Dirk is about to come in, it’s even more hilarious to see the presser helpers put the prominently displayed Gatorade under the table before the German comes in. As he’s stated many times, the makers of the famous energy drink do not cut him any checks.

After a long day and night, Adam and I both left American Airlines Center to live and write another day.

Today, I got a late start and besides this post, I have deadlines weighing on my back like a fat full monkey. Since I’m fastly becoming quite the Hamburglar with my appreciation of IN-N-Out Burger and Five Guys, I figured I’d head to Dallas’ supposed hamburger heaven, Braums. Maybe my standards are too high and I’ve become a bourgeois member of the Burger Illuminati, but Braums only got a “Meh” review from me.

Back to basketball.

Game 4 is tomorrow and everyone is saying all the things you’d expect them to.

The Coaches postgame:

“It’s just one,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “We’re not going to make it more than what it is.  We have two wins under our belt.  We have to try to be greedy and get another one.  But there isn’t going to be anything easy that comes in this series for either team.  After Game 2, that’s so far out of our mind at this point.  It’s all about the win or the loss.  It doesn’t matter.  Even this, it’s not a good win; it’s not a bad win.  It’s a win.  We have to move on and we have to try to get the next one.”

“It’s very difficult playing from behind all the time,” said Mavs coach Rick Carlisle. “We’re going to have to play more efficiently.  We’re going to have to get the ball in the basket more.  And overall we’re going to have to play a better game.”

The Players:

“We have to be a little sharper at the beginning (Game 4) and not let them (Wade and LBJ) get their rhythm,” Dirk said.  “I thought the crowd pushed us forward.  So we’re going to need the same effort out of them.  It’s a must-win situation.”

“Obviously, it’s a great road win,” Wade said.  “We got three games in a row here, so it’s good to get the first one.  Personally, I moved on from this win already.  I feel like we did nothing but get home-court advantage back.  But the next game is a big game.  We have to bring our hard hats, understanding it’s going to be tougher to win that game than it was to win this one.  I believe in this team.  If anyone can do it, I believe we can.”

The Pundits:

“The Mavs need more from Terry,” said ESPN Heat Index writer Brian Windhorst.  “When he gets his shots those have got to go down.  When he’s open he’s got to make them.  They need more from Barea and they need more from Terry.  But they’re right there.  History suggests that the series is over but the game suggests that it’s not.  The Heat keep letting Dallas back in and that’s a concern.  They are 2 or 3 minutes of bad basketball from being 3-0 in this series.”

“Miami is forcing their will on Dallas,” said former NBA player Bruce Bowen.  “With the youth and athleticism of Miami and how they’re closing out to the shooters, Dallas is no longer getting those shots that they’ve gotten throughout the playoffs.”

And, of course:

“Maybe LeBron James isn’t a superstar,” Doyel wrote.  “If the 2011 NBA Finals were the only games I had seen him play, that would be my conclusion.”

Regardless of who speaks on this series, ultimately, Dallas has to get other guys going in the offense and execute better ball management in their offense if they want to even the series tomorrow.  For Miami, they are hoping Bosh’s eye won’t bother him and that Haslem continues to do work on Dirk.  The Heat smell blood in the water and they’re on it like Jaws.

Game 4 goes down tomorrow. Adam will be manning the SLAM Twitter and I’ll be live-blogging the action.  See ya then.

The post 2011 NBA Finals Day 7 appeared first on SLAM.

So I woke up with the roosters this morning and took out a second mortgage to fill up my gas tank to drive the 200 miles to Dallas to cover all things NBA Finals for you, The SLAM Mag La Familia. Sure, it’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it, right?

And after killing hundreds of bugs with my windshield and three hours of “quiet time” thinking about, among other things, the NSFW pics of Blake Lively that leaked on the Internets last week, I arrived in Dallas to pick up my media credentials and immediately made a beeline into American Airlines Center for the Mavs/Heat media availability.

First up was Coach Rick Carlisle, who, even in person, looks so much like Jim Carrey, I found myself waiting for him to bust out an impromptu Fire Marshall Bill impersonation: “Lemme show ya sumthin’!”

The central theme of questions aimed at the Mavs Head Coach was his game plan for Game 3.

“We haven’t played a great game yet and neither has Miami,” Carlisle said. “It’s very unusual to win a game the way we did in Game 2. That kind of template is not going to hold up in this series long-term. We want to keep these guys off the foul line. There are a lot of situations I wish we would send them to the foul line and not allow them to go up and tear the rim down with dunks. That’s hard. The thing is if he (LeBron) gets to the launching pad and he gets that kind of force going, even if you foul him, he’s going to finish. So the situations where you try to keep him from getting to that launching area. When he and Wade get to it, they’re ridiculously great.”

Launching pad? Even when Carlisle’s not trying to be funny, he is.

Next up was Jason Terry, who detailed the inner workings of his relationship with Dirk Nowitzki.

“It’s a brotherly relationship,” Terry said. “And it’s something that has grown through our tough times we have grown closer together. Obviously, when I first came here, I was supposed to be the one replacing his best friend, Steve Nash and a lot was made of that. All in all, we’ve come and grown together.”

The criticism from the German is another story.

“Yeah, it’s funny, when we first started out, he was brutal. He was brutally honest to a point, and I took it hard. Because I didn’t have that coming from a losing situation in Atlanta. Guys didn’t really hold each other accountable. But when it’s coming from a guy that’s your leader, it means a lot. You take it to heart. And then you go out and try to do something about it. And vice versa, if I see something I don’t like with Dirk, I say, ‘Hey, big fella, we need you to get that rebound’.”

Dirkus Maximus had a somewhat different viewpoint on the relationship.

