Hate him or love him, Allen Iverson inspired a generation to embrace who they are and don’t conform to someone else’s idea of success. Bomani Jones at SB Nation wrote a stirring article detailing the rise and fall of one of the most influential sports figures of all time.
Here is a small excerpt for the beautifully written piece about Iverson,
The rest is the big stuff, the totality of Iverson’s nearly four decades and what they meant to a generation of fans and observers who never met him. Even those who couldn’t relate to him felt inclined to root for him, if only to spite those who despised him. He was readily associated with hip-hop, but Iverson was rock star from the same mold as all the great ones. They grew up with the Stones, but gave Iverson the same lectures on his clothes that Jagger complained about on “Satisfaction.” It was he who was immune to consultations, quite aware of what he was going through, even if those who judged him were not.
For people like me, Iverson’s complaints were also ours. His defenses of his own rap music were the same we offered our parents when they heard the words coming from our bedroom windows. We wanted to wear t-shirts and sneakers everywhere, and we couldn’t see what the big deal was, either. We were tired of being treated like criminals because of how we dressed. After being told for so long all the nonsensical compromises we would have to make to be successful, it warmed teenage hearts to see Iverson make it without doing any of those things.
It didn’t feel like he was being knocked for his undeniable flaws, or even simply for being young and black. It felt like he caught hell for refusing to believe there was something wrong with who he was, how he dressed and how he wore his hair. It wasn’t just a refusal to conform. It was a demand for his right to exist. He wasn’t analyzed as much as he was indicted by his critics, many of whom never considered how truly impressive it was for someone from his side of the tracks to be a tax-paying millionaire. So many treated him as if he were doomed, that he could never be more than he was as a jaded, immature man in his early-20s.
As a Seattle-based basketball fanatic website, we knew all too well what was going with the Seattle Supersonics fiasco courtesy of Howard Schultz, David Stern, and Clay Bennett. Now the Sacramento Kings are in a similar situation but with much less fanfare outside of the city of Sacramento. Thanks to the efforts of James Ham, a blogger who can be found at Cowbell Kingdom of the TrueHoop Network, Small Market, Big Heart hopes to shed light on the situation.
Small Market, Big Heart is a full-length documentary designed to share the compelling story of the people of Sacramento and their battle to get and keep a professional sports franchise over the last 26 years. This story has many heroes, but one common theme – a community with a huge heart. As a small market, Sacramento has faced enormous adversity, first in landing an NBA franchise and then maintaining that franchise through both good and bad economic times. The one constant has always been incredible community support, as the Kings have sold out all of their games in 19 of 26 seasons in Sacramento.
Over the last year, faced with the possibility of losing their team, grassroots movements fought to engage political leaders to fight for Sacramento’s one and only professional franchise. The outcome was nothing short of a miracle, as the combined efforts of many, led to an NBA first — a one year extension for a city to get a new entertainment and sports complex built.
This film will illustrate Sacramento’s struggle to remain relevant in the high-stakes game of professional sports. The story is told through the eyes of long-term members of media, former and current members of the Sacramento Kings franchise, local politicians and lastly, the common members of the Sacramento community that stood tall in the face of adversity.
The fight is not over. The NBA has given Sacramento until March 1 to get a financing mechanism in place for a new entertainment and sports complex. If that doesn’t happen, the city may lose its most recognizable community asset. Our goal is to release this film in December of 2011 while the story is still unfolding, and then revisit the ending when a final outcome is decided. During these crucial times, it is important for the community to have knowledge of the unique history of the Sacramento Kings and how important it is for the franchise to stay in the River City.
This film will set the scene for what is to be the future of our region.
The documentary debuted on January 9th, 2012 at the Crest Theatre in Downtown Sacramento. The premiere drew close to 1,000 people to the event and the support for the Kings continues to grow in the small community.
Judging from the moves made by Sacramento mayor Kevin Johnson the Kings look to be sticking around but with David Stern still ruling the NBA with an iron fist, anything is possible. Rob McAllister of Cowbell Kingdom detailed the city’s plans to finance the new arena in great detail as well as the roadblocks that could hinder a deal being but in place to keep the team,
This is why you can expect to see the Kings in Sacramento at least through the 2012-13 NBA season.
As Johnson said, the public arena effort is further along this time than it was all previous 12 attempts combined.
Many are nervously awaiting the sale of public parking garages and spaces. The “deal-breaking” proposal is expected to net the city more than $200-million once the bonds are paid off.
Several companies are showing interest and a select few will soon begin the request-for-proposal process. Those companies chosen will bid on assuming control of the parking garages and spaces. It seems daunting to get this done just one month before the NBA relocation filing deadline.
