720 dunk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7OmZKQ4jeU

Insane, isn’t it? I’d like to see Vince or Kobe try and top that.

The USC Trojans are best known for their highly successful football program. However, USC is not only a football school. In the past few years, the Trojans basketball program has fallen on hard times, failing to make the NCAA Division 1 basketball tournament in 2006, 2005, 2004 and 2003. Now, things are starting to turn around.

In the 2007 NCAA tournament, the USC basketball team advanced to the Sweet Sixteen, losing to the University of North Carolina, one of the top teams in the nation. Tim Floyd worked some magic and was able to achieve an excellent result, considering the fact that USC did not qualify for the tournament in 2006.

The Pac-10 conference, of which USC is a member, is incredibly tough and includes many strong basketball schools, including UCLA, Arizona, Oregon, Oregon State and up-and-coming Washington State. Pac-10 just got even tougher because of one 19 year old. His name? O.J. Mayo, from Huntington HS in West Virginia. Last year, Mayo was arguably the best high school player in the USA. If you don’t believe me, this video should convince you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RKoXNToOnk

That was O.J. Mayo’s last dunk in the State Championships. UCLA, Arizona and the other basketball powerhouses in the Pac-10 conference better start preparing. What was once an inferior team now poses a serious challenge to the UCLA Bruins’ traditional dominance.

Now that he has enrolled at USC, the Trojans have a much better chance than they had at the last tournament. Without Mayo, the Trojans were able to make the Sweet Sixteen. Next time, with O.J. Mayo leading the team, USC will be expected by many to achieve a spot in the Elite Eight. I have no doubt that the current Trojans team has the ability to go that far, and the university should have no problem putting asses in seats at the Galen Center.

J.R. Holden’s jumper with 2.1 seconds left secured Russia their first-ever EuroBasket title with a thrilling 60-59 victory over reigning world champions and hosts Spain.

Pau Gasol had a chance to win the game at the buzzer but his mid-range jumpshot went in and out, leaving Spain to collect their sixth European silver medal.

Andrei Kirilenko collected Most Valuable Player honours for the tournament after collecting 17 points, five rebounds, two assists, one blocked shot and a steal with 59 seconds remaining.

That swipe led to a basket by Nikita Morgunov to pull Russia to within 59-58 with 43 seconds to play.

Holden grabbed his own steal with 28 seconds left against Gasol in the post.

The American-born guard shook himself open and launched a long jumper which hit the rim and came back down in.

The crown was Russia’s first ever after the Soviet Union won 14 European gold medals. It was also their third medal overall following silver in 1993 and bronze in 1997.

Spain‘s silver medal goes with those from 1935, 1973, 1983, 1999 and 2003.

Holden finished with eight points while Aleksey Savrasenko scored 10 points and Victor Khryapa collected seven points, 12 rebounds, four assists, three steals and a blocked shot before fouling out with four minutes to go.

“Hopefully this will be the first of many titles. Spain are a great team, but we just played really well tonight,” said Kirilenko. “We made Spain nervous and we played as a team. I might be the MVP but it’s been a team effort all the way.”

Gasol finished with 14 points, 14 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots but the NBA superstar also missed five of eight foul shots in the fourth quarter (5-of-12 overall) and committed five turnovers.

“You must understand that today is a very sad day for us. I admit I wasn’t at my best. But I take responsibilty for that,” Gasol said. “On the last shot, I thought I saw the ball going in, maybe I should have taken another step forward.”

Jose Calderon scored a team-high 15 points while Jorge Garbajosa added eight points and six rebounds.

(Full story – Eurobasket2007.org)

Congratulations to the Russians. They earned their place in Beijing. Eurobasket is very tough, with top teams such as Spain, France, Italy and Greece all competing. Greece, Germany, Croatia and Slovenia will make a final attempt to qualify at the World Olympic Qualifying Tournament in July 2008.

Kickboxing Accident

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yVqLwRO-hhc

The Cavs could use a shooting guard, since Larry Hughes’ health is unreliable, and as Houston’s jumpshot is said to be “smooth as water”, Cleveland will no doubt be interested. Right now the Cavs need somebody to help out at the 3 – LeBron may be a superstar but not even Jordan could do everything at once.

Miami are still figuring out who will play SG for the first 2+ weeks of the season, with Dwayne Wade likely to miss the first few weeks of the season as he recovers from a dislocated shoulder. Their current options until Wade is back are Dorrell Wright, rookie Daequan Cook, Smush Parker and veteran Penny Hardaway. With so many options, it seems unlikely that the Heat would sign Houston. However, a good outside shooter would definitely force defenders to concentrate less of Shaquille O’Neal and Dwayne Wade, freeing them up to do their thing.

Allan Houston joining the Mavericks is a possibility, but Dallas won’t be desperate after achieving the most wins of any NBA team in the regular season. The Mavs could benefit from an experienced shooting guard, but they already have Jerry Stackhouse and Eddie Jones, so they may prefer not to pay for a player who they don’t really need.

Houston being snapped up by San Antonio is a possibility too, as the Spurs could use some experienced backup for Manu Ginobili. However, after winning the championship, the Spurs, like Dallas, will not be desperate to sign an older guard, who will retire in a few years.

