Iavaroni is in. Avery is out. D’Antoni is…well….no one knows yet. The NBA coaching carousel is in full swing as teams exit the playoffs. I thought I’d weigh in on who is in, who it out, and who is in the rumor mill. If you have been following the NBA drama season you will recognize a few of the names while a few others may surprise you. Read the rest of this entry »
Former HoopStar player Hillary Wenning is once again in the local newspapers for her basketball journey. This year Wenning took her hoops skills to the University of Indianapolis. While most of her growth was made from the bench, she did seize her opportunities down the stretch to shine.
I was first introduced to Hillary when she was in 4th grade and played YMCA basketball with my younger brother Dustin. Even back then I was amazed at her playing ability. She brought a tenacity to the court that dominated the boys she played against.
Here is a brief recap of Hillary’s first season as a Greyhound. We look forward to more to come from Miss Wenning.
DJ Wright Prom Court Story Our second HoopStar spotlight victim guest is DJ Wright. DJ just completed his senior season at Greensburg Community High School (HoopStar’s alma mater. While his season was plagued with multiple foot injuries, we was also a success off the court. He was nominated to the prestigious GCHS prom court. In his newspaper picture, DJ sported one of his most prized possessions, a HoopStar tournament shirt. We wish DJ the best of luck in his future pursuits.
Usually I’m not one to jump on the bandwagon for publicly chastising professional athletes, but Dallas Maverick’s Forward Josh Howard is the epitome of what is wrong with basketball and youth mentality for today (wow what an eloquent speech, where did that come from…lol). Read the rest of this entry »
By now hopefully you have seen Kobe’s Youtube promotion of him “jumping” over an Aston Martin in his new Nike shoes. This video has gained a lot of attention on debating its authenticity. For the record, there is no way that they would let a $100 million man be put in that kind of position.
However, Kenny Smith wanted to prove the “jumping” myth and made his own video. While some believe this clip is also a fake, I think it is real. I mean come on, it would cost more to add CGI to the video than it would to have Kenny Smith really do it…..lol.
That has to be real since Kenny can’t even figure out to put his shoes on the correct feet!
Here are a couple of pics from my recent visit in Chicago. After doing some networking and site evaluations, I hope to add the surrounding areas of Chi-town to our schedule next year.
A trip to Chicago wouldn’t be complete without a visit to the United Center. While the home of the Bulls was quiet (can you blame them after such a bad season?) I still enjoyed the sites. Read the rest of this entry »
Bob Knight is in the headlines stemming from a dove hunting incident. They are trying to find out if he was hunting birds and doing badly or was hunting a human. I have mixed emotions and opinions on this. The first time I saw the video on ESPN I thought that Knight was back to his old irritating ways. His coaching results have never been questioned, but he always seems to be at the center of a hostile situation. He is another guy (along with Kobe, Jerry West, and Dennis Rodman) that you either love or hate.
After some digging around I was able to find the full video version where a guy comes up tells Bob Knight to move further down because pellets were landing on his pool. I thought this was the arrogant Bob Knight that didn’t want to be bothered. It initially seemed to be a reasonable request for Bob to move.
Then it became apparent that the guy was looking for 5 minutes of fame and a little money. The guy (Thomas Mikunda) has filed a lawsuit now against Knight. Here are a few things that I find very fishy about the video : 1. He quickly accuses Knight of pointing a gun in his direction. 2. He only accuses Knight of firing at his house even though the other hunter with Bob says he accidentally did. 3. The video only shows Knight which shows that he was attacking his celebrity. 4. His video is at 9am and he accuses Bob of being too loud at 7am. If I was that irritated at 7am and wanted to video I would have done it then to make it look unreasonable. 5. The guy tries to act like a nice guy about throwing comments in about how good of a coach Bob Knight is, but if he was truly upset then he wouldn’t be thinking of axillary topics that are not related. 6. He keeps saying that Knight wouldn’t like this at his house, but Knight openly invites him to and the guy acts like that is crazy. 7. Knight has a permit, while the guy may not like him being there, (I don’t like it when my neighbor plays bass guitar at 1am either, but it’s life) it is not illegal.
Here is an alternative view of the video from Deadspin.com.
Now I’m not a hunter or an animal activist so I won’t get into that. Yes Bob Knight has earned most of his reputation. But this is stupid. I hope they don’t give into a plea agreement and decide to steam roll that guy for a blatant attack on someone of celebrity stature.
Here’s a link to the uncut version of the video in case you haven’t seen it.
Just for fun I wanted to add this video because it was the first thing I thought of when I heard about Knight.
I’ve never been a New York fan for anything. The Yankees seem to dump tons of money at players so they are always contenders, while it’s not fair to small market teams, it is business. The Knicks (back in the Ewing days) were always a rough team (I think they secretly wanted to be like the Detroit Bad Boys) but it was the kind of grit that was used in pursuit of championship basketball.
