College football is right around the corner which means college basketball is right around the corner also.  I’m so excited about it I can’t even tell you in words.  There is something about looking forward to Midnight Madness and getting annoyed with Dick Vitale within minutes of hearing him talk up Duke’s chances of winning the title.  But I thought I would list the coaches that I would most love to play for.

 5.  Roy Williams-  Great coach.  Has an apparent great relationship with his players.  Let’s the kids play a style that they all want to play.  Has a great respect for the game.  I remember when Kansas lost to Syracuse in the championship game and all the rumors were swirling about Roy going to North Carolina.  He handled that situation great and refused to answer anything directly after the game and was praised for how he handled that.  I compare him it to how Nick Saban left the Dolphins and it speaks volumes about what should take place there.

4.  Lute Olson-  The guy always gets great players and produces pro’s.  He has a very favorable playing style and his teams always win and are always a threat.  He let’s his guards play and freelance which is always a plus.  I don’t know how much is left in the tank but I’d love to have played for the guy.

3.  Paul Westhead-  Understand that while I was in junior high and high school this man coached Loyola Marymount University.  They aren’t very good now, but when he coached them they were the most fun team to watch ever.  I would stay up all hours to watch them play a game.  They had a goal to get a shot off within 5 seconds of having the ball and they simply wore teams out.  They had a kid named Jeff Frier or Fryer who would just launch shot after shot from deep and it didn’t matter if they always went in.  Westhead left Loyola to coach the Nuggets and most point records scored were set during his time in Denver.

2.  Tom Izzo-  By my top 2 you’ll know what conference I’m a giant fan of.  This guy always appears very classy and is not afraid to express how he feels about the game of basketball and the kids that play for him.  He doesn’t suffer through a lot of transfers and loves the game.  His kids play very hard and are always competitive.  Playing at Michigan st. is almost a sure loss for any team that goes in and plays.  Has the respect of his kids and the kids that play against him.

1.  Bruce Weber-  This guy can flat out coach.  I was a guard and their is nobody I’d rather play for than the Illini coach.  Most of us remember Dee Brown, Deron Williams and Luther Head and Bruce didn’t recruit any of them.  All 3 are in the NBA because of their hard work and playing for Bruce.  He let them shine.  In the game they lost to Carolina for the title, Illinois shot 40 3’s.  If I’m a good guard and have desires to be a pro I take a strong look at Illinois because Bruce knows what he’s doing to get them prepared for that level.  This past season he didn’t have as much talent and the team still won 23 games while suffering through injuries and off court problems. 

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Some very good players remain unsigned for the coming season as teams decide on priorities and how much money they have left.  It was a time like this a couple years ago where Latrell Sprewell was offered a nice contract and responded with the famous quote “i need to feed my family.”  We haven’t seen or heard from Latrell since.  PJ has had more pub during the same time frame.

Espn is reporting that the Miami Heat are in talks with Sacramento about Mike Bibby.  Jason Williams and possibly Udonis Haslem would be going to Sacramento.  This is interesting because Williams basically was booted out of Sacramento when Bibby came on board and now the same thing would be happening again but this time bringing Williams back to Sacramento.  Other names in the mix are Abdur-Rahim and Kenny Thomas.   We’ll keep on eye on this one.

The Miami Heat are still interested in getting Pietrus from Golden St.  Since Penny Hardaway signed a non guaranteed deal it doesn’t tie up any cap.  You tell me, would you rather have Pietrus or Penny?  I know who i would pick.  If I’m Penny, I’m begging Miami not to acquire Pietrus or that means the end of the Penny experiment.

Juwan Howard, who was recently acquire from Houston for Mike James, is wanting out of Minnesota before he even gets there.  He won’t have to ask for too long.  Minnesota is going young and Juwan doesn’t fit their plans at all.  He’ll be traded soon to a team in need of a veteran presence.

Lastly, I wanted to cover the rumored movement of the Sonics to Oklahoma City.  I’ve been to both places and they are both wonderful.  However, if the owners want to make money then they need to stay in Seattle.  I think Oklahoma City is a great short term choice and proved to do wonders for the New Orleans franchise when Katrina hit.  However, Seattle has a history and stability and just signed one of the most exciting young players to come into the league in years.  Now quite comparable to when Lebron signed with hometown Cleveland, but Durant will create value for the franchise like Carmelo did with Denver.  I’d stick around.  The owners have said that they wouldn’t mind even not making money if they moved the franchise, but I can’t see David Stern going for it for the sake of the league.  Players love Seattle and have always loved playing there, why risk that for the sake of a new city.  Stay in Seattle please.

