Coach K: ‘NBA controls college basketball’
Krzyzewski’s most interesting comments were about college basketball’s relationship with the NBA.
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Anthony Davis: Why the #1 Pick in the 2012 Draft Will Not Dominate in the NBA.
The last time a freshman forward received as much attention as Kentucky’s Anthony Davis has received this year, his name was Kevin Durant. So it’s fitting that Davis is the currently the favorite to win the Naismith Player of the Year Award this year, which will make him the second freshman to do so. In 2007 while playing small forward for Texas, Durant went on to become the first ever freshman to win the Naismith Player of the Year Award.
But the comparisons don’t stop there. Anthony Davis will almost assuredly be the No. 1 overall draft pick in the 2012 NBA Draft. If the the 2007 NBA Draft could be done over today, Kevin Durant would be the top selection too, but the Portland Trailblazers accidentally selected Greg Oden No. 1 overall.
If you stood Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant next to one another, you’d notice they had even more in common. They’re both tall and long, like, really long. Kevin Durant is 6’9″ with a 7’5″ wingspan. Anthony Davis is 6’10″ with a 7’4″ wingspan. And Davis compares very favorably to Durant in terms of college accomplishments, but while performing the eye test on him, their games are very, very different.
Kevin Durant dominates in the NBA. He’s got other-worldly talent and is an incredible athlete. He’s got serious handles for a guy his size and has ice water in his veins. He takes LeBron to school, as evidenced by the 28 he dropped on James in their recent match-up (he also held LeBron to just 17 points), which resulted in a win for the Thunder.
Anthony Davis has been dominant in college basketball this season. While he doesn’t average as many points or rebounds as Kansas’ Thomas Robinson (17.7 pts, 11.8 rebs), who is projected to be the runner-up to Davis in the voting, he impacts the game on the defensive end in more ways than anyone else in college basketball. Davis has built a nice resumé, which includes averages of 14.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.9 steals and an NCAA-leading 4.61 blocks per game. All of this while shooting 63% from the field, 71% from the stripe and committing fewer than one turnover.
And while basketball fans everywhere remark about how they cannot wait to watch Davis take over the NBA next season, there is reason to question if he will never dominate in the NBA. Take, for example the comparison between him and Durant physically. Durant plays the small forward and weighs 235 lbs. That’s ideal size for an NBA small forward. But Davis weighs just 220 lbs and will be asked to play power forward (and at times, center). For comparison sake, New York Knicks’ shooting guard JR Smith also weighs 220 lbs. If Davis fails to add size and strength, he will be bullied to no end in the post by the bigger, stronger players he’ll be forced to play against in the NBA.
It’s no secret that Anthony Davis really “grew up” in high school. At the start of his junior season, Davis was a guard who stood just 6’3″. By the time he finished his senior year, he was a 6’10″ big man. Imagining a player of Davis’ size who possessed the skills of a guard would cause many NBA coaches and GMs to begin frothing at the mouth, and the Magic Johnson comparisons would never end.
But Davis wasn’t a highly-touted guard prospect before the growth spurt. Yes, he’s an incredibly versatile player who can handle the ball better than most his size. But no one is ever going to confuse him with the point guard of the Show Time Lakers. Others continue to boast of his guard-like abilities, saying that he’s got the ability to shoot from outside, but he’s shot a miserable 15% for the year behind the three-point line.
But it’s not his shortcomings as a guard that should worry NBA teams, but rather that he’s a guard-converted-forward who still has to learn to play in the post. NBA big men are notoriously difficult to develop. Between the footwork, adding bulk and adding post moves to your repertoire while perfecting your go-to move, it’s an incredibly difficult process that few ever complete. And to dominate in the NBA, that’s what you’ve got to do. Hakeem Olajuwon is considered by many to be the most dominant offensive post player in NBA history, and he had it all- the size, quickness, agility, athleticism and arsenal. Hakeem truly Dominated.
When it boils down to it, whoever drafts Anthony Davis will likely be getting Marcus Camby 2.0—which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Camby won the Defensive Player of the Year Award in the 2006-2007 NBA season. Camby and Davis are remarkably similar. They’re practically the same height, same weight and same length. They had the same coach in college, and even John Calipari thinks Davis is the next Marcus Camby.
And their games are incredibly similar. On offense, they’re capable of consistently hitting shots out around the elbow, and while Davis is the better jump shooter, he’s behind Camby in terms of post scoring. On defense, it’s the same story—they both use their length to force shooters to shoot over them and rack up blocks coming from the help side.
But Camby has never dominated the NBA. He’s got lifetime averages of 9.7 points, 9.9 rebounds and 2.5 blocks. And given the long road that lies ahead of Davis, it’s far from a guarantee that he will ever dominate in the NBA the way he has dominated college basketball this season.
