Full. Lateral. Support. No big has feet like Pau Gasol. In fact, few players - of any size - posses the bearded Spaniard’s time-honed technique.The reason is simple: championship pivot-points are often decided by the slimmest of margins. Think: Pau’s outstretched fingertips - the momentum-changing ...
Carlos Boozer’s take on Carl Sandburg’s 1916 “Chicago”:Rebounding hog for the NBA, Feathery jumper, setter of screens,Player with ink spots and the league’s biceps curler; Flurry, bulky, demonstrating, Power Forward of the wide shoulders. Poetic: Chicago is also referred to as “The City That ...
Glory: Olympic medals dotting their rich 20th century play. Strife: long stretches removed from the rankings of the world stage. Resiliency: the reclamation of the French National Men’s Basketball team. Players like Tony Parker and Boris Diaw playing France back into the FIBA Top-15. They’ll take ...
Show up. Nearly two-dozen of the NBA’s best did. And for a week they battled in the scorching desert for a spot on America’s team. Stretch. Practice. Learn. Stretch. Scrimmage. Compete. Cool down - and clown around - at photo sessions in between.There were injuries. Utter frustrations. New ...
Self-governing. Unincorporated. Caribbean. By land, this archipelago is the smallest of the Greater Antilles. By hardwood, this rich port lives up to its Spanish translation by consistently appearing across the world basketball landscape. Highlights: FIBA Americas, Pan American and Goodwill Games ...
Transform. Larry Bird went from small-town shooter to the NCAA National Championship game. Then backed that up with back-to-back-to-back NBA MVPs on his way to the Hall of Fame.Carmelo Anthony went from big-city prep legend-in-the-making to NCAA Championship leading man - as a Syracuse freshman. ...
Glue. There’s a stickiness to some players that no statistical category can measure. But numbers would just lie anyway: It’s impossible to satisfy any statistician with nothing more than the raw human desire that binds championship-caliber teams together. Anderson Varejao is a glue-guy. Has been ...
High school: all-conference, all-state, team MVP. Conference titles, state playoff appearances, school records. Zero major college scholarship offers. College: all-conference, All-America, Player of the Year. Conference titles, electric NCAA tournament appearances, school records. Plenty of debate ...
Magic vs. CP3:Truth and dare: the definition of the point guard position. Start with attention to detail. Important and essential: the quarterback of nearly every possession. On both ends of the floor. The beginning of every team’s purpose wrapped in the element of end results. The epicenter of the ...
Arguably: the strongest team in all of Asia. More FIBA Asia Championships than any other competing nation. Zhu’s four CBA Finals MVP awards leave few reasons to argue against his standing as one of the nation’s most outstanding performers. Zhu’s CBA League MVP honor only cements his consideration. ...
A study in contrasts:Shredded. A blessed body further molded into muscles. A body of work seemingly chiseled from the modern day definition of power forward.The Round ***** of Rebound. A Hall of Fame demolition of legendary archetypes. The original power forward pattern remodeled to fit almost any ...
J.J. BareaCollege: a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award. Twice.What that means: for two years, J.J. was recognized as one of the best point guards the nation had to offer. Figures: the school’s second all-time leader: points, assists, 3-point field goals made. NBA: impossible to measure. Each and ...