However, the Maloofs have stated that the March 1st date is “flexible” and it seems NBA Commissioner David Stern is willing to give Sacramento a longer leash after seeing what Johnson and his Think Big Sacramento team have accomplished in just ten months. The mayor has likely earned the city until March of next year before a move is discussed again. (I also believe further studies on Anaheim or other locations will be done now that there is revenue sharing to help small-market cities.)
Even with the extra time, Johnson will not go public stating the March 1st deadline is workable. He does not want to give opponents a chance to delay or hinder progress on the project.
Expect financing to fall in place sometime in May. The city will have a firm figure on the parking sale, hotels will make up their minds on how much they’ll fork over, Anschutz Entertainment Group will negotiate a price to operate the arena, and the NBA/Kings will come to the table to discuss their contribution. All these pieces need to add up to $406-million or more.
As you can see there is still hope that the team is not out of the city but when you see terms “flexible”, “leash”, and “David Stern”, your knee jerk reaction may led you to have some doubts. Let’s hope the citizens of Sacramento learned from the Seattle experience and are able to keep a vital piece of their community at home.
Here is a peak at the film,
You can find more information about the documentary here.
By now I’m sure you have knowledge of the “Dunk Seen/Heard/Felt Round the World”. Believe it or not though there was an actual game played tonight where the Los Angeles Clippers beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-100. Read on to find out how the other 210 points went down.
January 29, 2012 at 6:47 pm · written by BiG CHiNA
I thought this was it. It was going to be this game. Nationally televised. Chance to take the top spot in the Pac-12 conference standings. Double digit lead dropping to 2. This was finally going to be the game that horrendous free throw shooting was finally going to cost the Washington Huskies a game. It was unbelievably bad. As a team the Huskies shot just 44% (7-16). The Arizona Wildcats on the other were 21-29 good for 72%. Terrence Ross 74%, didn’t get it done. C.J. Wilcox 91%, missed the frontend of a 1 and 1 with a chance to put the Huskies up 5 with :22 seconds left. Aziz N’Diaye 38%, forget about it. This was a game the Huskies should’ve easily put away. They were down at halftime 32-29, but really should’ve been 30-29 since there was basket interference by Arizona that wasn’t called. Side note, it’s amazing how officials miss easy calls, but when they have no clear view of a play they go ahead and blow their whistle anyways on fouls. Again UW coach Lorenzo Romar continued with his 7-man rotation and several of those players stepped up big time in key moments. Romar’s use of only 7 players almost cost them, being that four Husky players were in foul trouble with 4 fouls each. Abdul Gaddy picked up his 4th foul with still 10 minutes left in the game. How bad were things going to look when Hikeem Stewart would have to come in the game cold and try to help facilitate a win on the road against Arizona? I’m seriously starting to have issues with Romar’s moves and coaching ability. His teams continue to be poor free throw shooters. Obviously whatever they’re doing in practice is clearly not working. Read the rest of this entry »
It all started with a observation: the quality of basketball is way down this year. Condensed schedule, back-to-back-to-backs, athletes not being able stay in shape during the off-season, whatever. There are players, teams, organizations that utterly fail in living up to expectations every year, but for some reason, this year seems to have an inordinately amount of issues. Throughout the season we’ll take a look at some of those players, teams, coaches, organizations and ask: What exactly is wrong with them?
I have three NBA fantasy league teams this year (I only roll with Yahoo! ESPN is miles behind and CBS sports got put to bed years ago). For those of you who don’t play fantasy basketball…well google the rules, I’m trying to get to a point here.
Anyways, when looking for impact players or players that have a fair chance of improving in my fantasy drafted I specifically targeted a few players, Johnathan Hilldred Wall was one of them. I don’t know if I was mesmerized by the Summer League/AAU/Pro-Am circuit this past summer or what, but I certainly drunk all the Kool-Aid (I’m never one for drinking another man’s Kool-Aid, but stay with me here) of Wall’s presumed improvement going into his sophomore year.
I was thinking, “16.4 ppg, 8.3 apg, 4.6 rpg, and almost 2spg as a rookie?? I’m most definitely buying plenty of John Wall stock.” How foolish. Hindsight is 20/20, but come on, man! what kind of sophomore year is this? Before I get into specifics, know that I am in no way, shape or form falling into his recent “resurgance” that has seen him put up 38, 8, and 6 against the Houston Rockets or 27, 7, and 10 against the No Country For Old Men, Boston Celtics. He’s exactly who I didn’t think He would be and yes, I am a bit soured because of it.