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‘NBA 2K12′ braces for extended lockout (AP)
Video game makers are bracing for an extended NBA lockout by focusing on former players who made the league popular in hopes of taking the attention away from the impact labor strife will have on their product. In the upcoming “NBA 2K12,” which goes on sale Oct. 4 despite the lockout, 2K Sports plans to introduce a new mode called, NBA’s Greatest, that will feature the league’s…
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Miami Herald ad: Heat ‘NBA champions’ (AP)
The Dallas Mavericks’ win over the Heat is a huge upset for fans in Miami. Making matters worse, an ad in the local paper has mistakenly congratulated the Heat on winning. A full-page ad that ran in Monday’s Miami Herald reads “Congratulations Miami” next to photos of Heat championship T-shirts and hats from Macy’s.
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Miami Heat: Why the LeBron James and Co. Have Been Great for the NBA.
I haven’t written about the Miami Heat in a while; no game recaps, no opinions, nothing.
I just wanted to enjoy being a fan (true Heat fan since I was five years old in 1988: the days of Kevin Edwards, Rony Seikley, Rory Sparrow and eventually Glen Rice).
Seeing them in this year’s playoffs has been a pleasure for me, while I know it has been tough for a lot of the other people watching, which I’ll explain in a bit is a lot of people.
But now I’m about to trash Heat Haters. They’ll call me a troll, flood my comments with pithy comments, hell there’s a good possibility that I might get a few more nasty tweets or two like I seem to every time I talk about the Heat.
See Heat Haters are, by and large, stupid.
Yeah, I just said it.
They’re uninformed, grasp for straws and for the most part, haven’t been the most gracious people in the world. Sure you could say the same for Heat fans, but I’m focusing on the Haters because on the court the Heat have proven them wrong.
Off the court, Heat Haters prove themselves wrong by the very showing that the Miami Heat of this year have been the best thing to happen to the NBA.
When you hate someone or something and obsess over it, it means that what you hate has your attention.
The NBA likes attention. Attention means ratings and website hits. The bigger the ratings and the more website hits, the more money that could be charged to advertise on the networks and websites in question.
So if you’re a Heat Hater who watches every game to see them lose, reads every article about the Heat just to troll on the comments board, then you’re just feeding the monster.
And you know what? The Miami Heat, NBA and Heat fans thank you for it.
Hate only gives power. It means its taking up your time and energy.
If you really were so against everything the Heat stood for, and if you thought the Heat would be bad for the NBA, then why did you watch?
We know you did.
Game 1 of the Heat vs. Celtics drew a 7.0. That means seven percent of TV’s turned on at that time saw the game. While you may scoff at seven percent, in TV numbers for a sport that’s not college football or the NFL (the two sports which draw the highest ratings), that’s very good.
And by the way, seven percent of TV’s in the country adds up to a whole lot more than just the populations of Miami and Boston put together.
TNT saw a ratings bonanza in Chicago vs. Miami as well. Heat vs. Bulls was the highest rated Conference finals on Cable in history, averaging 10.9 million viewers per game. Games 1, 3 and 5 were three of the four highest rated single games in TNT’s history.
How exactly is that a bad thing for the NBA? If you stopped watching, then yes. But it actually looks like you started watching.
So thank you haters. Not only have the Heat so far proven you wrong on the court by winning the East, but because you’re watching, they’re proving your point about it being “bad for the game” by bringing in more viewers than any other team this season.
Read more NBA news on BleacherReport.com
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He’s on Fire: Top 10 Reasons We’re Excited for the New ‘NBA Jam’
Most issues in the NBA are subjective. For instance, if you’re debating who the team to beat is heading into the 2010-11 season, it might depend whether you value collective talent (Miami) or a veteran team with a proven background (L.A., Boston).
Or maybe you’re trying to figure out who is the most dynamic young point guard in the league. If you think creativity with the ball and explosive speed off the dribble are the most important factors, then you might hold Rajon Rondo on a slightly higher level than Deron Williams.
But when it comes to the greatest basketball video game of all time, there’s little debate: It has to be the early ’90s version of “NBA Jam” (either the arcade version or the home game).
And thanks to EA Sports, we’ll be treated to a new and improved version of one of the most popular Super Nintendo games. The “classic arcade, hoops reignited” version is scheduled to be released on October 5 for Nintendo Wii and will be available as a download for XBox and PlayStation 3 users.
The game will have two featured modes: Classic and remix. The classic mode is just as it sounds—the game play will be pretty much identical to the original version. The Remix Tour will feature new camera angles, challenge features, and a variety of challenges depending on what team you choose.
With updated rosters, old school lineups, and even a few secret characters, video game junkies everywhere are sure to be satisfied with the new (and hopefully improved) version of “NBA Jam.”
There are probably 100 reasons to be excited for its release, but let’s highlight 10 to get you fired up for the first week of October.
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noticia Nba Fallo de tiros libres de manera muy graciosa ?????????????/NBA news Fault free throws in a very funny???????
Video muy gracioso, en la que una persona del publico casi desnudo con su movimiento sexy.Hace fallar a un jugador dos tiros libre en un partido de la Nba. Very funny video, in which a person’s public nearly naked with his movement sexy.Hace fail to free a player two shots in a game of the NBA.
