The Euro Step

Not to be confused with dubstep, the Euro Step is a basketball move that consists of cutting in one direction really hard and in one step. Here's a great little video of Manu Ginobili breaking down what is essentially his signature move.

Witness.



And here is Ricky Rubio breaking it down.

Spud? Nope, Crimestopper

Aquille Carr is awesome. And short. Thanks to the Washington Post for the heads up on this Baltimore prodigy.

Asians in the NBA Who Aren't Named "Yao"

It is a well-known fact that while many East Asians hold baseball closest to their hearts (esp. those in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan), Asian Americans love them some bball. So, as a supposed Asian American, I thought I should share a couple of news items about Asians in the NBA who are not named "Yao."

1)

Rich Cho, first Asian American GM in the NBA, signs on as GM of Charlotte Bobcats. A quick turnaround, considering he was only very recently fired by the Portland Trailblazers.

Cho acknowledged he "didn't see it coming" when the Blazers fired him. President Larry Miller said it was because of "chemistry issues," believed to be with owner Paul Allen. Cho declined to address the issue, saying he didn't want to "dwell on the past."

Cho will move from one celeb-owner to another: the Bobcats are owned by Greatest Ever and Known Asshole Michael Jordan.

2)

Pre-LeBrowndown II: Revenge of the Mavs, ESPN had a lengthy and interesting profile of the first Asian American head coach in any of America's Big Four sports (one day, MLS, one day...), Erik Spoelstra of the always-the-bridesmaid-never-the-bride Team LePippen... I mean, Miami Heat The mystery guest has arrived. Spoelstra is Filipino American. From angry asian man, where I saw the piece first:

The piece follows Spoelstra's beginnings growing up in Portland and playing basketball in college, to working his way up through the Miami Heat organization as a young man, before being named head coach in 2008. Consensus seems to be clear -- the guy works his ass off, and the work has paid off.

Didn't pay off in a ring, though! Just kidding. Don't be too hard on our Pinoy brother; LeBrondown II was entirely the King's fault.

3)

The Great Yellow Hope, (sometimes) Golden State Warrior Jeremy Lin, gets a profile on Hyphen Magazine's blog: Jeremy Lin's Rookie Season with the Golden State Warriors. It was a rough start, but things are looking up for the Bay Area-native:

I thought that it was pretty neat that Lin was getting a lot of attention, but as a fan, I worried that it might be too much for a third-string rookie point guard. It seemed like that it had an effect on him early in the season. Lin underperformed and was sent to the Developmental League on a few occasions during the season to focus on improving his game.

It took a while, but Lin was able to bounce back. When he was called back up to the roster in late March, Lin saw increased playing time. During the team’s final regular season game, he broke out with his best performance.

Against the Portland Trailblazers, Lin logged in a season-high 24 minutes while recording 12 points, five assists, five rebounds and two steals in the winning effort. He had come a long way to get this point, and it was a great way to end an incredible journey.

Lin appeared in 29 games overall in his debut year with the Warriors. His minutes increased towards the end of the season, and he started playing with the team’s second unit. He will have to carry over that momentum into an impressive summer to show the Warriors’ coaching staff that he’s ready to be a valuable role player.

The story also has a link to an interview Hyphen did with Lin last year.

Next sales approach: Buy Timberwolves tickets or we will punch a kitten in the face

The Business of Sports has published some current incentives from NBA teams struggling to sign up new season ticket holders for the 2011-2012 season. While I confess that I was sold by the Washington Wizards 3-year price guarantee and enthusiastically recruited others to go in on tickets with myself and fellow JB Sports Chat blogger, Beau, I must admit - we didn't get nearly as good of a deal as the Timberwolves fans. On the plus side, we only have to watch the Timberwolves once. They have to see them every night.

The Minnesota Timberwolves and the Houston Rockets are both using the same incentive of a "Pay the Pick" pricing offer. The final price will be determined by the results of the NBA Draft Lottery tomorrow. If their team draws the #1 pick, season ticket holders pay $1 per game. If they draw the #2 pick, $2 per game, and so on. This is less of an incentive for Houston, who narrowly missed the playoffs and have only 5 chances for a top 3 pick in the lottery and probability leaves them with the 14th selection. Minnesota finished with the worst record in the league for the 2010-2011 season, leaving them with 250 lottery chances. At best they will win the #1 pick, but worst case scenario will leave the Pay the Pick price at $4 per game. Coincidentally, $4 per is the same price the tickets sell for on eBay whenever the Wolves visit the Verizon Center.