“We have kind of a love-hate relationship. It is, it is. Because we ride each other a lot. We talk to each other a lot. We argue a lot, even during games, but it’s all because we want to win. And for us he’s been phenomenal. He’s been our closer over the last couple of years. A great clutch player. Like I said, we love each other, but we also argue a lot.”

Of course, the huge, game-winning move came up, again.

“On that last move, I spun and I expected somebody to be there and there wasn’t,” Nowitzki said. “So I was able to get to the left and get to the basket. That was a big play. If there would have been somebody there, I would have had to pass to somebody and hopefully let the weak side make a shot.”

…and the finger.

“The finger is really good. Got to keep it straight. It was throbbing a little bit after the game the other night, but I guess that’s normal. And it’s going to be OK. Once the adrenaline always starts flowing during the game, I think I’m OK.”

Side note: There was a lot of German media—presumably here to cover Dirk—surrounding me in the media workroom speaking German. It was like being in that “Sprockets” skit from Saturday Night Live.

Coach Erik Spoelstra invaded our space and still had to defend “Celebration Gate.”

“We’re viewed in a different way than most teams. We have enthusiastic guys, excitable players. I would certainly rather have that than a bunch of zombies out there.”

Zombies? Well at least if LeBron and Wade were zombies, the Mavs could “double tap” them with a double-barrel shotgun to eliminate them like in that movie “Zombieland.”

I was able to tackle the guy with the boom mic to ask LeBron James a question and it went a little something like this:

“LeBron, you’ve taken on the challenge of guarding Jason Terry to a lot of effectiveness. There’s been a lot of speculation that you will step up and take on the challenge of guarding Dirk. Have you and the team talked about that and possibly adding that to your defensive game plan?”

Scintillating, huh?

“Obviously, we look at it as we have enough guys not only can guard Jason Terry and guard Dirk,” James said. “It’s a team thing. It’s not LeBron versus Shawn Marion, LeBron versus Dirk Nowitzki or LeBron versus JT or DeShawn Stevenson versus Dwyane Wade. It’s not about that. It’s about the team. Even though you have a 1-on-1 match-up on the court, there’s a team defense that’s put behind it. So if I get caught on him, it’s not like I’m playing him one-on-one. We have a team defense and guys help each other. That’s how you become successful in this league by being able to have a back line behind you. When you guard someone as great as Dirk or as great as JT is, you have to have a back line. It’s never one-on-one. It’s not a one-on-one thing. We get caught up on the 1-on-1 match-ups a lot. There’s always a defense that behind it.”

Of course, LBJ also had to answer questions about his celebration:

The best answer from Wade’s presser came when he was asked about the extra day between Games 2 and 3.

“It just makes it worse,” Wade said. “As competitors, we could have went in the locker room, got some Gatorade and came out and played again for the mistakes we made.”

Both teams looked good on the practice court and both teams seemed sure that their game plan for Game 3 would prevail.

You can bet that after getting pummeled in the final seven minutes of Game 2, the Heat are coming out and throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the Mavs and already have clearance to take flight from the “launching pad.” And you can probably wager a few Benjamin Franklins on them not repeating the defensive lapses that allowed the Mavs to go on that incredible 22-5 comeback run.

On the other side of the ball, Dallas will have to line the players’ hands with Crazy Glue to keep from turning the ball over so much (20 turnovers in Game 2).

And what’s with JJ Barea? It’s like Miami has taken out the Puerto Rican Pest with RAID bug spray or something.

The Mavs need his pesky dribble penetration and expert pick-and-roll play if they want to avoid digging the same kind of offensive hole they were in for the first 89 minutes of this series. Brendan Haywood remains questionable for Game 3, so Tyson Chandler will have to find a way to be aggressive while protecting the rim and not get into foul trouble if they want to capitalize on their home court.

Tip off is over 24 hours away from this writing, so I’m going to take a page from Dez Bryant’s book and go to Northpark Mall, pants saggin’ and see what happens.

I keed, I keed…

I guess I’ll go strap on the feedbag and hang out with a few friends who are also in town covering the NBA Finals.

Adam Figman and I will be tag-teaming coverage of Game 3 right here, so be sure to log in and comment away like you always do at this time…

The post 2011 Finals Shift to Dallas appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @reesereport

At the 2011 NBA BBVA All-Star Celebrity Game in Los Angeles, currently svelte Jenny Craig spokesman Jason Alexander was an afterthought compared to pop sensation Justin Bieber, who took home the MVP hardware for his efforts. Costanza might’ve made the Tiger Beat poster boy lick toxic envelopes for hogging all the glory, but the actor did the opposite, congratulating Biebs and relishing in the fact that all of the women in attendance, including Rick Fox’s scorching hot girlfriend, Eliza Dushku, “wanted him for his fantastic new body.” We caught up with the erstwhile latex salesman from Vandelay Industries to talk about the Knicks, Bieber and how he’d have rained threes on Scottie Pippen if he’d been allowed to suit up.

SLAM: You were an assistant coach for this year’s Celeb Game. Why weren’t you playing?

Jason Alexander: I’m waiting to be called on to the court right now [laughs]. No, I didn’t play because I didn’t want to embarrass Scottie Pippen. I own the three-point jumper. He’s got nothing on me. I am wearing a uniform under my outfit, only because I heard the cheerleaders were more likely to pull a player into the back room and I wanted to be ready to make that move if need be.

SLAM: OK, would George Costanza play?

JA: George would have no place here. First of all, this is not his sport. Baseball is George’s sport. He’ll always be a Yankee [laughs]. This coaching thing is fun. We had an extensive one-and-a-half minute speech before the game. Bill Walton won’t stop asking for my advice. I’ve never seen such an insecure guy. But what I wanna know is where the fuck is Jack Nicholson? Isn’t this his town? I was expecting him to be courtside.

