Friday, September 18, 2009

Hoop Tomes

I have several posts in the hopper and I'm working on some fun stuff to do once the season starts (will this season ever start?). One of the reasons that I haven't been able to finish writing my posts about the NBA is that I have been doing a lot of reading about the NBA. I recently read, The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, and the Golden Age of Basketball. An amazing book. I could not put it down. Take a look at this image:

See that? See Wilt Chamberlain stretching out over Bill Russell...did the shot go in or did Russell block it? This kind of match-up transformed the NBA into a game that was much closer to what we see today. Before these two guys came along, you didn't see this kind of thing happening in the league. The ebb and flow of the game was different. The man to man match ups were different. But when those two athletes, one who could score whenever he wanted and one who could stop who ever he wanted, went head to head for the first time on November 7th, 1959, the game changed. Make that Changed.

This book also has great sections on Walter Brown, Red Auerbach, Bob Cousy, Thomas Heinsohn, Jerry West and Elgin Baylor.



It does not shy away from the racism of the 60s and the remnants of Jim Crow. This was during a time when black players were cheered from the stands but told they could not stay with the white players in the hotel in town. These kinds of clashes were peculiar to basketball at the time. It was way ahead of the rest of the country when it came to racial integration and to a degree, racial reconciliation.

So that's my big push. If you read one book about the NBA in your life, read the Rivalry by John Taylor. You will not be disappointed.

Here's a list of other NBA books that I've read and enjoyed. Take a look and buy one for yourself or that special NBA fan in your life. You'll also be putting a tiny (every so tiny) amount of $ the Hoop Geek's pocket.








Basketball on Paper: Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis
This book is heavy on numbers but it gives a great insight into today's game with a big emphasis on team statistics as well as detailed looks at the abilities of individual players. There a lot of knowledge and numbers in Dean Oliver's book so take it slow and give yourself time to soak it up.


Basketball on Paper: Rules and Tools for Performance Analysis
I bought this book as a gift for a friend of mine but I made the mistake of reading the first few pages and...he did get it but it was a late present. Mr. Spike Lee writes a pretty good hoop book. I like reading books from guys like Spike. It's basketball, he's a fan and he talks about the game like a fan would. He also writes about sitting next to Woody Allen at Knicks games and compliments Mr. Allen on his hoop geekery (my words, not his). It's been a while since I read it but I think he insinuates that Penny Hardaway was better than Michael Jordan at the time and that he thought Michael Jordan agreed with him but wouldn't come out and say it. What? To quote Marvelous Mars Blackman, "Money! Why you wanna do me like that?" Stop reading and watch that commercial again. A classic.

Rare Air: Michael on Michael

This book is out of print now but it's worth it if you can get your hands on one. I'm going to have to buy one myself because one night I knocked over a glass of water and it went all over my copy. It's a picture book of Michael Jordan's career. It's not thick, but the pages are big. Some great quotes in there too. Be sure to check the commentary on some of the pictures in the back.

The Jordan Rules
Ah, the Jordan Rules. Mr. Smith stirred up a lot of controversy when this one came out. Here is my overriding thought on this book, he shouldn't have written it like he did. Here's why: When people are among family and friends, they say things that they would not say in public and certainly not to the media. One of the things that makes civilization work is that people realize that some of thoughts should be kept to one's self or one's inner circle. Everybody reading this knows what I'm talking about. You know how pissed off you would be if some one in your inner circle decided to write a book about things you blabbed in un-guarded moments. That is what I think happened here. Mr. Smith worked hard to get in that inner circle but it wasn't to be a friend, it was so he could write a book and make money off another person's trust. I think Mr. Smith was wrong to print some of the stuff he was privy to but that being said, it's still a great book.

Sacred Hoops: Spiritual Lessons of a Hardwood Warrior

It's hard for a Maverick's fan to be Phil Jackson fan since during his time with the Lakers he has orchestrated some down right embarrassing beatings of the Mavs. Then during one of the rare times when Dallas was beating them handily...Phil called time out in the final minute of the game. And don't get me started about what happened on December 6th, 2002. I'm still not over that.

