NBA-caliber players head overseas; Paradigm shift?

Is the NBA losing it’s grip on the world’s best players? Two surprising hoops stories in as many weeks may be aberrations, or they may signal a major shift in the global market for basketball talent. Brandon Jennings, one of America’s best high school point guards, is bypassing college to play for an Italian club for at least a year before entering the NBA draft. Forward Josh Childress decided to leave the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and sign with a club in Athens for $21 million (after tax)/3 years. This after four non-American players opted to play overseas next year, rather than return to the NBA.

What does this mean for the players themselves, and what does this mean for the future of American hoops? The game has gone truly global, and the erosion of American hoops hegemony might actually be a good thing for the game.

Contest: Name the Oklahoma City NBA Team!

Another contest from American History Y? One of the most appalling sports stories of recent years (and that’s saying a lot) is the way the NBA approved the sale of a great old franchise, the Seattle Supersonics, to a consortium of owners from Oklahoma City who swore up and down that the team would stay in Seattle. Unsurprisingly, the owners then held the city hostage by demanding hundreds of millions of tax dollars for a new stadium and threatening to move to OKC. E-mails uncovered in the ensuing lawsuit showed that the owners never intended to stay in Seattle. In a real blow to the plexis of fans everywhere, Stern and the NBA owners then approved the move to OKC and the owners reached a settlement to leave the Supersonics name, colors and history in Seattle, where the team had been for 41 years. (Does this make any sense? Seattle is the 14th largest TV market in the country and OKC is the 45th! How are things working out in Memphis for the Grizz?) This means that the Oklahoma City team, replete with star Kevin Durant, needs a new name.

What names do you suggest for the OKC NBA Team?

I’ll start us off with some suggestions: The Oklahoma City Oklahomans (go, Texans!), The Outlaws, The David Sterns, The Oklahoma Musicals, The OKC Filthy Lying Owners, The No-Way-We’re-Staying-More-Than-Ten-Years.

Love-Mayo trade ruins NBA Draft

During last Thursday’s NBA Draft, the Minnesota Timberwolves selected shooting guard O.J. Mayo of USC with the third pick, and the Memphis Grizzlies took UCLA forward/center Kevin Love with the fifth pick. The teams then swapped the players, with the T-wolves also getting Mike Miller in the deal. Unfortunately, that trade ruined what would have been two perfect synergies of a player’s name and team.

First, let’s talk about Kevin Love. It’s hard to go wrong with “Love” as your franchise player’s name. But as pointed out in Bill Simmons’ mailbag on ESPN.com, what would have made it even better is paring K. Love with the current Memphis star Rudy Gay. The Grizzlies could have held “Gay-Love Night at the FedEx Forum.” That’s a whole demographic the NBA has largely ignored.

But the most overlooked downside of the trade was taking Mayo out of Minnesota. The Timberwolves missed out on what could have been one of the great matches between a player’s name and the city: the Mayo Clinic is in Minnesota! Why has no one mentioned this? The headlines write themselves! “Mayo puts on a Clinic.” Did McHale not consider the possibilities of paring one of the NBA’s hot young stars with one of the world’s premier medical facilities? Can’t you see advertisements for the hospital with O.J. Mayo in a white lab coat and those “I don’t really need them, but I wanted to look smart at the draft” glasses? Free passes to a Timberwolves game with every major in-patient procedure? “Mayo” jerseys for sale at the hospital gift shop? $50 to Clinic Development Fund for every 3-pointer O.J. hits during home games? They missed a real bonanza here.

Great Sports Quote #1: Ron Artest

“If you’re in a foxhole with somebody, you don’t want to jump out of the foxhole because of some gold.”

Ron Artest, June 2008, on not opting-out of his contract with the Kings.

CELTICS WIN!! New England still better than SoCal.

Last night, the Kelts of Boston posted a 39 point victory in game 6 to take the NBA Finals 4 games to 2 over the Lakers of Los Angeles. Paul Pierce won Finals MVP, Ray Allen quieted his critics and Kevin Garnett is free after years of hearing that he didn’t do as much as a superstar should.

I watched the game with two friends, one of whom is from L.A., the other who hasn’t watched a pro basketball game in 15 years. One engaged in light pouting. The other read a book.

Boston’s scorecard for this season:

• Celtics win the NBA title
• Red Sox win the World Series
• Patriots go undefeated in regular season and lose thriller in Superbowl
• Bruins back in the playoffs

Is this the greatest sports year in one city’s history?

Celtics one win away (thanks to James “Parker” Posie)

Last night, the Celtics came back from 18 points down at halftime to beat the Lakers – in LA – and take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Doc Rivers, much maligned for his generally mediocre X’s and O’s coaching, out-gunned Hall of Famer Phil Jackson in the last 20 minutes of the game. Rivers brought in two veteran shooters (Parker Posie and that guy from ‘House’) at the expense of size and ball-handling, and the move paid off.

(Does Eddie House have the flattest shot in the league for a guy known as a shooter?)

ONE WIN AWAY! It’s not time to get lax, and I don’t think the veteran Celtics will let the C’s slack (KG, Guy Pierce, and Jesus Shuttlesworth have waited their whole careers for this moment). But no team has ever come from 3-1 down in the Finals, and the last two games are in Boston. Take that as you will.

It’s nice to see three veteran guys, all representing us New Englanders in our early 30’s, get their due. Ray Allen, I am sorry I ever doubted you and your Huskie pride.