Up until now, no one seems to have an idea as to where 5th overall pick Ricky Rubio will end up.
Will he really play for Minnesota, which "his mom apparently despises because of the cold"? Will he get traded to more marketable cities such as New York, where the bright lights and the moolah are? Or will he eventually remain in Spain, where he has to serve out his existing contract with DKV Joventut?
I don't think anyone is sure at this point as to what the Rubio camp has in mind.
Me? All I know is that this draft day promotional photo of him ain't cool at all. (And it also doesn't help that J.E. Skeets' column pic on the right appears to be mocking the 18-year-old pointguard's facial expression.)
Oh well, I guess we all have to stay tuned to this soap opera for some more time. Not that I'm complaining.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
all up to us now
I must admit I was among those who felt real excited when the groupings for the FIBA-Asia Championships were announced last week.
The Philippines, in case you haven't heard, found itself in Group A, along with old rivals Japan and Korea plus expected-to-be-booted-out Sri Lanka (let's get straight to the point, shall we?).
Now this is not exactly a walk-in-the-park. Far from it. But compared to 2007 wherein we found ourselves holed up against China, Iran, and Jordan, one can understand why we're calling ourselves lucky this time around.
But that is not the primary reason why I suddenly felt like we could put up a better fight in this year's hostilities. At around the same time, FIBA also announced a new tournament format, which if we put in a nutshell, basically means that Team Pilipinas will have a total of 6 classification round games before the top 8 teams are decided (4 each from Groups A and B, and then another 4 from Groups C and D).
I really feel that this is more of a blessing to us than the actual groupings as I've always believed that an all-pro national team will never ever get accustomed to shorter elimination round formats in big tourneys such as these. In other words, the greater the number of games we play (before we plunge into the knockout stage), the better our chances are.
But of course, the classification stage is just half the battle (or exactly 40% if you're into math or just plain bored). Once the seedings are determined, then that's where the real fun--or real trouble--depending on how you look at it, begins.
I'm not trying to sound too prophetic here, but on paper, it looks like the following teams will enter the knockout stage: Iran, Korea, Philippines, and Japan from Groups A and B; China, Jordan, Lebanon, and Kazakhstan from Groups C and D. Depending on the seedings, those teams are expected to figure in do-or-die quarterfinal pairings to determine the Final Four, from which another set of win-or-go home match-ups will be played to come up with the top 3 teams that will advance to the 2010 FIBA World Championships.
Will RP be one of them?
Tough to say or even predict at this point. All I know is that the breaks are there. It's up to the team to grab their fair share. Or perharps even more of it.
Monday, June 22, 2009
postmortem
The LA Lakers did not win the NBA Finals.
That is not a bitter statement coming from a self-confessed Kobe-hater (for at least 70% of his basketball-following existence) who incidentally has lost all four bets he made against the Lake Show throughout these Playoffs.
The Lakers did not win the NBA Finals because the Orlando Magic lost it.
The latter had all the chances in the world to turn it into their fairytale. You know, the one with an unlikely character facing multiple stumbling blocks then defying the odds and singing happy songs at the end.
This one had the unlikely character and the multiple stumbling blocks, just not the rest. And the Magic have no one to blame but themselves.
Sure, the Lakers were good. I do understand that they have the best scorer on earth today, an offensively gifted center, two versatile inside-out forwards, and a veteran sweet-shooting court general.
And then they also have Sasha Vujacic. (The last one was sarcastic, in case you didn't notice).
But you would be foolish to think that Dwight Howard and his crew did not have enough in them to stay competitive and shock the Purple and Gold. They did. They just weren't able to show it when it mattered the most.
And for this debacle, most pundits are putting the blame on Stan Van Gundy. The Ron Jeremy-clone turned from being touted as a miracle worker (after they disposed of the top-seeded Cavs) to being labeled as "Stan Van Goofy." His personnel and play-by-play decisions have been questioned by even the little known taho vendors on the streets.
