We at hoopskills.com are going through some changes starting tomorrow and I’m actually really excited about it. We are going to be filming some stuff to show how to use the products that we sell on our website. This is a big step for us and something that has been a long time coming for us. We are really trying to be the site that people think of when they think of basketball products and this only helps us on our way. What we are doing is filming 30 secs to 2 minute clips of some of our best selling products in action like Strength Shoes, Jumpsoles, heavy basketball, Smartbasketball etc…I get to be the narrotor/explainer and I’m excited about it. We love basketball and we love having the knowledge that these products, when used correctly, can help people improve beyond what they could without and that makes me proud to be part of the company. Though the changes won’t be immediate within a short period of time you’ll start to notice the changes.

Brian Schofield

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Is this even blog worthy material? I question it myself but I have a two part take on this. Pierce was one of the best players in the BIG TEN a few years ago and was a marginal NBA prospect. He was the best player on the Iowa team that was then coached by Steve Alford.

He is on probation for a January 2005 incident at the West Des Moines home of a former girlfriend. The charges resulted in his being kicked off the Iowa basketball team. At the time, Pierce was the third-leading scorer in the Big Ten. Pierce led the Hawkeyes with 16.1 points a game as a sophomore in 2003-04.

He pleaded guilty in August 2005 to third-degree burglary, false imprisonment, assault with intent to commit sexual abuse and criminal trespass.

He served 11 months in prison at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility before he was released in September 2006.

Pierce was sentenced in April to 30 days in jail for violating his probation while playing in an NBA summer league in Las Vegas.

How’s that for a guy with issues? Somehow though he gets to leave the country to finish out his probation.

Here’s my take on it…should he be allowed to go? No he shouldn’t. Should we care that he leaves though? No. Let’s get Pierre (french name) out of our country and into France. Let them deal with a guy who got another break somehow and they can have him. I have an idea…Make the deal contingent on him getting French citizenship. I love it. I don’t know why the state of Iowa isn’t happy about this. The State Supreme Court saw it like i did and were probably mumbling to each other happily about having the guy leave. They wouldn’t let him go to Kansas or Missouri or even Utah but they’ll let him leave the country. Great idea.

Pierce has signed a 120,000 dollar contract with a team in France and is ‘reportedly’ very excited to leave. Sure beats the no payment basketball he got while serving his 11 months.

I’m not about to shoot anyone down for serving their time for the punishment and getting their life back together. I am about giving someone the chance when they haven’t finished serving out their time yet. It’s like ungrounding my kid for breaking a rule because her friend wants to take her to the mall. What does she learn? What will Pierre learn? Whatever it is I hope he learns it quick so we dont have an international event on our hands.

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Stephon Marbury is days away from being waived by the New York Knicks and it is about time. I have very strong opinions about Marbury as a player and I think he is one of the worst point guards in the league. His talent is unquestioned and he’s always carried that with him but his teams simply don’t win. The best team he was on was the Timberwolves with KG and he blew that by leaving very early on in his career. Everyone in the league learned right then what this guy was about. He went to New Jersey where he struggled winning then Phoenix and then the Knicks. Flat out his teams underperform with him on the team. He’s made countless dollars on and off the floor and I’ll say nothing about him as a businessman or a person because I don’t know him, but as a player the Knicks should’ve never taken him and when they did they should’ve turned around and cut him right away.

I guess the best way to put Stephon Marbury is through John Hollinger’s player rater on ESPN. He compares Marbury to David Wesley. David Wesley is the one guy that most average people look to as the guy that gives them hope for playing in the NBA. Marbury has ability and talent that we all dream of and is a career 19 ppg scorer in the best league on earth. However, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if I need to win a game 7 he’s not my point guard. I’d take a guy who leads by example and is unselfish and makes others truly better. I don’t look at assists as that factor either. Deron Williams makes Ronnie Brewer better because he gets him layups and dunks. Marbury hasn’t done anything for anyone in his career and never will. The next team that gets him will get his best because he wants that one last decent contract and if the league is smart they won’t give it to him. Stephon will end up in Miami or somewhere else and think he deserves respect and playing time and all it will do is bring the team to a sub .500 record with him spouting off stats that he’ll never hit. I’ve only seen it happen 5 times in his career and it isn’t going to change.

