My favorite NBA transaction of the past week was yesterday.  Renaldo Balkman, who was taken by the Knicks with a first round pick a few years ago, was dealt to the Nuggets for 2 pieces of garbage and a junk 2nd round pick.  The garbage i’m referring to is Taurean Green and Bobby Jones.  Both players will be waived.  Imagine how you would feel to be traded for 2 guys who are going to be cut and a 2nd rounder?  Do you think Balkman lived up to his promise?  The funny part is the guy didn’t have any promise to begin with.  He was an Isiah Thomas selection and only averaged 7 points a game during his college career.  Here is a list of guys taken after Balkman in the draft:

Rajon Rondo

Marcus Williams

Kyle Lowry

Jordan Farmar

Craig Smith

Paul Millsap

Leon Powe

Daniel Gibson

It gets more amazing to me every day that Isiah was able to keep his job.  They were suffering with a career loser at point guard in Marbury yet got a high energy guy in Balkman who doesn’t have the skill set to be more than a bench player in the NBA.  Just another task now of getting rid of Isiah players and trying to bring in their own to play for Dantoni.  Good move by the Knicks and I don’t type that sentence often.

Nenad Krstic is going to play in Russia.  This actually doesn’t surprise me again.  Once the money gets competitive and players don’t or can’t compete at the highest level then go where you are comfortable.  Krstic had a hard time recovering from knee surgery and was having a tough time getting to the level he was at before the injury.  He had some late attention but the feeling was he was leaning toward Europe anyway.  Within a year nobody will remember he was ever gone.  He’s the new Dino Radja.  Exactly…

Luol Deng and Ben Gordon are both unsigned by the Bulls.  I think the Bulls should hire my wife as the Gm because Paxson has the same ability to make a decision by himself.  I love my wife and I love Paxson but I don’t love Paxson as the gm.  He made the right pick taking Rose but I don’t think he wanted to.  He took forever to choose there after having a month to decide.  Now he has 2 giant pieces to the teams puzzle and they are floating around possibilities of playing in Europe and that wouldn’t surprise me.  Paxson needs to trade someone whether it be Hinrich or Gordon.  Let it be Hinrich.  He’s a point guard who needs to go.  Gordon is a shooting guard who will get some good looks playing with Rose.  Rose can break anyone down of the dribble and any help defense will free up Ben.  It’s a no brainer to me and maybe it is to Paxson also but he’s taking his own sweet time and if he isn’t careful Ben will be playing in Greece next year for millions.

Oh and the US had better win the Gold in basketball.

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I love talking up good products and one of my favorites for better guard play is a DVD by Kevin Sutton called:  30 Drills for Building a Complete Guard.  Sutton is a Nike Skill Academny instructor and has experience and passion for what he is teaching.  Sutton’s drills are great because they push for always working in game-speed and game-type conditions by always going hard and maintaining concentration and focus.  I love his stressing the footwork because that is a such a forgotten tool by young players and coaches don’t fully understand it.  He breaks it down very easily for everyone to understand.  It honestly helps that he has teaching experience and not just playing experience because they are two separate things.  Most of his drills are in 2-3 player sets and that can be a bit of an issue if you are getting it for yourself but more beneficial for coaches in that type of setting.  Regardless, the fundamentals taught and the drills that are shown are unique and should be there for every coach who is serious about his profession and every guard who wants to get better and understand his role and position.

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Recently Bostjan Nachbar singed a 3 year 14 million dollar contract with a Russian pro team and his exit has signaled a true sign of the times in professional basketball.  No longer is the NBA the league that offers the most money.

In the past players wanted to come to the NBA because it was where the best competition is and that is clearly true still, but what has changed is the competition for these players.  European basketball just keeps getting bigger as a result of the success of the NBA and the leagues are getting more and more money to spend.  Just this year alone Carlos Delfino, Jorge Garbojosa and Juan Carlos Navarro have opted to go play in Europe because they were offered more money.  Clearly, playing against the best competition isn’t nearly as important to these guys as the money is.