But after reading Scared Hoops, I've changed my mind. I'm not a hater anymore, I'm no Laker fan...that's for dang sure, but I'm a Phil Jackson fan. Sacred Hoops is a great story about his early life, his days as a player and how his concept of true team basketball evolved over the course of his life. The Zen stuff is pretty interesting too.

Sports Illustrated: The Basketball Book
This is a big coffee table sized book but you will pick it up and flip through each page. Great photographs and nice way to look at how the game evolved from Dr. Naismith's 13 rules to what we have today.

One last thing about the olden days. Check out this Youtube video of Wilt Chamberlain at age 17. The narrator's line at the end is classic, "Remeber the name Wilt Chamberlain. It will probably make big sports copy for years to come..."

If you are reading this on Facebook, click here to view the video.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

The Rivalry That Never Was

I am still not sure what was going through Michael Jordan's head when he gave his Hall of Fame acceptance speech. So many times during Kobe Bryant's career I would think, "He doesn't get the media aspect. Jordan always knew how to handle the media." But on September 11th, 2009, when Michael Jordan was up there takings shots at people, I found myself thinking, "Kobe would have done that better." (Now that I think about it, I wonder what Kobe Bryant's speech will be like when he is inducted into the Hall of Fame many years from now...)

Let's get back to Jordan's speech and his reminiscing about Byron Russell. Here is the quote:

“I was in Chicago in 1994 … and at this time I had no thoughts of coming back and playing the game of basketball. Bryon Russell came over to me and said, ‘Why’d you quit? You know I could guard you. If I ever see you in a pair of shorts …’

“When I did come back in 1995 and we played Utah in ‘96, I’m at the center circle and Bryon Russell is standing next to me. I said, ‘You remember the [comments] you made in 1994 about, ‘I think I can guard you, I can shut you down, I would love to play against you? Well, you’re about to get your chance.’ “ -Yahoo Sports

Then there was the retort by Mr. Russell:

“I’ll play his a— right now,” Russell told Yahoo! Sports. “This is a call-out for him to come play me. He can come out here in his private jet and come play. He’s got millions of dollars. He can pay for the jet. He can meet me at the Recreation Center in Calabasas.

Why did Mr. Jordan bring that up? What difference does it make? Doesn't Michael know he is the greatest ever? Byron Russell never even made the All Star game. Compared to the mighty MJ, he is a nobody and everyone knows that. Why didn't Michael take a page from Kobe's book and say, "Do I know this guy? I don't know this guy..."

It didn't make any sense. But what really does not make any sense to me is Byron Russell calling him out after the speech. You're challenging Michael Jordan now? NOW? Now that he's 46 years old and out of shape? Now you want to prove something? It's too late Mr. Russell. You had your chance, make that chances to shut down Michael Jordan. Let's take a look and see how that worked...

First, a little prologue. Byron Russell played his first NBA game on November 5th, 1993. In his debut he played 1 minute and had a goose egg across all statistical categories.

Michael Jordan had already played 667 regular season games before Mr. Russell got his first minute of playing time. In 1993, Michael Jordan had three championship rings, had been named league MVP three times, had been named All-NBA 1st team nine times, been named Defensive Player of the Year, named to the All-Defensive First Team six times, nine All Star games, been named All Star MVP, won an Olympic gold medal and an NCAA Championship. Michael Jordan had achieved all this before Byron Russell got his first minute of NBA PT.

This was what Michael Jordan had accomplished when Byron Russell said, "Why’d you quit? You know I could guard you." Who is this kid...right?

