"Racism's still alive, they just be concealing it!" K. West

I read this article on SFGate this morning and it made me think of two things.
1. Pride
2. Ham and Eggs

I'm proud to see a fellow Taiwanese playing Division I college ball who has a shot at making the NBA (steak and eggs).

An all white's only league which was announced on Martin Luther King's birthday by promotor who was quoted saying "Remember Pistol Pete and Larry Bird? Where's all that gone." How ironic. If anyone knows basketball, Pistol Pete practically invented street ball moves aka creative fundamentals. And as for Larry Bird. Well, Larry Bird was black. That's how good his game was. Anyone who is this ignorant would be considered a "ham and egger."

There's nothing wrong with cheering for your own people if it's done respectfully and in good taste. Nonetheless, the NBA provides the melting pot. It includes the most fundamental and talented group of athletes in the world. This article dives a bit deeper and expands on my point.


A League of their Own
As Palo Alto's Jeremy Lin leads his Harvard hoops squad toward victory, an Atlanta promoter launches an all-white basketball league, leading Jeff Yang to ponder the light and dark side of rooting for the race.

It was an announcement carefully designed to provoke the biggest spit-take possible: On Jan. 18, one day after the federal holiday celebrating the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr., sports promoter Don "Moose" Lewis issued a media alert proclaiming his intention to found a new pro hoops league called the All-American Basketball Alliance -- which would distinguish itself from the NBA by allowing as players only "natural-born United States citizens with both parents of Caucasian race."

Those who weren't outraged wondered if the release wasn't an early April Fool's Day prank. But Lewis, reached last week at his offices in Atlanta, asserts that he's dead serious, and that the league's formal debut on the pine is just months away. "We're looking at a June tipoff," he says.

Lewis's claims can't be entirely dismissed out of hand. He's been a sports promoter for two decades, and is the proprietor of the International Boxing Union, a legitimate, if lesser, sanctioning authority that, back in 2003, boasted as its heavyweight champion Shannon Briggs, and has managed to secure ESPN broadcasts of its championship title fights. Meanwhile, an earlier basketball league he founded in 2001, the Global Basketball Alliance (the name remains on the voicemail at Lewis's office), managed to attract eight teams and stage an amateur draft, before folding in April 2002.

"We started as the American Basketball Alliance, and then got a letter from Big Brother in New York," says Lewis. "Apparently, we conflicted with one of the NBA's registered marks. So we changed our name to the Global Basketball Alliance, which was fine because one of our teams was in Mexico City. And we held two seasons of what was basically conventional minor league basketball, but the league just never took off."

Lewis candidly admits that ticket sales were "dismal." "You have the same problem with all minor-league basketball teams, even the subsidized ones like the NBA D-League," he says. "People ask themselves the question, 'Should I spend $20 to see NBA Lite, or should I sit in my living room, drinking beer and watching 500 HD channels on my big screen TV?' I know my answer to that."

Pondering a way to get butts into seats, Lewis took a cue from the headlines. "You look at the papers and you see that Middle Americans, they're having a tough time. Their houses are in foreclosure," he says. "They need a good, wholesome, affordable distraction, and they're nostalgic for genuine American entertainment. And I thought to myself, remember when basketball was real basketball -- none of this 'five steps to the hoop, palming the ball' stuff? Remember Pistol Pete and Larry Bird? Where's that all gone?"

The answer, Lewis surmised, is that it disappeared when the NBA became dominated by street-ball players and foreigners -- turning white Americans into minorities in the league, just like "white, native-born Americans" are becoming a "minority of the U.S. population."

"The thing is, people embrace things they can identify with," he says. "One billion Chinese can relate to Yao Ming -- and that's who they want to see. Now you've got millions of Americans who, I think, want to see players and a style of game they can relate to. We all want to root for our own kind -- it's just human nature."

Colors on the court

Of course, much of Lewis's language is, bluntly speaking, a screen for the most insidious type of racism imaginable -- the type that denies itself while simultaneously claiming injury from a historically victimized population. When he uses the term "our kind," it echoes the bristling, preemptively hateful phrase "your kind" -- as in, "We don't like 'your kind' 'round here." When he says that the NBA is full of uncouth, showboating brawlers ("Would you want to go to the game and worry about a player flipping you off or attacking you in the stands?"), he's putting family-friendly context around a subtext that's rooted in white fear of a black planet.

But it's hard to argue at least one of Lewis's points -- that we tend to cheer on people who resemble us -- and a roundup of some of the biggest Asian American sports fans I know didn't even try.

"There's no doubt that when I see an Asian face on the field of play, I'm suddenly more interested," says Brian Yang, a Bay Area-bred actor/producer and hoops fanatic who now divides his time between New York and Shanghai. "We grew up loving Bird, Jordan, LeBron. But when Yao Ming came along -- seeing an Asian player on the court, especially as a star, stirs the senses in a different way, because we ethnically identify with that person."

And more than just sports are at stake, points out Bernard Chang, a comic book artist and illustrator who in his spare time plays point in a competitive rec league and coaches a team of six-year-old aspiring hoopsters. "We live in such a visual society these days, that any symbol of recognition is critical," he says. "Many would say that it shouldn't matter -- and, yes, in a perfect world it wouldn't -- but the fact is, you can't discount the importance of seeing a 'familiar face'" -- especially when it's up on the Jumbotron, in an arena full of screaming fans.