SLAM: What are your thoughts on Justin Bieber’s basketball skills?

JA: Bieber’s a chucker. I’m going back to my Seinfeld references. He’s a chucker. He’s throwing up a lot of “Hope to God” chucks. But I gotta tell ya, the little son of a gun has some moves, huh? He’s fast, he can shoot and I think he’s a little bit of a surprise to everybody. And US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan? I’m very impressed with him. He can play.

SLAM: Well, he was co-captain of the basketball team at Harvard and plays ball with President Obama on the regular.

JA: I did not know that. Wow.

SLAM: You grew up in New York. Were you a big Knicks fan?

JA: I’ll tell you what’s interesting: My uncle used to direct television for the Mets, Knicks and Ranger games, and I was an avid fan as a kid. I was at all the games back in the ’70s when it was all about Willis Reed, Earl Monroe and those guys. I burned out on it, though. By the time I went to college, I was like “I don’t wanna see any of it anymore.” So I haven’t followed a team and I haven’t followed a sport. I’m so out of it now. I don’t know who’s who anymore.

SLAM: Well, I’m sure you’re aware the Knicks are back now that they have some big-time players again.

JA: You know what? New York is a great sports town and all you gotta do is give us a handful of good players and the energy of the town sweeps through the team. I actually haven’t been to a Knick game live since MJ was playing, how about that? But if the Knicks are exciting again like they were with Reed and The Pearl, I may have to finally get out to one again.

The post Dime Drop: Summer of George appeared first on SLAM.

It all comes down to this: The Big Guy, UConn, against the little guy, Butler, for the 2011 NCAA National Championship.  CBS doesn’t like the matchup and the casual fan/Vegas degenerate gambler doesn’t like the pairing either.  But for the rest of us, it’s all about competition and the chance to see a mid-major topple a Big East powerhouse.  All signs point to a UConn runaway W, but it would be wise to not count out the Bulldogs.  They made it all the way back to the title game after falling to Duke last year.  They are hungry and they want revenge.  The only thing standing in their way is Coach Jim Calhoun and his Bob Cousy Award-winning PG, Kemba Walker.  If Jeremy Lamb plays to his ability, it could be a long evening for Butler.  But Shelvin Mack and Matt Howard will most certainly bring their “A” game.  Look for them to neutralize UConn’s big two and give those rooting for the underdog something to scream about.

No. 3 UConn Huskies vs No. 8 Butler Bulldogs

Starting Lineups:

Butler

Shelvin Mack – G

Shawn Vanzant – G

Chase Stigall – G

Matt Howard – F

Andrew Smith – C

UConn

Jeremy Lamb – G/F

Kemba Walker – G

Tyler Olander – F

Roscoe Smith – F

Alex Oriakhi – F/C

Here’s something that strikes me immediately as I look out into the crowd: there are a lot of empty seats.  I think the bulk of tickets went to majors like Kentucky, with VCU coming in second or third.  Hopefully, people are just grabbing popcorn and it really is full in here.  Makes for a better game that way.

LeAnn Rimes for the National Anthem.  She killed it.  Nice!

Shelvin Mack gets the loudest applauses of the Butler squad.  That sounds about right.  Kemba Walker hears it from the UConn contingent.  Little known fact about Kemba: He will graduate this May after only three years on campus.  He’s killin’ it on the court and in the classroom.

And here we go.  UConn controls the tip.

Butler for three!  Oriakhi answers on the other end.  Butler is falling in love with the three.  That may be their downfall.

Neither team able to get it going offensively.  And just as I typed that, Howard drains a triple.

Kemba and Mack are both scoreless right now.  And as I typed that, Kemba goes for back to back buckets with a possible And-1.

Napier on the court early.  Calhoun wants Kemba to break wide open.

Interesting fact: This is the 2900th all-time game in the NCAA Tournament.

Kemba’s making his way to the scorer’s table to check back in.  Bad forced shot by Kemba.  Mack still has no scored for Butler.  He’s back in the game now.  Let’s see if he can get it going.

Very bad pass or great defense?  You make the call…

That free throw was Mack’s first point of the game.

That was a LONG three ball for Stigall.

Obviously, Stigall has the green light to shoot it from deep.

Mack with a long triple of his own.  Is he about to turn up the heat?

Wow.  There’s only 3:49 left to play in the first half and it’s tied at 19.  Not a very high scoring affair thus far.  We need this game to open up.

Really like Napier’s game.  He’s only going to get better.

That was a long bomb by Mack to end the first half.  Butler up 22-19 at the half.  Be back in 20.

Ok, I’m awake now, I guess.  Let’s hope this is a better half of basketball.

That was Lamb’s first two points of the game.  This is the wrong game for Silence of the Lamb…

Kemba with the nice step back deuce.  Lamb finally ends the drought and nails a triple.  UConn up 26-25.

Napier with the momentum killing turnover there…

Kemba with the missed opp for a three-point play.  He’ll shoot two.

This game has definitely been a snoozer.  There’s something to be said for the Big Conference schools.  At least they bring some excitement.

Mack needs to get more touches if Butler wants to get the W.  Lamb gets the ONLY dunk of this game so far on that fastbreak.  UConn leads it 31-26.

Butler has gone ice cold.  UConn leads it 33-26.

Nice block!  Shabazz at the FT line.

Lamb has 11 points right now.  Lamb goin’ H.A.M.

Nice layup for Kemba.  They are up by 11 now with 10:05 left to play.