Jordan did come back and he did play the Jazz several times. How did that turn out? MJ returned for the tale end of the 94-95 season and by that time the Jazz had already played both of their games with the Bulls, so there was no match up that year. Utah won both of those games.
But after that...
  • 95-96 The Bulls won the first game 90-85. Jordan had 34 points on 14 of 17 shooting. The Bulls also won the second game with Jordan scoring 30 points.
  • 96-97 Byron Russell gets some respectable minutes against the Bulls in the 1st game. Utah won the game win 105 to 100. However, Jordan scored 44 points on 17 of 32 shooting. The Bulls took the second game 102-89 with Jordan putting up a rather pedestrian 23 points.
The Jazz met the Bulls in the NBA Finals that year. The Bulls won it in 6 games. Jordan scored point totals that went 31,38, 26, 22, 38, 39.

  • 97-98 The Jazz win both regular season games. Jordan scored 32 points in the first game and 40 in the second.
Again the Jazz met the Bulls in the Finals only this time the Jazz had home court. Same result. Bulls win it in 6. Jordan scored point totals that went 33, 37, 24, 34, 28, 45. Here's a look at points 44 and 45 at the end of game six:





Jordan retired and came back as a Wizard in 2001. This was an older, slower Jordan and Russell is now and established player. Now we're going to see the shut down Byron alluded to in 1994. The first match up between the Jazz and the Wizards occurred on November 16th, 2001. The Jazz won the game and Jordan....scored 44 points going 17 of 33 from the field.

Finally on March 21st, 2002...the Jazz and Russell were not torched by Jordan. Michael came off the bench, played 22 minutes and scored 11 points going 4 of 12 from the field. The Jazz won 94-79.

The Jazz and Wizards split the series in the 2002-2003 season. Jordan retired for the 3rd and final time. He scored 19 points in the win and 11 points in the loss. It seems that at long last the Jazz figured out how to keep Jordan under 20 points. The irony is that Byron Russell had nothing to do with it. In 2002-2003 he did not play for the Utah Jazz. He mostly came off the bench for...the Washington Wizards.

Michael Jordan's career scoring average is 30.4 point per game. In the twenty games that Jordan played against Russell, he averaged 32.65 points per game so Jordan actually did better than average when he played against teams with Byron Russell.

It was never a rivalry. Honestly, I don't know why either one of them brought it up.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Didn't you get that memo?

"The NBA's labor agreement with the referees' union expired Sept. 1, and no new talks have been scheduled since Stern angrily and abruptly ended a formal bargaining session last Tuesday." - ESPN



It looks like we are in for scrub referees if they cannot get things worked out.



One thing is certain, they will soon be here. They cannot be stopped. And I for one welcome our new substitute referee overlords.


These are trying economic times. Everybody is cutting back. New Referee Orientation might get cut short. Maybe instead of flying them all to a sweet conference in Las Vegas the league decided to bring the new zebras up to speed by having a "webinar" instead. If refs are like the rest of us they probably play solitaire or watch Hulu instead of the exhilarating web cam view of some NBA exec flipping charts.


But for whatever reason, call it fate, call it luck, call it karma...I believe everything happens for a reason. I believe we were meant to have scrub refs this season. For what purpose? To make up the rules...ourselves.


Listen up NBA players. Learn these ten rules, band together and insist that this is the way things are run now.

  1. No more 3 pointers. It's now a 3.25 pointer.
  2. All players are to be addressed by the referee as "Sensei".
  3. Greg Oden is allowed 10 fouls per game.
  4. All visiting players must wear the blast shield down when shooting free throws.
  5. Rollerblades must be worn during overtime. This applies to the referees as well.
  6. Referees must notify the scoring table of a foul by using Twitter from a list of approved devices. (Example)
  7. The head referee is required to wear a band-aid over the back of his/her neck.
  8. Flagrant two fouls will land the offending player in a hockey style penalty box that will be suspended above the court.
  9. Once per game, a player may invoke the, "I wasn't trying my hardest" exception and require a do over of the previous possession.
  10. Instead of being ejected, a coach can submit to being tasered by the opposing team's coach.