That's because in the U.S., athletic skill defines perceptions of social status like no other area of achievement. "Keep in mind that for many people -- both men and women -- sports define masculinity," says Albert Kim, former senior editor for Sports Illustrated. "The implicit message [of the lack of Asians in sports] is that Asian men just aren't as 'manly' as black or white men" -- something that turns out to have real social, political and even economic consequences. After all, how many otherwise unqualified ex-athletes have we elected to higher office? How often do sports metaphors get used in boardrooms (and, uh, bedrooms), carrying with them the explicit implication that benchwarmers and sideline boosters are also-rans in life and love -- not just on the field or court?

Hoop dreams

Carrying a community's dreams on your shoulders is tough enough. Being the proxy for an entire race's manhood, as absurd as it sounds, is a responsibility one wouldn't wish on anyone. And yet, the search for that individual -- the avatar of Asian American athletic fantasies -- continues, most recently landing on a player who in many ways epitomizes the challenges Asians face in breaking into the big leagues of professional sports, while presenting the best hope yet for overcoming them.

In his senior year of high school, Jeremy Lin, the Bay Area-born son of Taiwanese immigrants, took the underdog Palo Alto Vikings to a 32-1 record, and then to a shocking upset victory over the nationally ranked Mater Dei Monarchs in the state Division II championships, scoring 17 points and garnering unanimous accolades as Player of the Year by every influential publication in California sports (including the San Francisco Chronicle). Yet upon graduating, the number of scholarship offers he received from the NCAA's Division I powers could be counted on a closed fist.

"Coaches, scouts and recruiters have to be willing to be color-blind in their evaluation of players," says ESPN anchor Michael Kim. "But you have to wonder if they'd fairly judge a 6-foot 3-inch, 175 pound Asian guard with a similar talent and skillset as a black or white player. And in the case of Jeremy Lin, it doesn't appear as if they did."

Which means that Lin ended up going to his backup school, Harvard University -- an academic powerhouse, but a basketball backwater. For most talented but frustrated hoops hopefuls, that might have been the end of the story. Lin simply did what he'd done at Palo Alto High: Took a team that had been written off as hopeless and put it on his back. By his junior year, he was the only player in the nation to rank among the top 10 players in his conference in every major category -- from points to rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, to field goal, free throw and three-point percentage. This year, he's been even better, leading to suggestions that he might be the first Asian American to be drafted as an NBA first-round pick since Rex Walters, the hapa Japanese star for the University of Kansas's Jayhawks who was drafted 16th in 1993, played eight seasons in the NBA, and is now coach for the USF Dons.

Lin himself doesn't want to speculate on his pro potential. "I just want to help Harvard win games, and hopefully, an Ivy League title," he says, noting that the expectations of his community are a motivator, but also a distraction. "I'm humbled and honored by the attention I've received -- but right now I'm focused on our team and getting better each day. There'll be time to think about this later."

Lin's fans aren't as patient. They obsessively track his stats, watch YouTube videos of his highlights, debate the high and low points of his game (pros: great basketball IQ, complete player; cons: a 'tweener without a true position, has a funky jumper), and repeatedly assess and reassess his likelihood of NBA success based on every pundit's postgame comments.

"Jeremy has a legit shot at the pros -- albeit a long shot, like from half court," says Steve Chin, an Albany-based journalist and Web producer, and a longtime board member of the Bay Area's Ohtani Asian American basketball program. "But it would mean a lot for the community if he made it. It's uncharted territory for Asian Americans -- to play pro ball in the modern era. He would become an instant role model for Asian American athletes. I'm rooting for him."

And so are thousands of other Asian American fans, who've recently been flocking to games decked out in red -- a hue reflecting both Harvard's crimson and the color believed by Chinese to be a symbol of luck and prosperity.

Sports, in black and white

It's ironic that even as Asian Americans are hanging their hopes on the promise of a single player breaking through to the NBA, Don "Moose" Lewis is pinning his league's potential on getting Caucasian Americans to turn away from it -- and he thinks that potential is huge.

"We're filling a niche. You're Asian and you want to see Asian players succeed, right? And white Americans want to see white players succeed -- it's just the way things are," he says. "It's no different from boxing: You see Caucasian fighters dubbed the 'Great White Hope' all the time, from Rocky Marciano on down, and where's the backlash against that?"

Lewis publicly professes innocence about the racially divisive nature of his venture -- "I have a problem with how media types have exploited and sensationalized what we're trying to do," he says -- but having begun his sports promotion career in professional wrestling, he's eminently aware of the power of controversy to get butts out from living rooms and into arenas.

And truth be told, if the best part of sport is its ability to unite us across divisions -- Jeremy Lin says that, like many of us, he grew up idolizing Michael Jordan and "would've done anything to emulate him" -- its dark underbelly has always been the use of gutter stereotypes, false dichotomies and racist and jingoist urges to sell itself.

You see it in the chants of fans at games -- even playing in the high-minded Ivy League, Lin has been the target of racist catcalling ("Go back to China!" "Open up your eyes, ch*nk!"). You see it in the marketing of teams (hat tip: Washington Redskins!). You even see it in the us-against-them ubernationalism of the Olympics.