Do you remember when Doug Flutie was destroying the Canadian Football League?  I know it’s off topic a little but stay with me for a second.  Flutie killed the Canadian football league and was getting paid a ton of money but it didn’t stop him from playing in the NFL and never reaching the stardom he had in the CFL.  Flutie wanted to play against the best and made enough money in Canada that he wanted to really give the NFL a shot and was a good NFL quarterback.  It also helped that he was from here. 

What it boils down to for me is the fact that I don’t think the NBA should care of worry.  If Nachbar wants to go play in Europe then he can take his 8 points a game during a career year and go.  Same with the other guys.  If we lose players long term to NBA that are American stars then we should start to worry but that won’t happen.  It’s the Doug Flutie within the Americans that will always keep them coming back even when we shun them because they supposedly aren’t good enough.  American kids want to play in the NBA because it’s their league with their fans and their people.  If the Euros want to go home to play and get paid very well to do it then I can’t fault them doing that at all because I’d do the same thing. 

The NBA fan doesn’t hurt from this because the NBA fan follows kids from the McDonald’s all american game to college and to the pros and they get there with a built in fan base and following.  The foreigners come in at a decided disadvantage that way and with their roster spot replaced by an American player it can’t really hurt the interest in the league.  The only thing it brings to question is that the NBA will start to lose the stigma as having the best players in the world.  With more and more guys opting to stay in their homelands we won’t have that anymore.  I’m ok with that.

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Coaches are always looking for ways to score as easy as possible and a well practiced set play coming from out of bounds is usually one of the best ways to get an extra 5 baskets a game and that’s very reasonable.  We get asked by coaches if we have DVD’s that show these plays and we have a bunch of them.  The one I want to talk about today is called “Over 70 Baseline & Under the Basket Inbounds Plays“.  It won’t win awards for most creative title or anything like that but it is filled with some excellent ideas on scoring the ball from out of bounds. 

The reason i love this DVD is because it covers all sorts of defenses and how to score against them.  I was always the throw in guy for my teams and it was because I could quickly read what the defense was doing and call a play according to what they were doing.  This will help your players recognize defenses and their weaknesses in an out of bounds situation. 

Another excellent feature of the DVD is the fact that it mixes blackboard training with actualy players running the plays.  With each one you will see how the coache devises the play on a blackboard and then how the actual play is executed.  Sometimes you get DVDs that are only in game practice but for some coaches the actual diagram works better.  This way you get both and it really comes in handy because rarely will you see a play that you’ll have memorized at one look.

The DVD is over 95 minutes and well worth the 40 dollar price tag.

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It isn’t like a foot is that big of a difference is it? 

Last week I went to the gym and shot a few hundred shots like I usually do a couple times a week.  I enjoy it.  I’m getting older now and I don’t use my legs as much as I should but I really focus on trying to shoot jump shots and using good form and everything.  I analyze each shot way too much and try to make corrections almost in between each attempt.  I usually keep track of percentages in sets of 50 shots and i usually do ok with nobody guarding me as anyone should.  This certain day last week I was playing on a court that had the old college line on it as well as the NBA line on it.  I decided to give it a try for 50 shots.  On the college line I made 35 of 50 shots from all over the arc while the pro line I only hit 20 of 50.  It was a huge difference for me.  I was having a hard time shooting a jump shot from that distance and as a result everything else was off for me.  I was compensating to get the ball there and it messed up my balance, rhythm and everything.  Not good at all and very humbling.