Let’s take look at some issues that are plaguing one of the world’s five owners of Reebok’s ZigTech sneaker:
1) The obvious place to start is what Soulja Boy Tell ‘em has produced. When a players’ usage rate goes up in a year, usually you expect his core stats to increase as well. That’s not the case for Wall. His Usage rate has rose from 23.8% to 25.4%, but his points, assists, steals, 3 point %, Field Goal %, True Shooting %, Assists %, Steals %, Turnover %, and Win Shares are all down. Only his rebounds and PER (offensive-biased) rose….which isn’t saying much.
Oh, it get’s worse. For someone who is still attempting over half his shots through jumpers (57%), which is smart, but when you are shooting 9% less than last year (he shot 34% last year!) what happened!? You got dumber over the summer??? How does that work. Either way it’s happening.
His decision-making all across the board has been poorer. His turnovers overall are up (from 3.8 to 4.2), and his turnover rate (the amount of turnovers per 100 plays) has risen by almost 2 points. Let me remind you, Wall was 2nd in the league in turnovers last season. He’s 2nd this year as it is, but when yo u couple that with a reduction in assists, you either have a reduction in basketball IQ or you have regressed in your ability to play actual basketball. At 21 years old I doubt that Wall physically regressed, so what else can it be. He’s clearly not exercising his right to be a student of the game and the firing of Flip Saunders (a veteran coach) doesn’t help him. And let’s not even touch on his defense. I’ll throw him a line and say we’ll reevaluate it in at least 2 years.
2) I have to formally apologize for anyone who has actually watched a Wizards game. That includes their win over Oklahoma City. It’s some of the lowest basketball IQ being displayed since….words can’t express. Take it like this: It’s like explaining to your 70 year old grandmother what Facebook is. They’re bad.Usually on bad teams there is at least one bright spot. You would think that the 2010 1st overall pick would be that, but he’s far from it. He embodies the collective failure to develop a credible basketball IQ above a high school level. We all know what Wall can do well, convert in transition at high speeds, while displaying top-notch athleticism. There may not be a player faster with the ball in his hands. But, that’s where the complements stop.In the half court and in any complex offensive situation (pick-and-roll, breaking down the defense off the dribble, creating easy baskets for his teammates, scoring in general) he becomes an average point guard (if that). Any one defending him on the pick-and-roll will go under the screen almost every time, forcing him into terrible jumpers or drawing him to drive into a crowd. If he does have an opportunity to blow past someone, then he’ll settle for these horrible mid-range jumpers. Which is part of the issue that can be solved.
Take a look at these two pick-and-role plays that the Cleveland Cavaliers use with rookie Kyrie Irving (here and here). On the first link, notice how Irving uses his dribble and patience to get his big the ball in a favorable position to make a play at the basket. JaVale McGee is more than capable of setting picks and (occasionally) slipping the screen to complete the play. On the second part of that same clip, Irving uses his speed to beat the the Utah Jazz defender, even though the defender goes under the screen. Wall is much faster and longer, which should enable him to get to the rim at a much better rate (currently 43%, compared to 57% attempted jumpers).
Again the second clip is anothe r show of how wall can use his ball handling to break down the defense at consistently. It seems like his timidity and uncertainty has caused Wall to be less aggressive, leading to indecisiveness on his part and iso plays called for Nick Young and Andray Blatche which is clearly not the answer.
Don’t get me twisted, this isn’t a bash-fest on John Wall….ok….it is a bash-fest against John Wall. I drafted him in 3 fantasy basketball leagues, I’m utterly disappointed that he didn’t take the next step to a 20 point, 8 assist, 5 rebound Stephon Marbu….ugh man, this might not end on good terms…..
Why hasn’t Kevin Love gotten his max contract extension? Why isn’t Amare Stoudemire happy? Is it because of Carmelo Anthony? Should the Thunder have given Russell Westbrook a max extension? Was Stephen A Smith right about the Knicks? Find out what the HoopSmack crew thinks on Episode 42 of the HoopSmack Podcast!
Download Episode 42 on iTunes, Zune Marketplace, SlapDash Radio, Stitcher Radio, Podomatic or right-click here to save to your machine. Leave us feedback on the iTunes store, send us an email at feedback@hoopsmack.com or 206.hoopsmack@gmail.com. You can also hit us on Twitter.
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The mysterious veil has been lifted. Details of the much talked about revenue sharing plan have finally emerged and….I’m actually not against it. Instead of trying to follow another league’s model, the NBA’s planning committee has tailored a plan to address the financial needs of smaller market NBA teams and doesn’t “over-tax” the larger ones.