Lewis is just being more ... candid, if you will, about what he's trying to do. When pressed about his intentions, he openly affirms that -- like most sports promoters -- his allegiance isn't toward any race, nationality or color other than green.

"There's the opportunity to make some decent money here, and this is how we're doing it -- we've been talking to several TV outlets about turning this into a reality show, where you follow the first season of the AABA, and at the end of the year, a team of AABA all-stars plays a team of black minor-league basketball all-stars," he says. "If that's successful, in our second season, we might launch an all-black league and have the champions of the two leagues compete. The kicker is the name we've come up with: 'Snowball vs. Bro-ball.' Heck, I think we'll fill up arenas just on the concept alone."

PopMail

In the course of writing this column, I outreached to some of the most fervent Asian American hoop fans in my social network. Some of them are players; some, strictly watchers. Some follow sports for a living, others, simply out of passion. All of their responses were interesting and insightful enough that I wanted to share the full "transcript" of their thoughts. But given the space limitations of my column, I've moved that virtual roundtable to the frontier wasteland of my personal blog. Check it out here.

Jeff Yang forecasts global consumer trends for the market-research company Iconoculture (www.iconoculture.com). He is the author of "Once Upon a Time in China: A Guide to the Cinemas of Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China," co-author of "I Am Jackie Chan: My Life in Action" and "Eastern Standard Time," and editor of "Secret Identities: The Asian American Superhero Anthology" (www.secretidentities.org). He lives in New York City. Check out Jeff Yang's blog at originalspin.posterous.com for updates on this column and alerts about politics, technology, and pop culture news, or connect with him on Facebook: www.facebook.com/originalspin, LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jeffcyang, or Twitter: http://twitter.com/originalspin.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2010/01/27/apop012710.DTL#ixzz0dpk1hT4e

Playoff Toughness and Shanghai Insight

During Game 2 of the Rockets vs. Lakers series, Derek Fisher (deliberately) layed down the hammer on Luis Scola and rightfully got ejected and suspended. He was sticking up for loud barking but soft biting Lamar Odom and Sasha Vujicic. I respect Fisher. He's a championship PG who is proven and also proved to be the enforcer as well as the Lakers toughest player on their roster. What I respect even more is Fisher's quote addressed after the incident.

"I want everybody to know, and particularly young people ... seeing that play in particular, when you see the NBA and you see that play or others that are happening, when you go out and play on the court, that's not the part of the game that you want to emulate. ... Most of the time, we don't play that way. Those things don't happen very often. When they do, it's highlighted, and it's blown up."

Video Here:


In addition to the rough play in the 2009 NBA playoffs....my good friend, former teammate, and correspondant from Shanghai, China Mr. Charlie Hung aka "Air Chuck" chimes in with his take. He also talks about respecting the game and how to make it and how not to make it.

After watching the Lakers vs. Rockets which resulted in several T's and ejections, it reminded me many classic NBA playoffs games as well as some college hoops in March.

As a fan we love the intensity when turned up a notch. This is one of many things we've been waiting for all year, a high intensity game with both sides giving their all. These thoughts also reminded me of something I've learn from the game. Many young amature players imitate the toughness/hard cord image from the NBA. Some often get into bad mouthing or fights whenever they could. In some not so rare cases, weapons were drawn and police presence was needed.

In the pro's? Years back when the league I played in held an open scrimmage for draft reference, a young guard mouthed off all game and wanted to pick fight whenever he was fouled. He showed a lot of fierce and toughness. He was also deported without the chance of being drafted after the scrimmage. Talk about unwise.

I've had the privilege to workout with some true professionals of the game. This is what I've seen from them. A pro will give his best and fight for inches on the court/practice/traning but once off the court, its a whole different attitude. We've had super high intensity practices where elbows are thrown and blood is drawn. When we hit the shower, all that was left on the court, we would have intellectual, respectful conversations, many of guys are funny yet polite and soft spoken. It was very difficult for me to adjust at first, to put a switch on my emotions, but I learned that's what it takes to be a pro.

Remember the episode of the roadrunner chased by the coyote, and just when the coyote is about to catch it, the bell rang and they both clocked out carrying their lunch boxes chatting away into the sunset. Classic illustration of what I am talking about. I love the game of basketball, it has giving me so much. However, it's hard to find a game to play anywhere and truly enjoy it. Rarely, nowadays players at any level anywhere understand the game and which makes it less fun. I crave intensity, but not stupidity....especially when the game is not televised, none of us is getting paid, and no screaming painted faced fans.

Super Charger

I just talked to one of my boys (who shall remain nameless) this week and he told me he took a charge in a pick up game.

Now, automatically I'm thinking you can't take a charge in pick up ball because you won't get the call even if your opponent mowed you over or if it's obvious....regardless. Honestly, who throws a shoe (that was a line from Austin Powers)....I mean, who calls a charge in pick up ball?!

As my buddy is telling me why and how, and justifying the charge....I'm thinking to myself "you can't and won't get a charge call." All you'll probably get is debate, argument, and frustration if you play with that mentality and expect that kind of a call.

Shu's Views

Don't get me wrong, I love the charge. It almost counters athleticism and also rewards the cerebral player (possessing testicular fortitude). During my head coaching days, we definitely charted our players when they took a charge and please believe we practiced taking charges. Everything from form to how to fall, and even yelling to sell the refs, not to be confused with flopping.