UConn is controlling the boards right now.  Butler is in trouble.  With 6:49 left to play, it’s UConn up by 13.

Butler crowd erupts on that put back.  Oriakhi with the two-hander and the foul.  UConn still up by 13 with 5:49 to go.

Howard to the FT line to shoot two.  Will this get him going?  Will it get Butler going?  Vanzant gets the three ball to go.  UConn by 11.

UConn’s interior defense is stifling right now.  And Butler can’t buy a bucket or a rebound.

UConn is looking to run down the clock.

Mack for three.  UConn still up by 11 with 1:50 left to play.  Another three ball by Mack.  Butler within 8 with 1:31 to go.

UConn playing “keep away” now.

Kemba steps to the line and sinks both FTs.  UConn up by 12.

That’s it people.  UConn is your 2011 National Champion.  Win 53-41.

The post NCAA Championship Live Blog appeared first on SLAM.

Here we go folks.  It’s Final Four time here in Houston.  The Reliant Arena is rockin’ and the fans are electric.  You haven’t experienced sports until you’ve experienced a Final Four firsthand.  The fans are rabid and the noise reaches levels no one can measure.  Can’t be here in person?  No worries, SLAM is here to keep you informed and on the ball.  The battle of the Cinderellas is upon us: VCU vs. Butler.  CBS didn’t want them for money reasons, but the underdog lover in us all want to see the little guy get their due.

I may be running on fumes from our party last night (pics and post will be up later), but I’m here and I’m representing.  Come along with me and share your thoughts on every play, match-up, egregious foul call, eye-popping play and genius and not-so-genius plays drawn by the coaches.  We want to hear it all.  So buckle up college hoops fans, here, we, Go!

No. 11 VCU Rams vs. No. 8 Butler Bulldogs

Both teams are out on the court warming up.  From the looks of it, there are an equal amount of VCU and Butler fans on hand to take in the action.  No one hates either team, but most of the pundits I’ve spoken with here like my man Steve Smith of NBATV and Sheryl Swoops are riding with VCU and Shaka.  Let’s see if he can, in fact, Shaka the World!

Starting Lineups:

VCU

Joey Rodriguez – G

Bradford Burgess – G

Ed Nixon – G

Jamie Skeen – F

D.J. Haley – C

Butler

Shelvin Mack – G

Shawn Vanzant – G

Chase Stigall – G

Matt Howard – F

Andrew Smith – C

Houston native Yolanda Adams was a great choice for the National Anthem.

Huge cheers for Coach Shaka Smart of VCU.  Well deserved.  They weren’t given a lot of credit, but they have fought and slayed Goliath to be here. Clap for ’em.

Butler’s fans are going wild for their squad.  Back-to-Back Final Four appearances for the little team that could out of Indiana.  Coach Stevens is hard not to root for.  This is one of those unfortunate situations where one of the heralded “underdogs” have to go home after the last buzzer sounds.

And here we go.  VCU wins the tip.

Two point basket for Shelvin Mack.  Don’t let him get hot!

Correction that was a three.

Snakes eyes on both attempts so far for VCU.

Another bucket for Mack.  As I said, you don’t want him to heat up early.

OK. VCU on the board with a triple by Burgess.  Butler up 5-3.

Now Skeen is on the board with a triple.  VCU up 6-5.

Wow!  That’s three 3-pointers by VCU.  They take a 9-5 lead with 16:16 left.

This is a battle between two very smart coaches.  Skeen with a up and under for two.  VCU up by 6.

Timeout on the court.  VCU has a four point advantage thus far.

Skeen shooting two at the line.  He misses the first and swishes the second.

How big has Skeen been for VCU since Larry Sanders left?

Another three for Burgess.  I think he might be goin’ “Microwave” this game.

Howard at the charity stripe and hits both to pull back within 6.

Howard having a tough time jockeying for position under the basket.  Will go to the line again.

Patience gets Butler a basket.  Lead cut to two now.  Butler has the ball back to tie?

Looks like VCU has gone cold.

We’re all tied up at 15 with 10:15 left in the first half.  So far, we have two measured teams keeping the pace steady.  Can either team break free for an unanswered double-digit run?

VCU can’t buy a bucket right now.  Butler has to take advantage.

Skeen ends the drought for VCU with a nice two in the lane.

Vanzant too far out to draw the charge there.  Timeout on the floor.

Good defensive sequence by VCU.

Veal with a nice lefty off the backboard for two.  20-15 VCU.

Mack with another three to inject some life into Butler’s O.

Rodriguez has been quiet thus far.  He has not attempted a shot.  He has to get it going if VCU has any real chance to win this.

Skeen has 10 points thus far.

Smith ties it up at 22 with 5:41 left in the half.

Skeen has exactly half of VCU’s points right now.  He definitely came to PLAY.

Mack is a real man, people.  Another trifecta for the Junior out of Lexington, KY.

Timeout on the court.  Butler leads 25-24 with 3:52 left to play in the first.

Former President George Bush and his wife are in the house.  Just flashed them on the big screen.

Mack has 11 points thus far for Butler.  He can make it 13 at the line.

Nice entry pass by Rodriguez to Haley for two easy points.  Butler up 27-26.

Nice move by Dixon under the basket for two.

That was Matt Howard’s first field goal.  All of his previous points were on free throws.

And Butler takes a 34-28 lead into the locker room.  Smoke ’em if you got ’em.  Back in a few.