The college line is only a foot back and will cause a drop in percentages for sure.  I think it will cause more of a drop than most people think.  When you adjust everything based on a certain distance and now move that back it has to make a difference.  I think the big man stepping out and shooting the 3 is out the window.  We won’t see as many miracle comebacks this year as in the past because it will be a tougher shot to make.  Players that can stretch defenses will really stretch them now and zone defense teams will be a little happier now.  Teams like Syracuse get wing defenders that are long and that can get out and defend the 3 pointer.  Now it will be tougher for them to get out and defend it but for good reason, the shot will be longer.  More teams will fall back on some sort of zone defense because that one foot will make the middle more vulnerable or so it should.  I expect that teams will test the line early and let teams try to make the shots.  Teams will double team dominate big guys like Hansbrough or Harangody and let the guards try to beat them from the new distance.  If not, those guys can expect double teams all season long. 

What I’m saying is we won’t know until we tip off in a few months…I know it has only been a couple months since Kansas beat Memphis but do you think Chalmers hits that shot if he’s a foot deeper.  I don’t. 

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Recently I was able to try out some products that were proposed to help me improve my shooting.  I love trying out products so i figured why not.  The first one I tried was the Bandit Shooting Arm.  I don’t love the name at all but I love what it can do for you.  The Bandit immediately lets you know if you are using your arms correctly.  I struggle sometimes getting too much movement and this really helped me.  I was able to correctly use my wrist more and it really helped me get the correct rotation on the ball that I felt I lost a little over the years.  As I get older I find myself resorting to the set shot i used to fire but my body still wants to shoot jumpers.  I was compensating for my lack of leg strength by getting too much bend and this correctly diagnosed that. 

BIGBALL- This is a product that I actually had growing up and I used it a lot. It didn’t help my shooting as much to be honest and eventually i didn’t use it for that. I ended up using it for passing and ball handling drills. The BIGBALL gave great results to others I know as a shooting product, but for me it was really about ballhandling. I would do all my drills with it and it really increased my finger strength, wrist strength and concentration. The smaller balls are easier to control and get between your legs obviously so to use this correctly I had to really focus and I loved it. I saw a kid playing with one the other day and struggling with it and I went over and made sure that he stuck with it because it would get easier. Try it out. It’s a great conversation piece and anyone who sees it will want to try it.

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Elton Brand leaves the Clippers for the Sixers.  Corey Maggette going to Golden St.  What’s Baron really going to do? 

I have to say that the Sixers gm is a smart guy.  He deals 2 guys off the scrap heap and a 1st round pick that he thinks will be lousy to Minnesota so that he can free up some money to go after Brand and it worked.  They are reportedly going to sign him for 5 years 82 million dollars.  That’s a ton of money for a guy coming off achilles surgery who didn’t really play much last season.  Brand is the missing piece for the Sixers who now have a lineup of Miller, Iggy, Brand and Dalembert in their starting 5.  That isn’t bad at all.  What’s most impressive is prying away Brand from the Clippers after it clearly seemed that he was just trying to make the Clippers better by talking Baron into playing there.

Now what is Baron going to do…he commited to them but that doesn’t mean he still has to do it.  He could treat this like a ’soft verbal’ in college football and just go elsewhere now.  But where?  He could go back to Golden St I guess but that ship might have sailed.  He could go to Memphis but they have some younger players and don’t want the guy.  He’s very limited in his options.  I think he’s stuck and going to play for the Clips and be miserable.  I’m not even sad about it as he shouldn’t have opted out in the first place.

Corey Maggette goes to the Warriors and I’m not sure exactly why.  Don’t the Warriors seemingly have a team full of guys just like him.  It may not be so but it just seems that the entire team is 6*6 and athletic and can shoot.  That isn’t the case, but the perception.  Corey can score and this offense will suit him just fine.  He’s a great athlete and an improved shooter and I look for big things from him.  Monta Ellis is going to have a really big season and put up some big numbers even though he only looks like a junior high kid right now. 

Overall we are going to see some more signings and more trades in the coming days as their are plenty of guys still out there. I look forward to it…Keep the thoughts coming.