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This isn’t a typo.  ESPN is reporting that the Boston Celtics and Danny Ainge have been talking with Reggie Miller about coming back and playing in a limited role for the Boston Celtics. 

Reggie Miller is 42 years old and has been out of the league for a couple years and did I mention that he is 42.  Obviously the Celtics are thinking that this guy can come in and provide 10-15 minutes a game and provide a specialty for the team.  Reggie Miller is one of the best shooters in the history of the game.  Now stats won’t exactly agree with me but this man was guarded by the team’s best defender each night and made his shots with people all over him.  Questions still remain.

 The Celtics are going to make a run at the eastern conference title this year by adding Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett.  With Paul Pierce this team has 3 of the best players in the game.  Add in a specialist like Miller and it just creates more space for Garnett.  It seems to make sense.  Did I mention I think it is ridiculous.

I don’t think Reggie Miller can still play.  He has remained in shape after retiring but wasn’t exactly tearing it up when he left.  I know he’ll play in a diminished role but why not give those minutes to a younger player that you can develop a little bit.  Sure people will say they are going for the title and aren’t worried about development, but why not do both.  They are going to contend with or without Reggie Miller.  If they add him and the experiment fails they waste another year of development for a younger player.  However, if the experiment succeeds and Reggie does well but the team doesn’t, then how does that look? 

I’m not sold on it at all.  Reggie needs to stay retired with Scottie Pippen, Toni Kukoc and all the other players that are trying to hang on.  Just let it go and walk into the sunset knowing you were a great player and had a great career.  Lastly, Reggie Miller will look hilarious in the green.  Remember how funny Michael Jordan looked in the Wizard uniform.  Reggie is a Pacer, drafted and retired and anything else is just wrong.  Stay retired Reggie or at least come back after the all star break when you can see the Celtics are good enough to win it all.  I know that the only reason he would want to play again is because of the allure of the ring. 

 We’ll see what happens, but you know what i think.

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Kobe Bryant is good.  He can play basketball as well or better than nearly anyone in the entire world.  He is loved and hated at the same time by fans all over the planet.  Why? 

People try to compare Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant all the time.  The way they could take over a game and carry a team on their shoulders for wins.  People compare the way they so easily could get endorsements and even have accused Kobe of trying to be just “like Mike”.  But he isn’t like Mike.  Not even close. 

Kobe came into the league as a brash young player who wanted to change the game right out of high school.  He wanted to prove to everyone that he not only belonged, but was a top tier player.  I don’t think it helped him that he started his career in LA.  I compare the Lakers to the Yankees.  People either love them or they hate them and the players that play for them.  The Bulls were that way for a while in that people hated the Bulls but rarely did you hear someone say they hated Michael Jordan.  But I hear daily how bad people hate Kobe Bryant.  He’s the basketball version of Barry Bonds.  People go to games to boo him and give him a hard time.  Kobe had the rape accusations against him that didn’t help his cause either and subsequently lost a lot of his endorsement deals.  At the time I thought that was ridiculous because he hadn’t been found guilty of anything and wasn’t found guilty of anything.  He bought his wife a multimillion dollar ring and she stayed with him.  Still, that made him more of a villain in many people’s eyes. 

Michael Jordan was a known gambler and someone who cheated on his wife.  He has had all sorts of attacks on his character but it never effected the way people truly looked at him.  He kept his endorsement deals and still has a bunch of them.  He is the hero.  He is Superman and to our country he is nearly our favorite sports son.

Kobe Bryant plays on the largest stage in the NBA and is loved by all Lakers fans but is even starting to turn them off by his recent trade demands.  To them he is a hero and the man who is partly responsible for bringing the Lakers their most recent titles.  What it boils down to to me is that Michael Jordan was the man for the Bulls but didn’t care who took the shot as long as they won the game.  Kobe wants to be the man who is credited for a title like Michael was or Magic was or Larry was.  Instead he’s dealing with Shaq’s presence and Shaq is the one credited for those rings. 

 I believe that Kobe Bryant will go down as one of the top 5 best players to ever play the game.  I think he’ll hold a number of records that may not be broken when all is said and done.  But to me, something is missing and Kobe is the villain.

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As much as I try to remain unbiased in a lot of ways, it is hard for me to not to show my love for the University of Illinois.  I was brainwashed at a young age by my father to love most things Chicago and it stuck.  I’m a die hard Illini fan living in Utah where I shed tears of joy when Deron Williams was selected by the Jazz a few years ago.  What does this have to do with recruiting?  I want the Illini to do well.  I want them to get the next Deron Williams.  Recruiting has changed since I was in high school.