STAT man just made his delivery.  For VCU, Skeen is 5-8 from the field for 12 points, with 3 rebounds and two assists.  Rodriguez has 3 dimes, but is 0-3 from the field and has two turnovers.  For Butler, Mack is 4-5 from the field, including 3-4 from deep, for 13 points.  Howard is 1-4 from the field but managed 9 points after going 7-8 from the line.  VCU shot 40.7 % from the field in the first half compared to Butler’s 33.3 % and 40 % to 23.1 % from behind the arc.  The difference maker is VCU’s woeful 50 % shooting from the free throw line.  Butler managed to sink 84.6 % of its shots from the charity stripe.  Coach Shaka has to tell his kids to settle down at the line and hit their free throws in the second half if they want to keep their improbable season going all the way to the title game.  Butler is doing all the right things except hitting a high percentage of its shots from the field. But with Coach Stevens’ steady hand, look for them to get great looks from the field.

Veal gets VCU on the scoreboard to start things off in the second half.  Butler up 34-30.

Skeen has three fouls already.  He has to settle down on D to stay in this game.

VCU pulls within one.  Shaka’s bees are buzzing.  They have gone on a 7-0 run out of the locker room.  Take a 35-34 lead with 16:50 left.

Full time out on the court.  Butler has to stop VCU’s momentum.

Howard out of the timeout with a strong back to the basket move for two.  Butler retakes the lead: 36-35.

Skeen back in.  Will he avoid contact or keep bangin’?

Nice three point basket by Skeen to let us know he won’t go down without swingin’.

Hahn answers with a triple of his own.  Butler up 39-38.

Skeen at the line for an And-1 and gets it.  He has 18 points now.

Hahn with a quick 8 points off the bench.  Huge lift for Butler.

Mack with a bomb from deep.  Butler up 47-43 with 10:57 left.

Howard has three fouls now.  He may have to sit for a spell.

Skeen to the line for two.  Nails both.  He has 20.

Mack with 5 straight points.  He has 21 points now.  Butler up 52-45.

Skeen has 22 of VCU’s last 33 points thus far.  He is straight beastin’ tonight.

Mack is not playing people.  He has 23.  Butler up by 7.

Vanzant with a pretty J from the wing.  Butler by 6.

Mack can’t miss.  He’s a scorching 8-11 from the field.

Team fouls are a problem right now.

Skeen needs to touch every ball now.

Vanzant with the big three ball with 2:58 to lift Butler to a 61-54 lead.

Skeen gets the And-1 on a three pointer.

Doesn’t get the 4-point play.

Horrible possession by Butler.

Huge rebound and putback by Howard.

Butler by 8 with 45 ticks left.

Looks like VCU’s storybook run through the tourney is coming to a close.

VCU takes a timeout with 30.5 seconds left to play.  Butler leads it 67-59.  Too large of a gap to close.

That’s it folks.  Butler moves on the its second title game in as many years to face winner of Kentucky/UConn game.  Final score: 70-62.

Kentucky Wildcats vs. UConn Huskies

Here it is, the big show.  As much as we all like the underdogs, this is the game that puts food on the table and butts in the seats.  Big vs. Big.  Powerhouse vs. Powerhouse.  Kentucky vs. UConn.  Calipari vs. Calhoun.  Kemba vs. Brandon.  The stage is set for two of the most successful basketball programs in the NCAA to square off for a shot at the big show Monday night and it won’t be a cake walk.  The Kentucky contingent of blue in the stadium is so thick you get the feeling of looking into the ocean.  They want ‘chip number 8 and they are vocal about it.  As for UConn, allegations are swirling around its program and it would mean everything to Calhoun and his players for him to seal this year with the ultimate prize before he most likely will retire.  The Huskies go as Kemba goes and thus far, the floor general out of the Bronx has not had a bad game.  Is he due or will he shun conventional wisdom and continue his ridiculously sensational play?  We’re about to find out who’s our Goliath people.  Let’s go!

Starting lineups:

Kentucky

Darius Miler – G

Brandon Knight – G

DeAndre Liggins – G

Terrance Jones – F

Josh Harrellson – F

UConn

Jeremy Lamb – G/F

Kemba Walker – G

Tyler Olander – F

Roscoe Smith – F

Alex Oriakhi – C

UConn out to a 6-2 lead with 17:23 left.

Walker with the nice breakaway layup.  UConn by 3.

Jones with 5 quick points.  Kentucky by 2.

Kemba to the line for two. Hits one.  Kentucky up 10-9 with 13:40 to go in the first.

Full T.O. on the court.

Jones misses both of his freebies.

Kind of sloppy in the early going for both squads.  The Wildcats clings to a one point lead.

Kemba with the three ball.  UConn up 14-12.

Kemba follows that up with a possible And-1 and the arm flex.

UConn out to a 19-12 lead with 8:17 left in the first half.  Kemba seems to be shaking off the “Yipps.”  He has 9 so far.

Knight with his first bucket of the night and he follows that up with a triple.

Apparently, if Calipari wins the title this year, his total compensation this season will be at least $4.1 million.  Ching Ching!

Nice feed to Okwandu for the dunk!

UConn up by 8 now after Kemba pulled a 2-11 and led the fast break.

Kemba orchestrating a nice run for UConn.  They have a 10-point advantage with 3 minutes left.

UConn takes a 31-21 lead at the half.  Be back in 20.

Ralph Sampson at center court right now being inducted into College Basketball Hall of Fame.  Wow.  I haven’t seen or heard from him since, like, forever.  He looks good, though.

STAT man back at it.  For Kentucky, Brandon Knight shot a woeful 3-11 for 7 points, 1 assist and two turnovers.  Gots to do better!  As a whole, the ‘Cats shot 28.1 % from the field.  No, you didn’t misread that.  28.1 %!  16.7 % from three-point land and 20 % from the charity stripe.  Calipari must be skinning them in that locker room right now.  UConn’s Walker shot 3-8 for 9 points, 6 dimes and 2 turnovers.  Jeremy “No Silence of the” Lamb was 4-5 from the floor and has 8 points.  As a whole, the Huskies shot 51.9 % from the field, 16.7 % from deep and 50 % from the FT line.  Look for Kentucky to come out swinging in the second half.  And really, anything would be better than that last couple of minutes of action before the half.