I learned a drill from my college college coach called "Bull in the Ring." Basically, there are three lines. One from the top of the key and the other two at each wing.

You pick a player to stand directly under the basket while the coach stands behind the player and baseline. While the player under the basket is in athletic defensive position, coach points at one of the lines.

The first person in line he points to runs as fast as he can and the defensive player needs to step up nose to nose, belly to belly and take the hit and take the charge. The man that runs him over helps him up and coach repeats it until he feel like rotating another player in. Everyone has to do it. The emphasis in this drill is: If you're not running as fast as you can into the defensive player, you're not helping the team.

Now that's a charge drill along with toughening up a player if he's soft. Bottom line: sets the tone and mentality for your team.

It's a beauty when it's done in a game because you'll see your player take the charge and all 4 of his teammates run over to help him up. See Duke Blue Devils

Anyhow, the moral of the story is don't call the charge during open gym indoor or outdoor. Let the refs make the call.

Who other than Shane Battier to learn from to take a charge.

Got Seoul?

Life in the K League

6'8 Seattle native Dan Sandrin talks about life in the KBL (Korean Basketball League).

I grabbed excerpts from an interview via Dream League blogger and Sandrin talks about his journey as a professional basketball player.

Tell us about your journey and how you ended up in the KBL?
I graduated from Seattle Pacific University, and then left to play in Europe. During my second season overseas, I decided to come back and play in the ABA with my brother, Eric. The team didn't look very financial sound at the time, so I decided to get a job with HSBC and I worked there for almost 8 months. During that time, my brother went from ABA all-star to Globetrotter, to an NBA summer league roster. At that time, because of my brother's ethnic background various agents approached him about going to Korea. His goal at the time was the NBA, so he passed them off to me. I eventually went with a guy that provided introductions to Yonsei University, where I began my Korean basketball journey.

What is your best basketball moment to date?
There's been a few. I think in college, it would be scoring the final 8 points in the fourth overtime to beat then number 3 Humboldt State on our home floor. In Europe, I had a 58 point game which was pretty amazing. Last year I had the national team experience, some good games, as well as winning the dunk contest.

What’s life off the court like for a professional athlete in Korea? Is it glamorous like in the States? How does it compare to Germany?
It's not really that glamorous. I mean we work out a lot, so we're not out clubbing and tearing up the town. Plus, culturally it doesn't look good for pro athletes to always be out on the scene. Our games are fun and draw some crowds, sometimes I get recognized in the streets, but it's basically like an ordinary job.

Read entire interview here.

New President of the United States: Mr. Barack Obama

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have a baller in the White House! A historical day I'm definitely proud to have seen and lived through.

Honestly, President Obama's love for the game of basketball had an influence on me on whether I would want him in office or not. Not because we relate on the surface of the sport but the way we look at the sport as a whole, inside and out. And when I say "we" I mean the consistent player who has love for the sport whether playing, coaching or spectating....not just the casual or fair-weathered fan.


President Obama with UNC Coach Roy Williams

I've heard (more than once) that you could tell a lot about a person's character by the way he plays basketball and handles himself on the court. I believe this rings true to a certain extent if not whole heartedly. Watching Obama ball gives you somewhat of an indication of his personality.

• Ball Handling- Sense of leadership
• Passing- Unselfish, distributor, visionary
• Outside Shot and Scoring Ability- Exudes Confidence

President Obama with Oregon State Coach Craig Robinson
who happens to be his brother-in-law

All these skills are what you would like to see in any leader. I didn't see him play much defense so that might indicate him as being a bit soft. However, a pure scorer will be known for that instead of his defense....unless you're Michael Jordan. He seems to have a good sense and feel for the game which indicates the same attributes off the court.

Basketball is a fast sport where you must be conditioned and coordinated physically and mentally. Our new President has all of the above and I'm excited that he is our nation's new leader. I hope he tears out the bowling alley that Richard Nixon put in the White House and replaces it with a court like he mentioned.

Check out the video footage

Pick Up Mixtape


3 on 3


Obama on HBO Real Sports and what the game means to him

Yao and Yi

Great to see Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian representing the Chinese in basketball. Yao is definitely a pioneer who has carried a lot of weight on his shoulders and made his people proud, I'm one of them. Hope to see many more to come.


Yi tries to score over Yao and Battier

From Asian brothers to real brothers. The Gasols....Pau and Marc, truly something special when you can share your dream of playing basketball together with a family member at the same time.

World Rules

Imagining true zones being allowed in the NBA got me thinking about the global aspect of basketball. Interestingly enough, I came across a quote by legendary coach Larry Brown (who happens to be one of my favorites).

Richard Walker of the Gaston Gazette: "Larry Brown would like to see the NBA adopt some of the world's basketball rules and force a more up-tempo game. The reason is quite simple he says. 'We're a global game now and I think we need one set of rules,' Brown said. 'I'm watching old-time games and if you didn't get off 100 shots, it was a bad outing. Nowadays, it's 80 or 81 shots per game."

We seem to be on the same page here if you read my last post (Zone Defenses) which talks about being able to go zone in the NBA so Americans will be better prepared for international play.


Another rule that would interesting is the goal-tending rule. Internationally, once the ball hits the rim it's a live ball. You can knock it out or tip it in.