Enter Isaiah Thomas. I’ve never seen such a bunch of heartless, spoiled bums in my life. No I’m not talking about the season ticket holders, I’m talking about the “team” of professional athletes they put on the court every night. A season ago some of these players bought into Isaiah’s “wisdom” and were blindly coaxed into the Dever Brawl. Well after a few other key additions (namely Zach Randolph), even the rookies and “hustle” players have quit caring. While I’m glad they aren’t following the sinking ship that Isaiah has built, they look like they have all together just quit. I’m envious that I have to bust my butt to claim my lousy paycheck while these guys get to put it on idle and claim millions.
I laughed when ESPN’s Chris Sheridan wrote “we’re going to be hearing a few more of those “Fire Isiah” chants — not to mention undoubtedly recalculating our definition of a new low — as this already humiliating Knicks season trudges forward” I laughed but also knew that this was a true statement. I thought it would take a little longer than a week, but you could feel the storm still had more life. Enter the Boston Celtics. Last night they came and smashed the Knicks 59-104. KG and company were making a statement against an evil organization. Well Sheridan posted again this week and came to yet another rationalization, “a week ago that I cautioned never to declare anything a new low for the New York Knicks, because one can always be certain that no matter how bad things may look at the moment, there’s always the distinct possibility no, make that the distinct certainty — that something even more horrific is in store.”
I’m a big fan of Karma and believe the whole Knick organization is getting what it deserves. They have an owner that blindly follows his coach, a president that hires players with bad moral character, a coach that thinks the game is about him and has sexually harassed co-workers and has intentionally ordered “dirty” play against other teams that have resulted in fights, and players that not only are selfish, greedy, and not really that talented, they are also arrogant, they get arrested, and have sex with interns in the back of their Benz while at work. The NY Times went easy on the team calling them a “FLOP.”
I feel bad for the loyal Knicks fans. That rap sheet is long enough for me to give up if I was there. I hate bandwagon jumpers and non-loyal fans, but enough is enough. My hometown team, the Indiana Pacers, went through a period of stupid crap like this that has led to me giving up my season tickets and watching them on TV. Even though they are starting to win again, I’m still not ready to come back because winning isn’t everything. As I get older, I would rather support a team that plays together and supports each other (I actually supported them during the Palace Brawl because it was nice to see them at least stand up for each other, but then I changed my mind after seeing how Artest repaid the team).
Well at least I feel better for letting that rant out, now it’s time to for Mr. Dolan to experience such a relief by firing Coach Thomas. Does anybody know where I can get an official “Fire Isaiah” shirt at? Here is some game footage of an arena full of angry fans telling team ownership what to do…
LeBron James is already “The King,” but will he be able to dethrone the current Triple Double King in Jason Kidd?
Jason Kidd has done it most of his career. In fact it is somewhat expected that he get his nightly triple double. It typically looks like 10-14 pts, 11-13 assists, and 10-11 rebs. He barely makes it in each category, but he usually makes it.Many have argued that this skill comes because he isn’t a natural scorer. Kidd is 3rd on the all-time triple double list (behind Magic (138) and Oscar Robertson (181)).
Now LeBron has decided to give his own interpretation of the triple double. He posted 30 points, 11 rebs, and 10 assists last night against the Pacers. This coming after 37 points, 12 rebs, and 12 assists the night before. (Man I’m glad I traded for him last year when he was in a “slump” in my keeper fantasy league.) Not only is the triple double there, but 30+ points? There has never been doubt about his ability, now it looks like his summer with Team USA is paying off huge dividends. Here is a sweet poll that ESPN.com is running about this topic right now (which has James winning the vote 59% at the time of this post). James may win the title this year, but the Triple Double Czar, Oscar Robertson, is far from worried about his prestigious record where he went as far to average a triple double for an entire season (almost 2 seasons).
Okay for all you Star Wars deadheads, the Riley/Van Gundy mentor path isn’t quite that extreme, but a lot is being made of it (ESPN.com rates it as a top 10 Grudge Match) . The reason is simple, a lot of people know that Van Gundy is a pretty good coach and he was stepped on by his former mentor for a championship run with Miami.
Van Gundy did everything right at Miami coaching wise. The team improved each season, they went the the Conference Finals and then the team was taken away by a greedy Pat Riley. Don’t get me wrong, Riley is a great coach, but that wasn’t his team anymore and he was out of the spotlight. So Van Gundy being a character coach didn’t want the backlash from challenging his mentor and gave the team control over (he still won’t say anything negative about Riley).
Well a couple seasons later and Van Gundy might just get his reward in a matchup with his former team. The Orlando Magic look like a legit contender in the East while the Miami Heat look like a shell of their former selves. Orlando has the dominant center in Dwight Howard that resembles what Miami’s Shaq used to be.
Riley may have gotten the ring, but I’m sure that Van Gundy wouldn’t trade rosters or places right now. Good things do come to those that wait and nice guys don’t always finish last!