Knight drains a three to start the second half.  Closes gap to 7.

What I tell you?  I knew Calipari got in that arse during halftime.

Wow.  That’s now 8 unanswered points by Kentucky.

Smith finally ends the drought for UConn.

Place erupted on that three ball.  Crowd ready to go nuts if ‘Cats take the lead.

Crowd starting to get crazy as Kentucky takes the lead.

Kemba trying to keep ‘Cats from taking over.  Shooting three at the FT line.

Knight sinks both freebies.  UK up 39-38.

Lamb gives UConn the lead: 40-39.

Smith pads the lead to 3.

Nice follow dunk by Oriakhi!

Lamb keeps UConn on top: 46-42 with 8:30 to play.

Nice shot by Jones.  Possible And-1.

Kemba has 16 points.  Knight has 14.

Nice save by Kemba!

Kemba goes all the way for two.  UConn up 52-48.

With 2:49 left to play, it looks like UConn just flat out wants it more.

There are 75,421 butts in seats tonight at Reliant.  New record.  Great for NCAA.

And just like that, it’s a 3 point game with 1:24 left.

Drake just spotted in the crowd reppin’ the ‘Cats.

Costly foul by Lamb on Liggins.  Three FTs coming up.

And he chokes on the second FT.

Knight with the HUGE steal with 16 ticks left.

Napier does it again!  HUGE rebound.

UConn pulls it out.  Final score: 56-55

That’s it ladies and gents.  See you Monday for the title game.  Butler vs. UConn.  Who you got?

The post NCAA Final Four Live Blog! appeared first on SLAM.

In the pantheon of basketball, it doesn’t get much better than the NCAA Final Four.  Yesterday, college bball fans–young and old, backers, sponsors and hangers on descended upon Houston in droves to watch Kentucky, VCU, Butler and UConn vie for the ultimate bragging rights–2011 NCAA Men’s Basketball Champion.

The action doesn’t officially start until Saturday, when Reliant Stadium is transformed from football stadium to basketball “arena” a la Cowboys Stadium for the 2010 NBA All-Star Game, but downtown Houston was already abuzz.  The George R. Brown Convention Center, which will be ground zero for “Bracket Town,” held a kick-off celebration filled with activities such as Cartoon Network Kids Zone, Connor Flooring Hoops Court, Capital One NCAA Final Four Challenge & Capital One Sports Trivia and POWERADE NCAA Youth Clinics.  The sprawling venue had a steady flow of patrons decked out in college gear, ready to take in what was advertised as the ultimate NCAA fan experience.  Bracket Town will be open through Monday, April 4 (7 p.m.) and will only set fans back $6 for children age 3-11, seniors and military personnel and $10 for everyone else.

Meanwhile, at the University of Houston’s Hofeinz Pavilion, State Farm got the party started with its College Slam Dunk & 3-Point Championships.  The 3-Point Contest, honestly speaking,was like that free bread they give you at restaurants to tide you over until the entrees arrive.  College of Charleston’s Andrew Goudelock won the Men’s long ball shootout and Cerie Mosgrove took home the sharpshooter crown for the Women.  But everyone in the house came out to see the Dunk Contest and it was no secret that Jacob Tucker of Illinois College was the reason why. Leading up to the selection of the competitors, it was a long shot for Tucker to make the cut.  So the 5-10 white man who CAN jump took to YouTube to state his case.  After more than 3.1 million views of his highlight reel dunks, the Division III guard with a reported 50, count ’em, 50-inch vertical leap was selected to compete in a field that included Pitt’s Gilbert Brown, Cincinnati’s Darnell Wilks and UNC Ashville’s John Williams.

From the outset, it was apparent that the crowd was behind the diminutive maestro of dunk, and he didn’t disappoint.  His first at bat was a self-bounce pass and between the legs tomahawk that resulted in a perfect score of 50.  Judges Karl Malone (former Utah Jazz great and Hall of Famer), Calvin Murphy (Hall of Famer), Chuck Hayes (Houston Rockets), Courtney Lee (Houston Rockets) and DeMeco Ryans (Houston Texans) were all virtuously speechless after Tucker tattooed the rim, quickly holding their “10” scorecards aloft.

Tucker tried a cartwheel dunk, but had to “settle” for a 360-windmill jam after missing the attempt.  Williams joined Tucker in the final round and had a nifty, but already been there, done that put your arm in the rim dunk.  Williams was no match for Tucker, though, who ended the contest with a baseline reverse stuff over his buddy.

In a field filled with comp from the Big East and other major D-1 conferences, Tucker rose to the challenge–literally–and took home the belt as the 2011 NCAA Slam Dunk Champ.

“I was a little upset that I didn’t get the cartwheel dunk early on,” Tucker said.  “I mainly wanted to do dunks that people never saw me do before, so that’s why missing the cartwheel dunk made me upset but I ended up getting that last one, so it was great.  I actually did some YouTube searching and looked up some dunks and I saw a guy do that last dunk I did and thought I could do it, too.  I practiced it and was able to get it on the first try tonight.  It really felt great having the crowd behind me.  I would not have been in this contest if it weren’t for everybody out there voting for me and everybody coming together to help me out.  It hasn’t kicked in yet that I won because I’m still a little disappointed in myself that I missed dunks I should have made on the first try, but this win is incredible and it feels great.”