Try it guys. This could be fun.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Bad Teams

Some teams bounce off the bottom of the standings and head back to respectability. Other teams stick the to bottom of the standings and just never seem to get it together.

This is going to be one of the few posts I will write a bad team. In fact, it's about the worst team in the NBA for 2008-2009. I am talking about the Sacramento (formerly of Rochester, Cincinnati and Kansas City) Kings. Gone are the days when Chris Webber, Mike Bibby, Vlade Divac and Doug Christie pushed the Lakers to 7 games in the 2002 playoffs. Last year the sad Sac Kings were a woeful 17-65. That's a winning percentage of just over 20%. What went wrong?

A lot of things. Ron Artest was gone. Kevin Martin missed 31 games. They could not rebound and the could not defend the 3 (Orlando set a record for most 3s in a game...in Arco). The new kids on the team weren't able to pick things up. It's tough learning on the fly in the West where all eight playoffs positions are fiercely contested. Twenty-one different players played for the Kings during the 2008-2009 season. I don't have the stats compiled to tell you where that ranks among all thirty teams, but I can tell you that the Lakers and Magic only played 16 players each in '08-'09. Continuity seems counts.

But what is the cause and what is the effect? Are bad teams made worse because of all the shuffling of players or are they already bad and the shuffling happens as management tries to find a way to string together some wins? Does management want to string together wins if they have a shot at a lottery pick? There are a lot of variables that go on behind the scenes that we at fans can only guess at. Which brings me to the players on worst team, specifically, the best player on the worst team.

Kevin Martin was the best player for Sacramento in '08-'09, but how do you know if the best player on a bad team is really that good? The reason I question Kevin Martin at all, and Kevin Durant and Rudy Gay, is that they are all on bad teams. Somebody has to lead the team in scoring. It doesn't necessarily mean that they are a great players. Time will tell if Kevin Martin and the other basement stars will rise. I think most of them will. But it's perplexing to watch. Do their teams lose because other teams know they can double team the best player and shut them down because no one else will be able to pick up the slack? Or, do other teams just play them straight up because even if the best player does go off, no one else is going to be a legitimate 2nd or 3rd scoring threat, so the game will be in hand either way? How well would that player do if they were traded to a playoff team. The variables are piling up in my head.

You just have to suffer through the bad seasons and hope things get better. As a Dallas fan, I can assure you that the bad times can seem like they go on forever (see the 90s). But that is why bad teams draft higher. That is one boon to finishing last is that you have a better chance at picking first, or close to it. You might get LeBron James or you might get Kwame Brown, but hopefully you get help putting together a winner that fills the arenas. The team has to win to get anywhere. No one knows you when you are down and out. Take Kevin Durant for example. In all seriousness, I think he is a fantastic player, but it's all happening below the radar because the Thunder are a bad team. According to Kevin Durant's own twitter feed, when he tells people he plays basketball for the NBA, people tell him, "Keep working hard and you'll someday you'll be in the NBA."