But now that it's done and over with, do I really think that he made stupid decisions? No, I don't. I stand by my belief that those are not stupid decisions, just ineffective ones. Unfortunately for him, the repercussions of his strategies (or non-strategies as some may point out) were huge. And he ended up as the biggest goat out there.
Now where do they go from here? Can they make the big leap next year or is this the Dallas Mavericks circa 2006 all over again?
Well, first things first, they need to retain the core of this team and allow the youngsters to polish up on their individual talents. If they can also add a low-post scoring power forward who fits into their offensive system and can defend taller 4's or 5's, I think they'll have another good shot.
After all, these kids have shown that they can learn. And then maybe, when they find themselves in a similar stage anytime soon, the happy songs will finally be there.
That is not a bitter statement coming from a self-confessed Kobe-hater (for at least 70% of his basketball-following existence) who incidentally has lost all four bets he made against the Lake Show throughout these Playoffs.
The Lakers did not win the NBA Finals because the Orlando Magic lost it.
The latter had all the chances in the world to turn it into their fairytale. You know, the one with an unlikely character facing multiple stumbling blocks then defying the odds and singing happy songs at the end.
This one had the unlikely character and the multiple stumbling blocks, just not the rest. And the Magic have no one to blame but themselves.
Sure, the Lakers were good. I do understand that they have the best scorer on earth today, an offensively gifted center, two versatile inside-out forwards, and a veteran sweet-shooting court general.
And then they also have Sasha Vujacic. (The last one was sarcastic, in case you didn't notice).
But you would be foolish to think that Dwight Howard and his crew did not have enough in them to stay competitive and shock the Purple and Gold. They did. They just weren't able to show it when it mattered the most.
And for this debacle, most pundits are putting the blame on Stan Van Gundy. The Ron Jeremy-clone turned from being touted as a miracle worker (after they disposed of the top-seeded Cavs) to being labeled as "Stan Van Goofy." His personnel and play-by-play decisions have been questioned by even the little known taho vendors on the streets.
But now that it's done and over with, do I really think that he made stupid decisions? No, I don't. I stand by my belief that those are not stupid decisions, just ineffective ones. Unfortunately for him, the repercussions of his strategies (or non-strategies as some may point out) were huge. And he ended up as the biggest goat out there.
Now where do they go from here? Can they make the big leap next year or is this the Dallas Mavericks circa 2006 all over again?
Well, first things first, they need to retain the core of this team and allow the youngsters to polish up on their individual talents. If they can also add a low-post scoring power forward who fits into their offensive system and can defend taller 4's or 5's, I think they'll have another good shot.
After all, these kids have shown that they can learn. And then maybe, when they find themselves in a similar stage anytime soon, the happy songs will finally be there.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Sunday, June 7, 2009
carmela anthony
(Photo taken from interbasket.net)
No, Melo did not grow curly locks overnight. This was taken during the Western Conference Finals--in an instance wherein the said Denver superstar was standing directly in front of the Lakers' caveman-slash-baller Pau Gasol.
And that is the reason why he's staying bald the rest of his life.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
it's that time of the year again
One thing that excites me the most about the NBA Finals is having our own local commentators covering the games live.
Sorry, let me be rephrase that.
One thing that excites me the most about the NBA finals is having Quinito "The Dean" Henson covering the games live.
Right now, I'm not sure if he'll be doing it again (like he has done for the past several years) but I'm gonna be disappointed if he doesn't. Seriously.
Just think of all the awesome things we might learn: Marcin Gortat is a half-brother of Borat. Trevor Ariza's high school prom's neighbor's second cousin's driving instructor's wife is half-Filipino. Rafer Alston wears underwear made from Divisoria.
Now if those don't excite you at all, I don't know what will.
It's the NBA Finals ladies and gentlemen--where Quinito and 1001 non-basketball related trivias happen.
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