Next up for me is the Luncheon for Guy Lewis, the former University of Houston coach who went to an impressive 5 Final Fours.  He’ll be honored by Clyde “The Glide” Drexler, Otis Birdsong and Elvin Hayes.

Saturday I’ll be front and center on press row giving you the play by play on the VCU/Butler game and the Kentucky/UConn game.  I’ll be sure to give you the skinny on all goings on about town in the meantime and between time until the main event Monday night.

Make sure you catch the live blogs and share your comments, expertise, gripes and vitriol for every team but yours, whether you wagered your rent money on the outcome or not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6UzKptKPg0&feature=player_embedded

The post 2011 NCAA Final Four Invades Houston appeared first on SLAM.

by Maurice Bobb / @reesereport

Sitting with Hakeem Olajuwon at his sprawling estate in south Houston, discussing his Mr. Miyagi-like tutelage of NBA superstars who are seeking to enhance their post game (Kobe Bryant, Josh Smith and Dwight Howard), The Dream invokes art. Specifically, Olajuwon credits his ability to master all the facets that go into scoring in the paint to the words of one of the world’s most influential impressionist painters, Édouard Manet.

“Manet, the leader of the pack for contemporary art during the time that impressionists and abstract artists were at odds, said that painters should ‘free painting from its traditional role of representation,’” Olajuwon says. “I brought that philosophy to basketball. I did things that centers couldn’t traditionally do: fadeaways, jumpshots and face-up moves. I broke that barrier. So from an artistic point of view, the center position was freed from its traditional role of representation and that’s what made me the player that I was.”

The portrait of an artist as an NBA legend—why not? After all, a Hall of Famer with the most recognizable signature post-up move the L has ever seen—the Dream Shake—had to have a muse. So what if it wasn’t Wilt, Bill or Kareem that shaped the career of this 12-time All-Star, back-to-back World Champion, ’94 MVP, two-time Defensive Player of the Year and all-time leader with 3,830 career blocks? All that matters to the players who trek to the Lone Star State to put in work over the summer is that the student has officially become the teacher.

SLAM: You’ve become the de facto guru for guys wanting to improve their moves in the paint. Why is that?
HO: I guess you don’t know how much impact you make on people. These players used to watch my moves and liked my style of basketball, especially the movement in the post, so they want to learn them. But when someone like Kobe calls and wants to learn my post moves to incorporate into his game, it’s the ultimate compliment. The first thing I told him was, You have all the moves already [laughs]. But he said, “I want your moves.” So that’s a huge compliment knowing I can add value to his game. Kobe was very specific. He wanted to Dream Shake and Bake and knew what he wanted to accomplish, and I think we did accomplish that.

SLAM: Walk us through a lesson on the Dream Shake.
HO: When the point guard throws me the ball, I jump to get the ball. But this jump is the set-up for the second move, the baseline move. I call it the “touch landing.” The defender is waiting for me to come down because I jumped but I’m gone before I land. Defenders say “Wow, he’s quick,” but they don’t know that where I’m going is predetermined. He’s basing it on quickness, but the jump is to set him up. Before I come down, I make my move. When you jump, you turn as you land. Boom! The defender can’t react because he’s waiting for you to come down to defend you. Now, the first time when you showed that quickness, he has to react to that quickness, so you can fake baseline and go the other way with your jump hook. All this is part of the Dream Shake. The Dream Shake is you dribble and then you jump; now you don’t have a pivot foot. When I dribble I move it so when I come here, I jump. By jumping, I don’t have a pivot foot now. I dribble so now I can use either foot. I can go this way or this way. So he’s frozen, he doesn’t know which way I’m going to go. That is the shake. You put him in the mix and you jump stop and now you have choice of pivot foot. He doesn’t know where you’re gonna turn and when.

SLAM: The YouTube video of you instructing Dwight Howard really caught a lot of people’s attention, especially since the one facet missing from his game was an offensive arsenal in the paint.
HO: With guys who are more agile like Dwight Howard, he has all the talent and the ability. He has all the tools. He just needs the movement. With the movement that I showed him, he has tremendous skills to the point now, where, now he starts creating his own. It becomes a question of, How creative can you be? Not just, Oh, he’s a good player. They don’t know that it’s down to a science. Basketball is a science when you get to the NBA level. It becomes about space management, maneuvers, height management, angles and space. You have to always be one step ahead of the opponent. For example, the baseline comes down to how much space you have to work with. Space management. I taught Dwight how to maneuver and to use and create space.

SLAM: Stan Van Gundy discredited your work with Howard. What are your thoughts on that?
HO: The coach has no idea of what we talked about. What we talked about is not in the textbook. Dwight was so excited because he knows what he got when he came but the coach tried to discredit it. First of all, I’m not doing it to get credit; I’m not looking for a coaching job. I didn’t get paid for it. There is no payment. I’m not looking for praise. The biggest joy is that he’s using the things we worked on and it’s working for him. That is my satisfaction.

SLAM: The Final Four will be in Houston this year, which brings back memories of you and Phi Slama Jamma.
HO: We all did a photo shoot two weeks ago: Clyde Drexler, Michael Young and Larry Micheaux. Every Final Four they celebrate what Phi Slama Jamma did to the college game. We weren’t trying to create an iconic image to the public, we were just trying to win and have fun. And that’s how it happened. So now we look back and think, “Wow, we accomplished that?” When I first came to the University of Houston, the game of the century was the UH vs. UCLA game. Elvin Hayes vs. Lew Alcindor. It was in the Astrodome in 1968. That was when UCLA went undefeated and they broke it here. So when I came to UH, it was tradition. Then when people started talking about the UH vs. Louisville game, the only way I can reflect on it is now people talk about our game like they talked about the UH vs. UCLA game. And how long ago was that now? 1983? And they’re still talking about it now. I feel blessed.