Let's take a look at the last ten seasons and what happened to the teams that finished last:
  • 1999-2000 Clippers finish 15-67. Drafted Darius Miles at #3 pick. Next year: 31-51
  • 2000-2001 Bulls finish 15-67. Drafted Eddy Curry with #4 pick. Next year: 21-61
  • 2001-2002 Bulls & Warriors finish 21-61. Bulls take Jay Williams at #2 and finish the next season at 30-52. Warriors take Mike Dunleavey at #3 and finish next season at 38-44)
  • 2002-2003 Cavaliers and Nuggets both first 17-65. The Cavs take LeBron James with the #1 pick and improve to 35-47 the next year. Five years later they are in the NBA finals. The Nuggets took Carmelo Anthony at #3 and made the playoffs the next year with a winning record of 43-39.
  • 2003-2004 Orlando finished 21-61 and drafted the next Superman, Dwight Howard with the #1 pick in the draft. Next season they finish 36-46. Five years later they are in the NBA finals.
  • 2004-2005 Atlanta 13-69. The Hawks take Marvin Williams at #2 overall and improve to 26-56 the next season.
  • 2005-2006 Portland finishes 21-61 and take LeMarcus Aldridge with the #2 pick. Portland improves to 32-50 the next season. Three years later the Blazers are the #4 seed in the West.
  • 2006-2007 Memphis Grizzlies finish 22-60 take Mike Conley with #4. Next Memphis finishes year Memphis finish at 22-60.
  • 2007-2008 Miami finishes at 15-67 take Michael Beasley. Next season they improve to a winning record of 43-39 which is enough to get them the 5th seed in the East. Dwyane Wade coming back from injury helped a little too.
  • 2008-2009 Sacramento finishes 17-65. They select Tyreke Evans with the #4 pick. What happens in 2009-2010 is any body's guess.
Here's mine. It'll be tough for them to make the post season. The top 8, possibly 9 spots in the West will shuffle but I won't be any new teams in the mix. The Kings only real hope is to get another good draft pick. To get that, they must remain in the cellar for another year, like Edmund Dantes imprisoned in Chatea d'If in the Count of Monte Cristo. Perhaps the Maloof Family can put together something for the Free Agent Bonanza of Aught Ten. Lots of cap room available in 2011...

Monday, September 7, 2009

Players in the League go Tweet, Tweet, Tweet

Twitter has arrived in the NBA. Actually, it arrived a while ago. Now it's almost common among NBA players. There have been some hiccups along the way. Charlie Villanueva (info) tweeted during half time of a game. Coach Skiles was not happy about the timing of the tweet release. J.R. Smith and Michael Beasely have both had their accounts shut down because of content. I still don't quite get the deal with JR Smith(story). There must be more to this story than I know about because it seems that all he did was substitute K for C in some tweet and some how that was interpreted as "signaling a gang affiliation" or some such. Mr. Smith has made some poor choices along the way, but I think this Twitter/gang thing was overblown. Anyway, Mr. Smith's tweetin' days are over. Michael Beasely just needed help and let's all hope he's getting it now(story).


What does the Twitter phenomenon mean for the NBA? The upcoming year will be the first year that a lot of NBA players on Twitter. It's obvious from the tweets of some players that they were told to sighn up by other NBA players. Shaq made it cool and now everyone is literally following the Big Tweeter. Holy crap! Did just come up with a new nick name for Shaq? (Quick Google search....No. It's been done). What is it going to be like during the season when the trash talking starts? What's it going to be like when a player is assigned a flagrant foul that they don't think was justified? What about a dirty play by another player or a bad call from a ref? What if some player drunk tweets about a twitpic during a playoff run?


The main stream media is often maligned for the way it chooses to report on events. But one important job the media does is that it protects public figures from themselves (most of the time). It also gives the world a filtered view of what a person is really like. Tiger Woods is revered all over the world, but he can cuss a blue streak when he hits a bad shot. But what he says on the course isn't reported on much in the media. Now, if he did the same thing during a post tournament interview, that would be another story. That would be a story. But golf fans get a filtered view of Mr. Woods and he gets to maintain his clean image in the lucrative world of endorsements. But the filter is breaking down now, even for Mr. Woods. Ten years ago I would have been hard put to get my hands on a video clip of him cursing on live TV. I found the above link in less than 10 seconds.


That's the thing about this brave new world of Twitter, Twitpic and Twitvid. Now, NBA players can say what they want with no filter getting in the way. Everyone carries a mobile phone. It's easy to T9 a few words to your thousands of Twitter followers...instantly. No PR person from the organization says yea or nay. There's no TV guy waiting to drop your statement if you use an F bomb or make any sort of inappropriate remark.


Personally I love it.


I can see what a player says in an unfiltered manner and I (along with thousands of other bloggers) can write my own stories using actual player quotes. I no longer have to be in the locker room to get a quote. I can get that from my lap top while watching League Pass. I think the quotes might be better coming from Twitter anyway. Most of the half time interviews and post game comments are boring beyond belief. I will at some point do a post on the banality of the half time interview.