While I would love to get away with paying $43 for a full season + 2 pre-season games to see the Wizards, I still feel good about our investment. For $16 per ticket, we have great seats in the upper level, fairly close to the center of the court. That's a bit overpriced to watch the Wizards play the Timberwolves, but an insanely low price to watch the Lakers, Heat, and the Celtics. With Ted Leonsis calling the shots and a little added luck from sending John Wall to the Draft Lottery in drag, we've got a good chance at building a decent team in the next few years. And hell, even if we don't - $16 is still a bargain to watch NBA basketball. Unless of course you're driving around in the bitter Minnesota winter to see the Timberwolves. Loyal T-wolves fans, I salute you!

The Red & the Wall: The New Wizards

Something big is happening to the Washington Wizards franchise and I will give you a hint: It does not begin with winning basketball games. Not yet, anyway. Of course that's their ultimate goal, but that's going to take some time. They have to begin by improving upon their previous season record. The good news is, finishing the 2010-2011 season at .280 should make improvement a viable option.

For weeks I have been receiving emails from the Washington Wizards like the one I received today:

Tomorrow the Wizards will Rock the Red, and hopefully begin to resemble the Washington Capitals franchise in other ways as well. The owner is now the same, the colors will soon be the same, the #1 draft pick to build the team around seems hauntingly familiar as well. (Although I'm hard-pressed to find many more similarities between Alex Ovechkin and John Wall.) Soon we can look forward to the Wizards following the Caps footsteps and dominate throughout the regular NBA season so that they can roll over in the playoffs and shamefully lose to lower seeded teams.

Even apathetic goals like that will have to wait a couple more years.

I give the Wizards credit for their rebranding efforts. Even without the talk of a likely NBA lockout beginning in July, the Wizards are a tough sell. DC loves a winner and even on the rare occasions when they made it to the post-season, the franchise has only seen past the first round of the playoffs once since 1982. To generate season ticket sales, the Wizards are currently guaranteeing a 3-year price freeze. If you buy a ticket package this year, you are guaranteed that the price will not increase until after the 2013-2014 season has ended. I know several Capitals season ticket holders who wish they had a deal like that back in 2007 when the Caps began Rocking the Red again!

After the excitement of the color change, it won't be long before we learn more about what is in store for the new Wizards. The NBA Draft Lottery is one week away on May 17, 2011. The NBA Draft is in June.

John Wooden

The most celebrated college coach of all time has gone to the great game in the sky. John Wooden has passed on. If you know and love basketball, you know his name, if only as myth. He was the equivalent of Red Auerbach, yet on the West Coast and coaching the college game. He coached Red's favorite team's most certain and tall opponent in Kareem. Wooden also coached one of the best passing centers of all time in Bill Walton, who managed to find a late resurgence on a Celtics team in the 80s. He did things as a coach that are simple pipe dreams these days.

In case you're confused: John Wooden = dynasty. 10 championships in 12 years.

His players woke up early. They started in the morning. They worked harder and more often. It was expected. If you've read the best basketball book of all time, "The Breaks of the Game," you know that in the 60s and 70s, ballplayers thought there should be two championships: one for UCLA and one for the rest of the country. Wooden was just that good - as a coach, as a recruiter, as a persuader. If you've read that Halberstam book, you know very well that Wooden was as flawed as the rest of us. The thing is, John Wooden and Red Auerbach and Bill Russell and Michael Jordan are all made of the same mettle. There are a small number of others made of that special stuff - Morgan Wootten, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade - and we are entirely lucky to see them exact their joy/competition/hate through basketball. Wooden brought his irreplaceable fire to college basketball and a level of joy and hope it might never reach again.

There's the story of when Wooden's scrubs (including Bill Walton) beat his starters in a pre-season scrimmage. His starters won the National Championship that year. His scrubs won it later as starters. He coached a young guy named Lew Alcindor, who was on the losing side of that scrub team. Wooden always got the best players. He also got the best out of them. He is the one coach any other coach in the history of the game would love to play against and be okay losing; after an 88 game win streak, it was expected. Wooden brought the NCAA to the nation with his unstoppable march toward victory.

Goodnight, John Wooden. 99 years is a great run. It's even better when you're one of the best of all time. Thank you.