The post Masterpiece Theater appeared first on SLAM.

During NBA All-Star weekend, Thursday night is like the soft opening for a hip new Vegas casino or a nightclub, stars come out in full force to kick things off and last night was no different. Peak Sports USA, a long-standing and respected active wear and number one basketball footwear brand in China, dove head first into the US market with their official product launch at their L.A.-based headquarters.

In what will undoubtedly prove to be a shrewd marketing campaign, Peak will have three of its players wear special All-Star edition kicks for three of the weekend’s high profile events: Three-Point Shootout (Dorell Wright), Slam Dunk Contest (JaVale McGee) and the All-Star Game (Kevin Love).

“This All-Star is an exciting moment for Peak,” says Mr. Xu Zhihua, CEO of PEAK Sport Products Co. Ltd. “We will be the first Chinese brand in history to have our shoes featured during the All-Star week. We also want to take advantage of the moment to announce our US presence and aggressively penetrate into the US market.”

On hand to officially unveil his sneaks to the media was KLove, Mr. 30-30 himself. The sneaks, dubbed “The Relentless” based on Love’s approach to Windexing the boards, are a bright red mid top with the company’s logo in white on the side. The shoe’s tongue features Love’s jersey number and the heel displays his personal logo. The sole is a gray colored gum.

“Obviously I’m very excited to be part of the Peak team and hopefully this will grow into bigger endeavors for me and for the Peak family,” says Love. “I’m very excited to be part of the All-Star Game representing PEAK and that it’s happening here in L.A.”

Additionally, Peak made a special sneaker for McGee to rock during the Slam Dunk Contest but kept it under wraps during its launch. They did hint, however, that they incorporated McGee’s love of Marvel Comics’ character Wolverine into the shoe’s design. Look for the unveiling at the contest.

Already the third largest sponsor in the NBA, Peak sponsors 15 players: Shane Battier, Kyle Lowry and Patrick Patterson of the Houston Rockets, Jason Kidd and Dominique Jones of the Dallas Mavericks, Carl Landry and Beno Udrih of the Sacramento Kings, Jason Richardson (Orlando Magic), Gordon Hayward (Utah Jazz), Mickael Pietrus (Phoenix Suns), Rasual Butler (L.A. Clippers) and Susha Vujacic (NJ Nets).

For more information about PEAK, get the www on over to peaksportsusa.com.

The post Peak Kicks Off Official US Product Launch appeared first on SLAM.

You almost need to be a history buff to find Zach Randolph’s name on SLAMonline’s Top 50 Players list. Give up? It was September 15, 2006. He came in at No. 44 and then Debo’d his way to 23.6 ppg and 10.1 rpg that next year for the Blazers. Who says SLAMonline doesn’t know how to predict a player’s impact?

But as Verbal Kint would say, “And like that, poof. He’s gone.”

Z-Bo was like Keyser Soze in ’08 and ’09—nowhere to be found in our rankings. Ah, but oh what a difference a change of scenery can make. Traded to the Memphis Grizzlies prior to last season, the crafty southpaw from Marion, IN experienced a rebirth, drop-steppin’, jab-steppin’ and pump faking his way to a beasty stat line of 20.8 points and a career-high 11.7 rebounds per contest, his first ever All-Star nod and a cozy No. 36 spot in our definitive rankings.

Sure, Randolph gets into trouble off the court as often as DMX, but on the court, the 6-9, 255-pound forward flat out produces. Check his vitae: Won the ’03-04 NBA Most Improved Player Award after bumping up his scoring and rebounding averages from 8.4 and 4.5 to 20.1 and 10.5, respectively; averaged at least 20 points and 10 rebounds in three of his eight seasons in the League; ranks eighth among all NBA players in double-doubles since the start of his breakout ‘03-04 season with 191; has three career 40-point games and two where he went off for 20 points and 20 rebounds.

Most bball aficionados forget this, but Randolph had microfracture surgery in the summer of ’05 and didn’t miss a beat. He’s been destroying cats down low with little or no athletic ability. Why? Zach. Randolph. Is. A. Workhorse.

Despite operating in real estate clogged with taller and more athletically gifted big men, Randolph is the “ground bound mound of rebound,” somehow coming up with 4.1 offensive rebounds per without ever leaving his feet. Then there’s his vast arsenal of post moves that keep defenders guessing.

Z-Bo is also very deceptive in the way he pads the stat sheet. Even if you’re watching him play, you end up surprised by how many points and boards he has when the final buzzer sounds. Prior to landing in the host city of The World Championship Barbecue Cooking Contest, the largest pork barbecue cooking contest in the world, Randolph detractors banked on the Michigan State standout bringing a “black hole” mentality to the team’s offensive scheme.

But then a funny thing happened. The Grizz started ballin’. For real. Paired with the promising Rudy Gay, OJ Mayo, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, Z-Bo found purchase in Lionel Hollins’ system and gave his squad the jolt in the arm it needed to win 16 more games than the previous year.

With the steady improvement of all parts involved and the addition of sharpshooter Xavier Henry, Z-Bo & Co. will definitely wreck enough havoc to challenge for a playoff berth next summer. And though there is a dark legal cloud circling above Randolph’s noggin (to date, he has not yet been charged with any crime after he was accused of being a “major marijuana supplier”), he reportedly will hit training camp 30 pounds lighter. If that’s true, the man whose feet stick to the hardwood like chewing gum may actually start going aerial on the opposing D and they ain’t ready for that.