 When I was in high school the methods were simple.  I’m 34 years old but there was no internet in 1991.  We didn’t have cell phones in 1991 that were worth anything.  We would play high school basketball and summer ball was just starting to get big.  Things have changed with the internet in a number of ways starting with websites and companies completely devoted to the recruitment of players in all sports.  I subscribe to an Illini website that I love to get all the latest updates there in basketball and football.  Coaches used to write letters and call the players.  Now the coaches write letters, call on the phone and text message like crazy.  Recently text messaging came into question by the NCAA and is probably going to be regulated.  Some players were saying they get texts in all hours of the day, so much so that they have handlers or people who handle their recruitment for them. 

 Shoe companies, who were once smaller players, have taken over college athletics.  Nike and Adidas have camps and sponsor traveling AAU teams in the summer and have an influence on kids decisions whether they push it that way or not.  It is a factor in recruiting.

 Something that I think has the largest effect are the message boards that are out there.  These free message boards allow people to post opinions on certain players and recruits and are accessible by anyone with an account.  If a kid is being recruited by Illinois he can go to the message board and see how much he is either liked or disliked and that has an obvious effect on recruiting.  I cringe when I go to the Illinois site that I subscribe to because people type things in there that could really turn a recruit off to the school and the program.  Disparaging remarks about a coach can be made and other recruits that are coming in.  Vice versa, good comments can help in a positive way. 

 These are just some of the ways that recruiting has changed in college athletics and with each turn in technology it changes more and more. 

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Espn and Fox Sports are reporting that Kevin Garnett to the Celtics is very close to being a completed deal.  “Among the players who could be headed to Minnesota are forward Al Jefferson, guard Sebastian Telfair, swingman Gerald Green and center Theo Ratliff, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal had not been completed. The official also said the Timberwolves would get at least one draft choice.”  http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/7075382

 This is a very interesting trade when you look at it from both perspectives.  From the Timberwolves perspective they get much younger and get some players with some serious promise.  Al Jefferson showed last season that he will be a great player in the league and by averaging 16 points and 11 rebounds in 34 minutes a game.  Gerald Green is still very young and has a lot of upside.  Telfair has his issues and may not even play a minute in Minnesota after going through his legal troubles this offseason again.  Theo Ratliff provides a giant cap relief at the end of the season of nearly 12 million dollars and that’s big for Minnesota.  By getting  a draft choice back they will clearly continue to rebuild with a decent pick, especially if the pick they get back is the pick they gave to Boston last season.

 For Boston, they just got very good very quickly.  They now have acquired Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett this offseason and when you add Paul Pierce into the mix you have one of the top 3somes in the league.  I love the deal for Boston who wants to win now.  Garnett gives them a strong presence who simply can’t get doubleteamed anymore.  What team will double down on Garnett and open up shots for Pierce and Allen?  Garnett will arguably have his best season in Boston and give that city hope again.  Where the Celtics have giant question marks are at Center and Point Guard.  Rajon Rondo will be counted on along with Delonte West to run the point.  West primarily played there last season and did decent but wasn’t great.  He is a better shooter than Rondo but Rondo would challenge for the league lead in steals if he were to play that position 30 minutes each night. 

 Both teams would be getting what they want.  The Wolves will rebuild while the Celtics gamble to get good now.  I think the Celtics will look for a defensive Center and go from there.  I think the Wolves will let the kids play and bring a very exciting brand of basketball back to Minnesota, just like when Marbury and Garnett were youngsters there. 

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I can’t tell you how excited I am about this opportunity.  I absolutely love the game of basketball in nearly every form (Church Organization Basketball excluded) and to get the chance to talk about it daily is something that really excites me.  We want this blog to be about each and every person’s love for the game and to feel free to share experiences that we can all learn from.  Believe me when I say that when we win our 6 foot and under league team title this coming season I will be posting all about it.  I want the excitement of playing the game to come out.  I want the success stories shared from a certain product or applying a trait that you picked up in a drill.  Sometimes it is the little things that excite me when I play.  Something as simple as a nice crisp pass or a jump shot that you know is good the second it leaves your hand.  Does it get better than that?  Not to me and I want to share that enthusiasm with all of you.  Let’s get some experiences rolling in here of your favorite basketball moment.  Mine was scoring 73 points in a game.  Now I didn’t pass the ball much at all during that time of my career, but that game was my favorite.  Looking back I think my teammates liked me like TeenWolf’s teammates liked him, not very much.  That game sticks out because I felt like I could do nothing wrong.  I didn’t get tired and all I remember was thinking that I was going to do everything I could to make us win the game and we did.  So with that, let’s get this going.  Send in your favorite basketball moment so far in your life and any questions you might have.  I can’t post everything, but I promise that this will be a very active blog where opinions are very welcome.  Enjoy.

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