But let's move on from the possible implications of Twitter and professional sports. What is happening? What do these guys actually talk about?


It's not as exciting as you might think. It is the off-season after all.


The two main things that NBA players Tweet about is working out and eating. By far. That's what these guys do. They go to the gym and shoot jump shots, play in pick up games, lift weights with conditioning coaches and then talk about where they are going to eat and what they are going to eat when they get there (pictures are sometimes provided). These guys work hard. I am sure there's some partying and other stuff going on that they don't Tweet about, but for the most part these guys are very focused on being incredible NBA players. Sure, they drive in nice cars and go home to nice houses, but they don't spend that much time in them even during the off season.


Some players with Twitter accounts do not Tweet much at all. Dirk Nowitzki (info) is rarely Tweets and when he does, half of them are in German. His last Tweet was on September 2nd, "having an excellent time at Basketball without Borders, stay tuned for updates from Africa". Dirk is an international player and has traveled all over the world so, while I'm sure he's glad to be doing what he's doing in South Africa, the novelty of traveling to another country has probably worn off for him by now. His Tweets are a little on the boring side.


But Dirk wasn't the only player from the NBA in South Africa. There were several others and for two in particular, the novelty of traveling has definitely not worn off. Let's look at a conversation that occurred between two NBA All Stars on September 1st of 2009.


Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you: Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard:


Dwight Howard:Hey world. We jus landed. This Is gonna be funnnnnn. Yuuuaaaaa


So he's excited. Fair enough. It's his first trip to Africa so being a little hype is expected.


Dwight Howard: Guess who met me off the plane. King jaffi and prince Hakeem


For those of you who don't know, Mr. Howard is referring to two characters from the movie Coming to America.


Dwight Howard: Lol http://twitvid.com/5116B


Mr. Howard is having fun with the gadgets. The accents are strange to him. For some reason he keep referring to the gentleman in this video as "Elvis."


Dwight Howard: Yalll this hotel is soooooooo fieeeeeee


I'm not sure what "fieeee...." means but I think it can be assumed that Mr. Howard is impressed by and approves of the accommodations. Next it's on to dinner. From what I can gather, Chris Bosh and Dwight Howard were seated close to each other, but not so close that they could converse without being overheard. Thank goodness they both have PDAs.


Chris Bosh: Eating dinner with @dwighthoward and the rest of the staff at basketball without borders in south africa!!

So the dinner is underway. Things seem to be going well but it appears that Mr. Howard has been seated next to some one who has a gift for the gab. Twenty minutes later Mr. Howard is calling for help....


Dwight Howard: @chrisbosh chris help meeeee. Lol he talkin my ear off. Lol


Now, keep in mind that both players are talking to someone near them while texting away to each other. Mr. Bosh sees that Mr. Howard as been cornered by a conversation ninja, but declines to provide aid.


Chris Bosh: @DwightHoward I'm sorry dude. Can't help you with that one homie

Homie is still in use? Surely not. Perhaps Mr. Bosh is more old school that I realized.


Dwight Howard: (Responds, but this Tweet has been deleted).


I'm pretty sure I know why. I saw this happen live so I know what he wrote, but since he deleted it, I'll leave it out. Anyway, the meal continues...


Chris Bosh: @DwightHoward forgot to ask u. Can u even understand the man to ur right?


Is it a different language or a thick accent? We can only guess.


Dwight Howard: @chrisbosh lol I can't understand nobody but u. Lol


The two people who CAN understand each other aren't talking to each other, they are using Twitter to communicate while thousands of people stateside follow along. Note to the NBA, next time send a copy of Rosetta Stone and a "So You're Going to Travel Abroad" to help NBA Ambassadors....blend in a little better.


Dwight Howard: @chrisbosh this man asked ya boy do he want still water. He said no I want flat. Lol. They the same thang lol hahaha wow.