The game is going worldwide and the proof is in the pudding, especially with NBA guys starting to go to Europe and David Stern going to Asia.

What's your opinion, should we convert everything to one set of rule? How does that affect the NBA?

Zone Defenses

Houston Rocket's coach Rick Adelman always reminds me of my middle school homeroom teacher because he looks just like him, except my teacher used to call everyone "kumquats." Can you imagine Adelman calling T-Mac or even Ron Artest one of those? Here's a little spiel I caught on coach talking about zone D.

(via Eric Musselman)

... Adelman has been hesitant to play zone defenses.

"Sometimes it throws a team out of whack," Adelman said. "As we went to it, they missed two shots and got them right back, and that's the problem with the zone."

The Rockets have improved on the boards throughout the season, moving up to fourth in defensive rebounding percentage.

"I have not zoned a lot," Adelman said. "I never liked it. I think it's good to change up once in a while or take someone out of their comfort zone. I've always found, in the NBA especially, it kind of lets people off the hook as far as their responsibilities for defending. Now you're telling them, 'No, you're just playing a spot.' It lets people just stand around, instead of having responsibilities for their man and helping their teammates."

McGrady, Adelman, and Alston

He's got a point here BUT on the flip side.....Like it or not, zone defense is part of the game. Not necessarily in the NBA but in international play and college. I'd like to see it implemented. It would exploit the less cerebral players, neutralize athleticism, and also put the spotlight on guys who can't shoot. On the other hand, it would also do the exact opposite of what I just mentioned. Both great for the game.

The only reason why the half-token zone defense (Defensive 3 seconds) is allowed in the NBA? To showcase the talent of players and keep scoring up. Basically, a marketing strategy to keep the casual fan interested. Why spend that time and effort on fans that don't know any better?

In my opinion, the game would excel and be just as popular if not more if true zones were allowed in the NBA. It would also help USA basketball be more prepared in the World Championships and the Olympics.

Basketball Icon: Pete Newell dies at 93

I'm back (unfortunately) from Taipei, Taiwan and excited to catch up and talk about a lot of things.

However, this is news that must be acknowledged. Coach Newell is truly a legend because of how he helped change the game for the better. Coach Bob Knight gives him much praise which he does not often do. Rene Herrerias, Coach Newell's assistant at Cal and successor (also my former Driver's Ed teacher in high school) mentions that he was one of a kind by far.

(Dwight Chapin, Special to The Chronicle)

Famed basketball coach and teaching legend Pete Newell, whose long journey in the sport included stops at USF and Cal, where he led the Bears to a national championship in 1959, died Monday at the age of 93.

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Mr. Newell died at the Del Mar, San Diego County home of Earl Shultz, one of the players from his 1959 team. Shultz had served as Newell's caretaker for the past few years. Mr. Newell had surgery in 2005 for the removal of a malignant tumor from a lung.

The self-effacing coach always deflected the praise that came his way from his players and peers over many decades.

But others, such as coaching disciple and longtime friend Bob Knight frequently noted, with admiration, Mr. Newell's lasting place in basketball history.

"Three coaches had the most influence on college basketball in terms of tactics, both offensively and defensively," Knight said. "Clair Bee, Hank Iba and Pete. And I think Pete had the greatest total grasp. He really studied it and kept abreast of it, both professional and collegiate. He was truly remarkable."

Mr. Newell was born Aug. 3, 1915 in Vancouver, British Columbia. He grew up in Los Angeles, where through his mother's persistence he became a child actor before he was of kindergarten age, appearing in several "Our Gang" movie comedies and being strongly considered for a plum part opposite Charlie Chaplin in "The Kid" in the early 1920s.

But Jackie Coogan got the role, which didn't bother Mr. Newell at all.

"I hated acting," he said. "All I wanted to do was to be home playing ball."

Mr. Newell graduated from St. Agnes High School in Los Angeles in 1933 and went on to what is now Loyola Marymount University, where he played basketball for three seasons. He then coached at a military academy and played one season of minor league baseball in the Brooklyn Dodgers' organization before serving in the U.S. Navy from 1942-46.

His college coaching career began in '46 at USF, where his Dons' teams went 70-37 through 1950 and won the NIT - then the country's most prestigious tournament - in 1949.

It was at USF where the tall, slim, mild-mannered Newell began putting a lasting mark on the game, with an innovative zone-pressing defense that would become a hallmark of his teams and a model for other teams.

After USF, Mr. Newell coached four up-and-down seasons at Michigan State, then took over at Cal in 1954.

From the start, he was a formidable force in Berkeley, even against the likes of UCLA's renowned John Wooden. The last eight games their Bear and Bruin teams played against each other, Mr. Newell beat the not-yet Wizard of Westwood every time.

Mr. Newell led Cal to four consecutive Pacific 8 titles from 1957-60, and in 1959 coached the Bears to their only NCAA championship, beating Oscar Robertson and Cincinnati in the semifinals and Jerry West and West Virginia in the final.

The following season, Mr. Newell's Bears again beat Robertson and Cincinnati in the NCAA semifinals, but lost to Jerry Lucas and Ohio State in the final, where Buckeye coach Fred Taylor used a defense Mr. Newell had willingly taught him a year earlier.