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This was the fastest NBA offseason I can remember and i think it was aided by the Redeem Team winning the gold medal.  The olympics truly broke up what is usually a long summer away from basketball for me.  Training camp brings a lot of promise for teams and individual players alike.  Deron Williams is coming off a contract extension that got him 70 million.  Gilbert Arenas signed for 100 plus million and then had another knee surgery and is going to be out for a month or two of the season.  The Celtics look to repeat in the NBA as the Lakers look to get back to the finals.

But there is another side to training camp and that is the hope that it brings all NBA free agents looking to make a team.  For a player who is undrafted and looking to make a squad, the minimum salary is 400k plus.  What job can you get where you make that in your first year?  Other players try to prove themselves so they can get that one big contract that can set them up for life.  A few years ago, the Memphis Grizzlies signed Brian Cardinal to a multimillion dollar deal and nobody knows why to this day other than he is a great teammate and a guy who is willing to do whatever it takes to beat you.  That’s what I think of when I think of when I think of training camp.  It isn’t about the starting 5 but usually the last 2 spots where the excitement is and where lives are changed.  The 12th man knows he isn’t going to play much but he knows his role.  He also knows that if he plays his cards right he can have a long career and make great money doing it. 

Some teams have 3-4 guys who should be 12th man material.  We call those teams the Supersonics and the Clippers.

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Each day in the offseason you get some newsworthy tidbits of information and those are great.  Kobe deciding against surgery and people signing with different teams are for the most part newsworthy tidbits of information.  Every so often though, usually in slow news times, stuff leaks out and comes out and is covered and really shouldn’t be.  Case in point from Espn yesterday:

Blazer center LaFrentz to have shoulder surgery-

Most of us didn’t even know LaFrentz was a Blazer.  Most of us didn’t care that he was a Blazer.  The Blazers don’t want him on the team I’m sure of it.  I’m sure Raef is a nice guy and is an Iowa high school basketball legend, but the guy has been injured throughout his pro career and is now a scrub worthy of a Granville Waiters reference.  He gets a mild headline for some reason.  NEXT…

LONGTIME MAGIC FORWARD GARRITY RETIRES FROM NBA

I didn’t know if he was still playing either.  Garrity dates me a little because I remember him as a very good college player and it doesn’t seem that long ago.  Now he retires and he got a slight headline and even a photo associated with it.  When he retired, it is being reported, that every 12th man on every nba roster got happy and had a party because they were now guaranteed a job this season.  Garrity was a tall version of JJ Redick and hung around a long time.  I thought of a list of players who just walked away from basketball who got less pub than this.  Two words:  Dino Radja. NEXT:

Quinn re-signs with Heat, will have shot at starting PG job

This one made me laugh.  I laughed out loud.  Chris Quinn should not start for any NBA team and is a marginal 2nd guard for most teams.  If he is starting for the Heat next season at point then the Heat don’t want this article making it to their season ticket holders.  Quinn is a decent player but you aren’t going to win with him.  There is a reason the Heat weren’t good last year and one reason was that Quinn played a lot for them. Like I said, he should serve in a role that is supporting, not starring.  As the Heat point guard he will need to get the ball to Dwyane Wade and Shawn Marion in good positions and he hasn’t proven he can do that.  Miami has since made a retraction on the announcement of this are just going to keep this hush hush until after season tickets have been renewed.

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When I read about this i couldn’t believe it.  The story was crazy, involving people girls and marijuana in a hotel room.  One thing didn’t surprise me and that was the denial that was soon to come.  Give me a break.  Something fishy was going on there and these athletes are learning very early on that they can get away with about anything.  I would love for one of the them to open up and be honest and take some responsibility for what happened. 

