Hornets New Unis

Hornets get classy by tweaking their late 90's retro look (image from an attendee of unveiling, via forum on hornetsreport.com)

It’s official, the Hornets have the illest threads in the L starting NOW. Pinstripes, a la the Glen Rice days. Perhaps the Hornets will follow in the NFL mold of improved success with a new look (Pats, Bucs, Seahawks, etc.) and take the trophy this year. They’ve got to be in contention even without the makeover luck, so now, who knows?

Go here, here, and here for pics, and then here for video. Big nod to Hornet247 and SLAM.

USA vs. Turkey: Live Blogging

Team USA takes their show to China for their 2nd of 5 pre Olympic exhibition games, this one against Turkey (photo from Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE, found here)

And we’re here. Good morning to all. This will be a mostly live blog of Team USA’s first pre Olympic tune-up game being played in China. Now, to the action:

• A little internet delay, so here’s your recap of the first few minutes. ‘Bron’s back (starting in place of Wade), and he looks focused. Hedo Turkoglu won’t be playing today. USA looks solid coming out. LeBron drives to the cup, Melo splashes a J, Howard turns the ball over. About right.
• Turkey has a couple of recognizable players. International basketball really is making a huge impact on the NBA.
• Bron hits a three, Melo hits his second from nearly the same spot as the first.
• Turkey is wearing soccer length jersey tops, and half of their players have them untucked. I don’t think I approve of that very much; it just looks sloppy.
• Jason Kidd continues his inexplicable high shooting percentage from last year’s FIBA tournament as he hits a top of the key three.
• Team USA then promptly gives up an alley-oop lay up on D as Turkey beats them down the court.
• Chris Bosh hits a very Bosh-esque lay up (awkward looking, body turned in a weird angle) off of a feed from Kobe, putting the score at 20-15 US.
• LeBron drops a gorgeous dime to Bosh for a quick two.
• Turkey quickly misses a three, US goes the other way but botches a Kobe to James oop that would have blown up the arena, and Turkey comes back with a quick lay-up.
• Dywane Wade, checked into the game for 5 seconds, uses his international play go-to move: the charge. And it’s good! Turkey ball.
  

Are the Words the Weapons?

One of the controversial Nike ads hung at the West 4th station

If you’ve been following the business section of the news lately, you may have heard about the firestorm Nike stirred up with its ad campaign for the release of the new (and supposedly revolutionary) basketball sneaker the Nike Hyperdunk (I want a pair — any givers for a broke Grad School Student?).

A brief summary for those who don’t feel like following the link: Nike’s ad campaign shows tightly cropped, staged pictures of one player dunking over/on another, with the dunker obviously sporting his Hyperdunks. The controversy lies in the fact that the player getting dunked on has the the dunker’s crotch in his face. Each picture has its own slogan, like “That Ain’t Right” for example.

Many people are claiming that the ads play on homophobia, a rampant problem in the world of sports.

Many others are claiming that the homophobia is not the intent of nor is it inherent in the ad, and that people are merely digging for something to dispute.

Knowing When It’s Time to Stop

Athlete blogs — great, right?

Gilbert’s a beast of a blogger (or shall we say, dictator, from what I’ve been hearing lately). Schilling’s controversial. It offers some great perspective.

Except, when it the perspective it offers is too much. MUCH too much (not to TrueHoop for spotting this).

Scott Pollard’s Offseason Workout

*Note:* My intent was to post this yesterday, but I wrote the post from a computer that was not my own, and since the video I wanted to embed was from the NY Times site, I needed VodPod to do so. I decided to wait until I got home, but then the internet (and cable–2 for 2 Time Warner) was down. So, you’ll have to follow the link for now; I’ll embed the video when the possibility presents itself.

I saw a piece on TV about how Rik Smits now races some form of Motocross these days (read article about it here), and it made me think: I wonder what other NBA players like to do as hobbies in their free time?

Now, Rik Smits didn’t ride motorcycles during his career (due to a contract clause, if my memory of the show serves me correctly), so he couldn’t have partaken in Motocross as an off-season training tool, but many players have found alternatives. Steve Nash, for example, rides his skateboard and dribbles his basketball all over lower Manhattan from what I hear.

But Steve Nash is a star, so doing something as mainstream as skateboarding is only fitting. What would a lesser known player do?