Those two Cal teams, which included players like Darrall Imhoff, Denny Fitzpatrick, Bill McClintock, Bob Dalton and Al Buch, clearly didn't have the individual talent of their Final Four opponents.

"But they were very, very bright," Mr. Newell once said. "And they had a great ability to play with each other and pick each other up."

And to listen to and learn from Mr. Newell.

A keen observer of those teams was Knight, who was on the Ohio State squad that bested the Bears for the national title in 1960.

"When I saw them, I thought, 'Here's a team that really knows how to play basketball,' " Knight said.

The players also revered Mr. Newell.

"Playing for him created a bond," Stan Morrison, who would become a coach himself, said in a 1999 Los Angeles Times interview. "We had a bunch of guys who would stay in that foxhole until the very end, but you never had to worry. That was the brotherhood that was nurtured by Pete."

And Rene Herrerias, Mr. Newell's Cal assistant and successor with the Bears, said, "You just don't see guys like Pete, then or now. Not the whole package. There was only one."

But Mr. Newell, the National Coach of the Year in 1960, ended his college coaching days that season, at the age of just 44, finishing with a cumulative record of 234-123.

"It was my health," he said, decades later. "I was carrying it all inside. I was smoking too many cigarettes, drinking too much coffee, and wasn't able to eat. I wouldn't eat anything from Thursday to Saturday."

Mr. Newell had one more coaching stop, however. He led the U.S. Olympic men's basketball team, which included West, Robertson and Lucas, to a 1960 gold medal.

That completed a "Triple Crown" only two other coaches have achieved - NIT, NCAA and Olympic titles.

Mr. Newell then went from coaching basketball to something he loved even more: teaching it.

After he left coaching, Mr. Newell became an administrator, serving as athletic director during at often-turbulent period at Cal from 1960-68, then as general manager of the NBA San Diego Rockets from 1968-72 and the Lakers from 1972-76, engineering a trade that brought Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to Los Angeles. He then worked as a consultant and director of player personnel for the Warriors and started a long scouting stint with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

But Mr. Newell, who was elected to the National Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979, was busy teaching all the while, too, setting up a film program for the Peace Corps, volunteering to help develop the Japanese national basketball program, writing instructional books.

"Coaching can be about ego, money, terms of contracts, desire to move to the next level," Newell told the San Jose Mercury News in 2002. "Teaching is faceless. I get a thrill from helping a kid get a scholarship when he otherwise wouldn't have the chance to go to college or helping a kid with two left feet making the high school varsity."

Well into his octogenarian days, Mr. Newell would help players at the major college and NBA levels at his annual Big Man's camps in Los Angeles, Hawaii and later Las Vegas, where he taught millionaire pros how to play better in the post - and didn't charge them a dime for the instruction.

Along the way he elicited glowing comments like this from Shaquille O'Neal: "He's the best teacher there is."

In later years, Mr. Newell added yearly Tall Women's camps, held in Monterey, to his teaching schedule, commuting from his home in the Del Mar area, where the racetrack became one of his favorite recreational stops.

Mr. Newell was honored in the Bay Area in 1997, with the inception of an annual tournament called the Pete Newell Challenge.

His view of basketball remained keen, and, if he thought appropriate, sharply critical.

"Players today have increased physical skills, but basketball skills have diminished," he said a few years ago. "I resent the fact that many of them take the game for granted. It starts at the top, though. It's an overpriced, corporate-dominated business run by lawyers who have a bad product, and don't know how to fix it."

Mr. Newell spent a lifetime fixing what was wrong with the sport, building it, and, more than anything, teaching it.

Newell's wife, Florence, died in 1984.He is survived by sons Pete Jr., who retired in 2005 after an acclaimed coaching career at Santa Cruz High School; Tom, Roger and Greg.

NBA Asia

You have to love the International flavor that been coming through the NBA, and it's still growing. I played ball last weekend with my boy TC at a rec center in San Bruno and there were brothers, a white dude, an Indian cat, and a Filipino ( and we all know how Filipino's love basketball). It's great to see. Just goes to show how global this game is.

Yao Ming has been a pioneer for not only China but Asia itself, now it's Yi Jianlian who is emerging. In addition, the Lakers have just signed Sun Yue aka the "Monkey King." Here are some pictures of these Chinese players.


Yao Ming and Wifey



Yi with Vinsanity and Devin Harris



Sun Yue with Supermodel girlfriend
More pics of this couple here.


And most recently....

DShu and his Wifey


Like Ti, Rick Ross, Lil' Wayne, and Akon said, "We takin' over....one city at a time!"

Shawshank Redemption

Whew! A sigh of relief and finally a feel good victory for Team USA which climbs back on top of the basketball world after nearly a decade of anguish and embarrassment.

If you're a basketball junkie like me, you probably stayed up to watch the Gold Medal game against Spain (or Tivo'd it). I just hope Jerry Colangelo (US Basketball Director) can get some sleep now. He had double bags under his eyes and everyone knew that it was Gold or bust for the United States.

Anyhow, I think I witnessed not only an exciting game but had to be one of the greatest championship games in Olympic history. Wanted to share key notes and thoughts.

** The first thing I noticed when the horn sounded was Lebron James sprinting over to the sidelines, hopping the first row, and congratulating Doug Collins ('72 team that got robbed of a gold). I just know Lebron said this is for you. Each one of the players ran over and I thought that was a great gesture.