So Mr. Howard isn't completely out of his element. He knows how to order non-carbonated water. I'm not sure the incredulous "hahaha wow" is warranted... Oh, you want to know what's even more embarrassing than not know what 'still water' is? Read on...


Chris Bosh:@DwightHoward hahaha! U remember that dude that farted at baggage claim earlier? Was that rude? Lol


Yes Chris, it was rude. But not as rude as Twittering about it during dinner. But we'll let it slide this time.


Dwight Howard: @chrisbosh ooops that was me. Lol. I blamed it on that dude lol


I'm shaking my head and thinking of tomorrow's NY Times front page, "South Africa has broken all diplomatic ties with the US after accusations of..."

Chris Bosh: There's nothing I love more than a free meal!


Mr. Bosh just had to take a time out to let everyone know how much he loves the free vittles. Quality is not mentioned, but apparently the price is right. Quick note: Chris Bosh will make $15,799,912 this season. Hey, it's a recession. Finally Mr. Howard's previous Tweet sinks in and Mr. Bosh becomes indignant...


Chris Bosh: @DwightHoward that's messed up man. I really got mad at that guy. Then YOU blamed it on him!


Keep in mind that this incident occurred in baggage claim, so the first wheels off moment on this trip occurred before they'd made it through customs.

Dwight Howard: @chrisbosh I didn't fart lol. I gotta fart now though.


Mr. Howard's credibility is suspect at this point. I also have to wonder if they both realize this conversation is public and that @username is not the same thing as a direct message to @username.


Chris Bosh: @DwightHoward well, do me a favor and tell me so I can get out the way. The airport was bad enough


I'm at a loss for words at this point.


Just to give you some perspective on the spectrum of NBA player Tweets, while Mr. Howard and Mr. Bosh are hard at work on flatulence-gate in South Africa, Chris Paul is announcing the release of his children's book...


Chris Paul: RT @JenniferKeene: Help put Chris Paul's children's book on the NY Times best seller list by pre-ordering a copy of "Long Shot" now.


But back to Africa...

Dwight Howard: @Baron_Davis africa


Apparently Mr. Davis is following along at home and wants to know where all this is going down. I follow Mr. Davis as well but didn't see a Tweet from him asking where they were so I assume he sent a DM to Mr. Howard.

Baron Davis: @chrisbosh how long are yall down there? sounds like you and @dwighthoward are having a bit of an adventure...LOL

You don't say...


Chris Bosh: @dwighthoward I don't know about u but I'm ready to lay it down... Pause


Mr. Bosh is running out of steam. But Mr. Davis suggest that things could just be getting started...


Baron Davis: @DwightHoward Superman in the motherland... you gonna get out and do a safari... I hear Jo'burg is crazy...

Yes indeed Mr. David. And it sounds like it got a little crazier with the arrival of Mr. Howard and Mr. Bosh.


See what I mean? Can you imagine a schmoe like me getting a hold of a conversation like that five years ago? Even two years ago? I could base this entire blog off of Tweets from NBA players. Only for real press could have done that and with the way old media is suffering these days, there may not have been any US press there.


No doubt there will be more Twitter related articles in the future.

NBA Players on Twitter can be found here: HoopsHype link.

Oh, and just in case you don't believe that this actually occurred, here are the links to the Tweets themselves:


http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3690409686

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3690443665

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3691083800

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3692737090

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3694259094

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3694644677

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3694735722

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3694766397

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3694902258

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3694996375

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3695059765

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3695281108

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3695394693

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3695471854

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3695650045

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3695701438

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3695887776

http://twitter.com/Oneandonlycp3/statuses/3696000287

http://twitter.com/DwightHoward/statuses/3696268353

http://twitter.com/Baron_Davis/statuses/3696273716

http://twitter.com/chrisbosh/statuses/3696283100

http://twitter.com/Baron_Davis/statuses/3696698367