New Jersey has also expressed interest and it seems likely that the Nets will offer him a contract. The Nets could definitely use an experienced shooting guard, as Richard Jefferson is more of a small forward, and with Houston living in Southern Connecticut, a contract with New Jersey would save Houston the trouble of moving across the country.

It seems unlikely that Houston will move to the Knicks, as New York already have enough shooting guards, all of whom are crucial. It would be plain stupid for Isiah Thomas to bench Jamal Crawford, Q-Rich or Nate Robinson in favour of an older player with a history of knee trouble. That issue aside, the Knicks are busy dealing with the Isiah Thomas sexual harassment scandal and their cap room leaves much to be desired.

We should see Allan Houston in the NBA this season, with so many teams interested he is bound to get a roster spot somewhere. It seems most likely that Houston will play in New Jersey or Cleveland as he could contribute much to those two teams. Having Allan Houston and LeBron James on the same team, or Allan Houston, Jason Kidd and Vince Carter on the same team would be quite a mix.

There is only one question remaining: Can his knee stand the pressure of professional basketball? Lets hope it can.

“The Heat has formally placed Pat Riley’s name for nomination to the basketball Hall of Fame.

Riley’s name next will be presented to the North American screening committee in January. Should he receive the required seven votes from the nine members of that committee, he would be announced as a Hall finalist at the Feb. 17 NBA All-Star Game in New Orleans.

From there, with 18 of 24 votes from the selection committee, he would be named a Hall inductee at the April 5-7 NCAA Men’s Final Four in San Antonio, with induction in Springfield, Mass., in September 2008.

Among the players Riley has coached who already are in the Hall are Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, Bob McAdoo and James Worthy. Among his coaching contemporaries already in the Hall are Hubie Brown, Larry Brown, Chuck Daly, Red Holzman, Phil Jackson, Jack Ramsay and Lenny Wilkens.”

Riley has an excellent chance of achieving 18 of 24 votes from the selection committee. He is a coaching legend and 3 time coach of the year. Riley has the third highest amount of wins of any NBA coach, topped only by Lenny Wilkens and Don Nelson.

After achieving so much, and becoming one of the best coaches in the history of the game, a place in the hall of fame is certainly warranted.

Since being drafted by the Blazers, Oden has had his tonsils removed after an illness during the NBA Summer League. He was recently working out in Portland when he start getting knee pains.

Portland is not revealing much about his problem, with a spokesperson only revealing that Greg and Coach Nate McMillan were unavailable for comment. SI.com reported that unsuccessful attempts were made to contact Oden’s agent, Mike Conley Sr.

Hopefully Oden will be healthy in time for the season, but if he is having exploratory surgery, as reported in the SI.com article (above), things could be pretty serious. It is possible that he could miss several weeks or even the entire season, like Clippers PG Shaun Livingston. If his knee is that bad, Portland will have a lot of trouble in the coming season as they have no doubt incorporated Oden into their strategy in a big way.

The first pick shows a lot of potential, but things aren’t looking too great right now. Good luck with the injury Greg – your team needs you healthy.

In the 2006/07 NBA season, the Lakers averaged approximately 103.4 ppg. Kobe Bryant averaged 31.6 ppg in 06/07. If you subtract Kobe’s score from the team average, you get 71.8 ppg. Atlanta Hawks had the lowest average score per game in 06/08, with 93.65 at home and 98.41 when away.

Basically, if Kobe suffered a career ending injury tomorrow, the LA Lakers would by far be the lowest scoring team in the league, unless they would be lucky enough to sign somebody who can score more than 20 ppg, which isn’t likely. They would most likely crash and burn.

Phil Jackson was quoted by SI.com as saying that “Kobe and I are very much in collusion in that we want to have an opportunity and we want this team to have an opportunity to succeed, “And one of Kobe’s complaints is to improve the talent and give him the teammates he can compete with. I’m in collusion with him on that.”

Kobe is obviously disappointed that the Lakers are not advancing far enough come playoffs time, which has, in part been caused by a lack of talent on the LA roster. The current roster, even with Bryant and Lamar Odom, is not strong enough to compete against teams such as Phoenix, Boston and San Antonio, with multiple star players on the roster. Kobe is good, but he can’t do it all.

Earlier in the year, Kobe slammed the Lakers’ front office and demanded a trade. Since then, he has softened his stance. LA can and should make some trades and get somebody else in. There was a rumour going around about LA trading Lamar Odom and a few others for KG, but that obviously didn’t work out.

Another rumour surfaced in August. Pacer Jermaine O’Neal has apparently indicated that he wants a trade to the Lakers. O’Neal has been quoted as saying that: “It’s time for me to move on,” he says. “And the Lakers are the team I want Indiana to trade me to… I love Indiana and the fans and we have a lot of nice young talent, but obviously they’re in a situation now where they’re rebuilding. I told them I can’t be in a rebuilding mode right now. I’m at a point in my career where I can’t wait another five years to contend. I’m not in a position physically to take in five years of losses and downtime.”

Jermaine wants to go and no doubt, Kobe would be thrilled to have him in LA. If such a trade goes through, the Lakers could emerge as a contender for the Western Conference finals. A possible deal could send Lamar Odom, Andrew Bynum and maybe cash, 1^st round draft picks or even another laker to Indiana, in exchange for O’Neal.

I personally would love to see such a trade go through – it would make the Western conference much more competitive, and the impact on the East would not be huge.

Fingers are crossed.