What does Scott Pollard do? I mean beside invent hair styles.

It would have to be something outside the norm (follow the link for fun)…

The Josh Childress Effect No One Is Mentioning

(disheartedly): *sigh* "... f@#!" (image taken from askmen.com)

Do you think David Stern has trouble sleeping at night? I mean beyond the normal sleep apnea that most adults in their late sixties feel? Because I think he does.

I would put Euros on it, in fact.

For all the media massaging that David Stern does, no amount of time in his positive spin machine can make the NBA smell like roses lately.

Tim Donaghy? There’s one scandal that just won’t go away, to the point where former high school classmates of his are now going to jail. League legitimacy remains in question and the referees, ever under scrutiny and used as scapegoats for Stern and the league’s front office, are surely gaining nothing from the negative media attention.

Must See MJ

Nod to Dime.

Chuck: Where Amazing Happens

Big props to Lang Whitaker from SLAM for once again finding new and improved ways to keep the NBA fun (be sure to read the full post to get the back story on this clip).

Bigger props to everyone at Inside the NBA for being the only reason to sit through a Magic/Pistons game. This video slayed me. Enjoy.

The Facilitator: 5/1/08

The NBA has been moving and shaking in the last few days. The Mavs and Spurs are redundant, the Celtics and Pistons resilient, and the Hornets for real.

But I’m not here to talk about that. Too many people already touch on the wins and losses. Same same. Instead, here are the highlights from my day off catch-up of my RSS Feeds:

• “God could care less whether I can shoot a jump shot.”  –Ray Allen

  One of the many gems from Jackie MacMullan’s article on Ray Allen’s borderline OCD (nod to Bill Simmons’ latest batch of The Links for this one).

  Just as interesting is the window into the rituals of many other NBA players that the article touches on. Apparently Ray Allen got a good chunk of the young Sonics to follow his routine, including Luke Ridnour. I think Ridnour needs a refresher.

• Josh Howard’s comments on pot smoking may or may not have effected the Mavericks outcome in the playoffs (I personally think Chris Paul made the Mary Jane uproar a moot point because he would have torched the Mavs either way, and I’m sure most of the players went home feeling like they needed a puff after the series anyway).

  But, it turns out that the Howard drama didn’t stop there. According to Jeff Caplan of Star-Telegram.com, Howard threw a 28th birthday party for himself after their Game 4 loss, specifically after former coach Avery Johnson had asked the team to refrain from extracurricular activities. The article is worth reading (full article found here), especially in light of the Avery Johnson axing (nod to Dime for this beat).

  Also, does anyone else smell another Dirk Nowitzki retreat coming on? I think we should start a poll to choose his vacation spot this summer. He did the Outback last year, maybe some spiritual rekindling in the Himalayas this summer? Or, perhaps, a combination of the weight room and man camp?

• Tough Juice has Gilbert’s back. I’m talking about the game-winner he hit last night, yes, but moreso, the trash he talked to LeBron in addition to it:

  “Let’s make the series interesting,” he said, as LeBron laughed. “Let’s take it back to D.C.”

  And, of course, LeBron missed (and not, LeBron, it was not a foul).

  Mike Wise’s article also delves into how beloved Butler is by his teammates and the origins of the “Tough Juice” moniker if you don’t already know how it came to be (another nod to Dime–they’re making a bobblehead out of me today).

• Finally, J.E. Skeets, on the blog Ball Don’t Lie (full post here), quotes Craig Ehlo (yes, this Craig Ehlo) as saying that he thinks Mark Cuban will offer the Mavs coaching job to Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight?!?!?!? No chance in hell, I say.

  More importantly, though, is the fact that Craig Ehlo is now giving NBA insight. Or, at least insight into matters other than being the other guy in all those Jordan highlights. Maybe someone should ask him about the relief he felt from those Gatorade commercials where they CGI’d the endings of all those famous sports plays and MJ missed the jumper.

Josh Howard, You Can’t Be Serious

This is a quote from a conversation that Josh Howard willingly had with Michael Irvin and Kevin Kiley today on the Michael Irvin Show on 103.3 FM ESPN Radio in Dallas (click here to listen to full broadcast of the show):

Kiley: When the season’s over, this is kind of a personal question but I think it needs to be asked, when the season’s over, do you look forward to your first joint?