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Elton Brand is not going to leave the Clippers.  He’s the one who talked Baron Davis out of leaving Golden St. and he wants a winner in LA that isn’t the Lakers.  Brand is a great players coming off injury and the Clippers got a great season out of center Chris Kaman so adding Davis will make a big deal to this team. 

Brand has been offered a lot of money from Golden St. and Philly and is acting like he is being tempted by both of them.  All he’s trying to do is get himself the best deal possible from the Clippers and the Clippers can’t afford to call his bluff.  If they do and he leaves they will lose all the momentum from the Davis commitment.  It is only a commitment thus far as they can start signing free agents on Wednesday.  Brand will keep his leverage as long as possible so I imagine he’ll wait to comment until Wednesday on his intentions to stay with the Clippers.

Kirk Hinrich is another story.  In fact, the Bulls drafting of Derrick Rose has caused a stir in Chicago’s locker room.  The Bulls have Hinrich locked up long term but he’s a point guard and Rose didn’t get taken number 1 to sit the bench.  Rose will play because he’s better than Hinrich right now.  The Bulls have some choices with Ben Gordon but he’s more of a shooting guard albeit a smaller one.  I see Hinrich going to Golden St. and I think it is only a matter of time before those teams get together.  The Warriors are going to strike out in free agency and will be a better team with Hinrich anyway.  Baron Davis is an amazing talent but his shot selection is sketchy at best.  Hinrich will thrive under Don Nelson and the Warriors will be better defensively.  The only other possibility in Chicago is for the Bulls to keep Hinrich and then do a sign and trade involving Ben Gordon.  Hinrich would play the two guard and get absolutely destroyed by some of the bigger guards in the league just as Gordon has in his career.  Blow it up and start over Chicago basing your franchise on Rose, Deng and the combination of big guys.  Rose will get Tyrus Thomas some dunks over the next few years and make him look very good.

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Baron Davis opted out of 17 million dollars last night.  That’s crazy in average people terms but a decent idea in terms of Baron and what he wants to accomplish.  But where is Baron going to go?

Stay?  No chance now.  I expect the Warriors will go after Arenas with their new found money.  But that’s really only one of two options.  Memphis has money but has 2 point guards under contract already so they aren’t using it on Baron Davis.  Philadelphia?  I don’t think he’s going to get offered there.  They are going to commit to Louis Williams and still have Andre Miller running the point for them there and he’s still very effective.  That leaves the Clippers or the Warriors.

The Clippers have money to spend after Elton Brand and Corey Maggette opted out of their deals and it starting to truly cause a trend in the league.  Brand is expected to re sign in Los Angeles with Maggette taking a good look at resigning as well.  The Clips will still have the money to go after Davis and all signs show they will but why would Baron want to play in LA with the Clippers?  If he stayed in his current deal with the Warriors he would’ve have another great season and been one of the top guards out there with plenty of teams having money to spend with better chances of winning than the Clippers.  I know he’s thought about all these things and I know his agent is all about the contract and the money and that’s fine but Baron as a Clipper just doesn’t fit.  Sure he went to college there, but it is a players graveyard and the next headstone is Baron Davis if he signs there.  He can have it be next to Cuttino Mobley, Sam Cassell, Maggette and a bunch of other forgotten players.

What will Golden St. do?  They’ll go after Arenas.  He was drafted by the Warriors albeit too late in the draft and bolted as soon as he could, but this is different now.  He would have a green light and to play in an uptempo pace with young talent all around him.  I like the situation for him there.  Thing is, Arenas is all about the money.  I can see the Warriors being aggressive with his contract terms and trying to paint Baron Davis into a corner with the Clippers by getting Arenas.  Arenas is loving it now though.  By Davis opting out it created a two team race for his services and gives him more leverage which he loves. 

I personally hope Arenas ends up in Golden St and Baron Davis goes to the Clips.  I hope the Warriors become very good and the Clips, well we all know know what will happen to the Clippers.

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