Spain

• Great game plan, well coached, well executed. Jose Calderon did not play which could have made a difference.
• Pau Gasol- Had a good game but still doesn't have that killer instinct in him
  
• Juan Carlos Navarro- the player with the best runner in all of Europe
  
• Rudy Fernadez- This player brewed with confidence. He shot the 3 ball, dropped dimes, and did whatever he wanted on offense.
  
• Ricky Rubio proved he can play the point guard position and held his own against JKidd, CP3, and Deron Williams. This kid will be in the league and succeed.
  
  

Team USA

• DWade is my favorite player on the squad. He's back.
  
• The Big 3 on this team: DWade, Kobe, Lebron (scary to have these guys on the court all at the same time)
  
  
• The Best Line-Up: CP3, DWade, Kobe, Lebron, Chris Bosh (because he can shoot and play D). These five players were the players on the court in crunch time.
• Weakest Links:
  
  1. Carmelo Anthony: Still cries too much, no D, questionable shot selection, and lacks a winning mentality.
     
  2. Dwight Howard: Modern day Shaq but not as big and dominate. However, very much like the Diesel's free throw percentage....48%. And he got posterized badly by Rudy Fernandez. C'mon, Rudy Fernandez?? Are you serious!! Smashed on dirty by RUDY FERNANDEZ!!! Like Marv Alvert would say...."Fernandez, serves up the facial!!"
     
     

More random thoughts-

Spain played well, together, and they kept fighting.

Kobe and DWade stepped up when they needed it most. Both hit clutch shots down the stretch.


I didn't watch a single women's game but congrats to that team. They dominated.


Lisa Leslie is a legend and winner....seems like she's passing the torch to Candace Paker.


The best of all is Coach K getting his due, love and respect from all of his players. This picture where he's wearing everyone's Gold Medals says it all!


Congratulations to Team USA, it was well-earned and about time!

Cry Now, Smile Later

In the 2004 Olympics in Athens when Argentina won the Gold, Manu Ginobili didn't want to leave the medal platform, so he just sat there by himself for a while after his National Anthem played.

"I cry when i see him play....thats how beautiful it is to me to see him compete."
- G. Buenrostro

I do too. Emanuel David Ginobili has won individual awards but more importantly, Championships in Europe and the NBA. He is just a winner....he has the knack, will, and desire for it. I would put him in the class of Bill Russell, Jordan, Tiger, and now Michael Phelps.

For the record, whoever came up with notion that Spurs basketball is boring needs to get slapped.

It's hard to argue that Ginobili isn't that good. His accolades speak for themselves. He is the ONLY player to ever win a Euroleague title, an NBA championship, and an Olympic gold medal...and that's why I admire and cry too.
Click here for an interview with Ginobli and check out Manu's highlights below.
Thanks for the article GB!

Top 10 Plays of 2008



Manu in Europe


More Top Plays

Don't Call it a Comeback

The Redeem Team has lived up to it's name thus far and is literally being lead by Dwayne Wade at 19ppg. Recently Wade has been known more so for his T-Mobile commercials but after rehabbing from injuries and putting countless amounts of hours working on his game, he is back in a major way. DWade is the most efficient player on both ends of the court for Team USA, hands down. We tend to forget that Charles Barkley led the '92 Dream Team in scoring and played a similar role just as Wade comes off the bench as a spark for the second unit.

In a rematch from the last meeting between these two countries, Greece got "beasted" all the way around. They did not come ready to play and looked out of character by playing individual instead of team ball. Obviously, the defense from the US didn't help their cause.

"Every night we want to play well, but we got better as a team tonight," said Wade, who augmented his six steals with 17 points, three rebounds and five assists in just 20 minutes.

It's great to have players who can do it at both ends, especially the defensive side because that's what it really takes to help win games and championships (see Giants vs. Patriots or Celtics vs. Lakers). Another good test will be Spain who is up next. This is basketball at it's finest!

Other notables:

• Chris Bosh has stepped it up. Dwight Howard is a beast but right now Bosh is more of a cerebral player. If Bosh can ever polish his right hand, he will reach another level.
• JKidd is slowing down, but he's 35 so give him a break. His leadership and presence makes all the difference.
• Kobe Bryant is starting to make his way into the scoring column without forcing it, which is a good thing.
• I like Doug Collins and Steve Jones but wouldn't mind having Hubie Brown, Bill Walton, or even Marv Albert call the games.
  

If Team USA can buckle up on defense, they should go all the way. I've been following and researching the International teams and it's hard not to like the players, team chemistry, and style of play. However, the more I watch Team USA play defense, the more I like them as well. We're still in the round robin part of the tournament so look for things to heat up in the Semi's and Medal rounds.

Day 3 Results-
Lithuania 86, Russia 79
Spain 72, Germany 59
Argentina 77, Croatia 53
China 85, Angola 68
Australia 106, Iran 68

Box scores and stats are here.

Dwayne highlights below:

Ballin' in Beijing....Here We Go!

The upcoming weeks will showcase basketball at it's finest. The best of the best on the world's biggest stage.

The true test is finally here for Dwayne Wade and Team USA. China proved to be no match for Kobe and Lebron since they are weak at the guard spots and Yao coming back from an injury. Angola is probably still recovering from the elbow Charles Barkley threw in the 1992 Olympics.

