Hakeem Olajuwon is now 52 years old, but you wouldn’t know it by watching his moves at the first NBA Africa Game on Saturday. The native Nigerian unexpectedly checked into game for Team Africa in the second quarter along with Dikembe Mutombo, now 49. They each wore throwback uniforms from their 1990s Rockets and Nuggets days, and most impressively, both of the legendary centers made an impact on the game itself. Mutombo grabbed four rebounds in just three minutes, while Olajuwon blocked a
Like most fans, I found this season’s Final Four to be really good. I guess college basketball isn’t being ruined by “one-and-done” after all. While we saw a one-and-done factory (Duke) win it all, we also had a sighting of a dodo bird. That creature thought to be extinct, known as a senior star. Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan prides himself on building from within and having well-coached teams. He develops players and teams over time by having rosters dominated by kids from
Editor’s Note: Whether coaching or forecasting, Bobby Gonzalez knows college basketball. He went 8-0 picking games in the Sweet Sixteen a year ago, 7-1 in that round this year and 3-1 in last weekend’s regional finals. This is not some Bozo. It’s Gonzo. He knows what he’s talking about. It was 1991 and I was standing in the crowd at the Final Four as a New York City high school coach, watching All-American Larry Johnson of the dominant, unbeaten UNLV team
Brook Lopez has been with the Brooklyn Nets since the 2008-2009 season when the team selected him with the 10th overall pick in the NBA draft, but it appears more so than ever that his time with the franchise has run its course. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, multiple teams are interested in the center and the Nets are more than eager to make something happen as they try to figure out how to fix their deeply-flawed roster: [Read more…]
After spending last year in Spain, Lucas Nogueira is preparing for his first NBA season. Lucas Nogueira, the Brazilian center that the undersized Atlanta Hawks shipped to the Toronto Raptors with Lou Williams for John Salmons and a second-round draft pick, is training with Hall of Fame center and two-time NBA Champion Hakeem Olajuwon. Olajuwon, otherwise known as “Hakeem the Dream” — widely known for his indefensible “Dream Shake” in the low post, has helped many NBA athletes
With the NBA season over for all but four teams, most around the league are thinking about what to do heading into next season. Naturally, everything starts from the top, and that means the search for quality coaches is on. The Golden State Warriors moved quickly and acquired Steve Kerr on a multi-year deal, while the Detroit Pistons scooped up the much-coveted Stan Van Gundy. There are still plenty of teams around the league looking to fill the vacancy of the
The Jordan Brand Classic introduced us to the game’s future stars. And from the looks of it, the future is bright. Top recruits from Duke, Kansas and Kentucky dazzled in the All-American Game and showed why each program has drawn considerable buzz heading into next season. Seton Hall – which had five recruits named to the Jordan Brand Classic – dominated the Regional Game. Canada shined in the International Game once again thanks to Jahvon Blair’s MVP performance with the help of his
Not unlike seasons of past, key players for many teams around the league have missed significant time due to a variety of injuries this season. It looked as though Nene Hilario would suffer a similar fate – and then some – when he went down with a scary looking knee injury against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Sunday. Some in the organization feared that it may have been bad enough to be season-ending. Lucky for the Washington Wizards, the power forward suffered nothing