As it is a few people truly know what happened yet nobody is talking about it?  Why?  The girls who were in the room know.  The friends who were supposedly in the room know.  They aren’t talking.  Think they got some sort of money to be quiet about the whole situation?  As the parent of the NBA, David Stern was furious and embarrassed.  The symposium is about how players can adjust to pro ball and about keeping good friends.  People are not allowed in the rooms during this time to avoid situations just like this.  David Stern wants a league where is players are the examples because it increases the value of his product.  He wants positive talk about his players and their achievements.  Coming off the gold medal at the Olympics this is the last thing he wanted but he got it anyway.  So he fines them 20k each and they go on their merry way never really learning the consequences because 20k is like 20 bucks to me.  I’ll pay it but I’m not afraid to pay it again.  Teach them something by making them come out in public and acknowledge what really took place.  If that happened and I’m wrong about what truly went on then I can apologize about it and go on with it. Instead, I’ve got two guys who learned first hand about the benefits of being a pro athlete and how despite the scrutiny you are under you can always get away with something without much more than a slap on the hand.

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I’ve tried to catch some induction ceremonies over the years and even recorded a few of them.  I’ve never loved a ton of hall of fame athletes enough to actually watch their speeches.  I’m an extremely loyal fan to certain teams but I hold certain players in very high respect.  For example, I hate Derek Jeter but he can play.  I respect him, I won’t watch his hall of fame speech and I still stick by the fact that if he was a Kansas City Royal we wouldn’t know who he was or he’d be average.  He was made to shine in New York City and has done just that over the years.  Some of my favorite speeches were by my favorite athletes…Walter Payton and Ryne Sandberg.  In fact, when both gave their speeches I actually wept because of the love they clearly showed for the game they played so well.

The NBA inducted Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon and Adrian Dantley as players and all of them deservedly so.  I grew up in Utah watching Adrian Dantley and he was a gifted and incredible scorer.  He was so good for his size it was crazy.  He was a player who had an offensive arsenal that was incredible for a player who could barely dunk.  He could post up and score and no matter what happened you were going to foul him.  I loved AD.

With Ewing and Olajuwon you had two of the greatest big men in the leagues history.  Hakeem won his rings with Houston while Patrick never got his.  It doesn’t diminish what he meant to basketball in New York.  Not a lot of people came out on top against Michael Jordan.  Olajuwon had the greatest footwork of any player since Kevin McHale and would’ve probably been called for traveling 20 times in a typical college game but didn’t in the NBA.  He was a shot blocking fool and had an unstoppable spinning jump shot on the baseline.  He was incredible.

But the man who made me cry this year was Dick Vitale.  I will never forget watching his speech and I was wishing he would keep talking.  I never thought I’d say that because sometimes I’m watching a game he’s working and I want nothing more than for him to be quiet.  Dick Vitale loves basketball and is grateful for basketball and it gave him everything he has.  He made me cry.  He made me think of shooting hoops at my neighbors house in the snow outside and coming home with cold hands that were beyond dirty.  He made me ache for the days I sat next to my father and watched countless games.  It was as much as hanging out with my father as it was anything else.  Dickie V brings that to life for me and everything else.  He brings out the best that basketball has to offer to a kid growing up or a pro.  I’ll watch this speech over and over and show it to my children because that passion is something I want and i want them to have.

Dick, you couldn’t coach a lick and I’m so glad for that because we all would’ve been missing out.

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The key to every good team is the ability to stop the other team from scoring.  Any great coach will tell you that.  They will also tell you that the key to winning is getting more talent than the other team.  Great defense will always beat good offense though and that is the absolute key.

I’m biased but my favorite program to watch play defense is Illinois.  Bruce Weber knows his stuff.  He was an assistant under Gene Keady for 18 years before getting a head coaching offer at Southern Illinois.  Coach Weber really got the Salukis playing well and made a name for himself there and when Bill Self left Illinois for Kansas, Weber got the job.  He immediately turned the team into a contender and got them to the final 4 his second year there and was within 5 points of winning the title that year.

Coach Weber has a DVD set on defense that is titled: Bruce Weber: 20 Competitive Drills for a Championship Defense and it’s very good.  With on-court demonstration, Weber introduces 10 full-court drills for defending in transition and fastbreak situations. Weber also shares 10 half-court man defense drills covering competitive rebounding, aggressive perimeter and post defense, and end of game situations. In addition, Weber shares 10 things every coach needs to do to build and maintain a successful team at any level of competition! 

I’ve watched nearly every Illini game in coach Weber’s tenure and he is highly regarded as one of the best defensive coaches in the country.  They get after it and make every team they play very uncomfortable.  The past few years they struggled but it wasn’t because of their defense and very soon the Illini will be near the top of the rankings again.

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