Greece is a formidable opponent (with Spain on deck) and they will be ready to prove to the world that the 101-95 victory over the US in the 2006 World Championship was no fluke. Vassilis Spanoulis is their best player and was the one responsible for giving the US fits in the pick and roll. He reminds me of Jason Kidd but with a jump shot. He has great vision, very crafty, and confident. Kobe Bryant aka DoberMamba will be matched up with him so this will be a fun one to watch.

Another player to watch for is Sofoklis Schortsanitis. They call him Baby Shaq in Greece because of his wide body. He's a big boy and can get it done in the paint with his size and footwork.

Team USA needs to make their 3 pointers and sustain defensive intensity. They also better hope to keep up physically or it will be another upset all over again.

TV Schedule is here if you're following at home and here are highlights from the last time the teams met.

1st Pick of the 2009 NBA Draft

From El Masnou, Spain.....Ricky Rubio!

The youngest player to ever play professionally in Europe is the next hype. He led the Euro league in steals at age 16. A 6'4 pass first point/shooting guard has speed, vision, NBA range, and an incredibly high IQ for the game. He's quick, has great body control, and great footwork.

Already compared to Magic Johnson and Drazen Petrovic, he is more like Pistole Pete Maravich because of his creativity and knack for scoring (and the freaksih resemblance). His jump shot looks more like a set shot but it still goes. Enough rambling, see for yourself.

Top Players from Around the World

Some of these names we've never heard of, others we might be familiar with. Only four have played in the NBA and one American-born player hasn't (JR Holden). I love watching how these players are so fundamentally sound. Notice how the read the defense and come off of screens for shots and the big men who can put it on the floor and shoot with good range.

Here's a great link to watch footage of the best international players (watch here).

David Anderson - Australia (Hawks)

JR Holden - Russia

Sarunus Jasikevicius - Lithuania (played at Maryland now in Greece)

Carlos Jimenez - Spain

Rimantas Kaukenas - Lithuania (played at Seton Hall now in Italy)

Victor Khryapa - Russia (Blazers and Bulls now Moscow)

Davor Kus - Croatia

Ksistof Lavrinovic - Lithuania

Raul Lopez - Spain (Jazz)
Theo Papaloukas - Greece

Marko Popovic - Croatia

Pablo Prigioni - Argentina

Felipe Reyes - Spain

Ramunas Siskauskas - Lithuania (Euro MVP, helped 2 different clubs win titles in consecutive years) My kind of player!

Vassilis Spanoulis - Greece (Rockets)

Submit any other players you think worthy of this growing list to hoopforlife@gmail.com

Kobe Bryant is Mr. International

Love him or hate him, Kobe Bryant is the greatest player on Earth right now. He's got a lot to gain with his venture to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Throughout his career, he has enterained, amazed, and also disappointed us which only means one thing. He's human and he has a mother just like all of us.

Kobe (or Ko-bi-er is how the Chinese in Beijing would pronounce it) shows a side we don't often see and reveals details about his childhood, Italy, going Pro, and of course his mother.

Interview

Fools Gold?

Team USA is at it again. Not delivering and bringing the doubters to the surface.

For those of you old enough to remember, the '92 Dream Team won every game by 30 or 40 points. As much as we want to see that with today's "Redeem Team," let's stop expecting blow outs. Then again, it's not fair to compare those two team. We're just used to that standard and wouldn't mind seeing it again. However, it does make it painfully nervous to watch our best struggle against as Australia, who sat out their best player Andrew Bogut.

Here's the latest Chris Sheridan article exposing the flaws.

Other interesting notes:

• 2008 Team USA only has 3 players that have won an NBA Championship. Kobe and DWade both won them with Shaq so I'd put an asterisk next to those rings.
• Where is Kobe? Is he really the defensive stopper on this team who nicknamed himself the "Doberman?" I thought he was a scorer?
  
• Carmelo doesn't have that "win" factor along with a few other players on this squad.
  

If we want to win the gold, we should have put more winners on the court. Nevertheless, the close games makes for good basketball.

Team USA

Is it just me or does Team USA still make you nervous? I’m pulling for them to win Gold real bad but the “Road to Redemption” is not about watching Turkey put up 30 points in the first quarter. Yes, we have great players in Kobe, Lebron, DWade, etc. but something is missing. Ever since the US teams got upset in 2002, it’s been terrible to watch (if you’re a US fan, course). From a general basketball perspective, it was great to watch the underdogs win which is great for the game.

Defense and turnovers is what I used to stress to my teams when I coached high school basketball. Tenacious on D and limiting turnovers on offense is usually a good formula to winning games. Team USA exhibited their great talent and depth, however, there were moments where they were sloppy on offense and gave up plenty of easy baskets. Given the fact that they did hold Turkey to seven points in the second quarter, they gave up 82 points total. That is cause for lack of sleep for the American Coaches, especially when thinking about Russia, Argentina, and the other Euro powers.

Other notes-

• DWade is a great coming off the bench.
• Lebron looks to be overshadowing Kobe as the leader and face of the team.
• Our bigs are not that big. Dwight Howard is a beast but Boozer and Bosh aren’t defensive stoppers or even great rebounders.

I’m confident on some of the days I watch but some moments make me wonder about getting to the Gold. Highlights from the game here.