Marc Gasol is probably the most underrated player the league.

There are also some other stories that flew under the radar this season, to name a few:

Last off-season, Danny Ferry, the former Vice President of the Spurs was made the GM of Hawks, the first trade he made was to trade franchise face Joe Johnson for Anthony Morrow, Jordan Farmar among others.

Losing a franchise face is also a difficult phase for the season, just ask the Magic, but the hawks recovered they had a 104.9 offensive rating (Offensive Rating is points scored per 100 possessions) with Joe and 104.3 without him, their pace has also increased from being ranked 22nd in the league to 14th without Joe in the line-up, the Hawks are a lock for the playoffs and with Joe’s salary off the books, this was a one good deal for the Hawks.

In middle of 2012-13 season the Nets with a 14-14 record decided to fire Avery Johnson, a guy who took Dallas to a 67 win season and the coach of the month that month. The move was criticized by a lot of people, especially his son and Gregg Popvich.

There were rumors about Phil Jackson and others but the Nets decided to stay with PJ who was then their Assistant Coach and he’s doing pretty good out there, the Nets are 23-14 under Carlesimo, Deron Williams has finally found his touch back, Reggie Evans and Blatche are suddenly  good. You gotta give PJ the props.

The Charlotte Bobcats continue to be the worst team in the league, they got to a nice 8-7 start to the season but since then its just been another day, another loss story for the Bobcats. However, the cats have made significant improvement this season, by their standards:

The Bobcats averaged a mere 87.0 ppg last season (ranked 30th) and now they are 27th with 93.0 ppg.

They have doubled their wins with two games less than last season.

Their offensive rating in also now not the worst, although its second last.

The Grizzlies are the new Spurs of the NBA, rare are the chances anybody would mention them, well they have been freaking  good this season wining nearly 70% of their games so far (44-19). They have the league best defense and have lost only two games since the exit of Rudy Gay to Toronto. They are a team nobody would want to come up against in the post season.

They have an impressive line-up with Marc Gasol is the #1 center in the league right now, Zach Randolph is coming back to his past form and Mike Conley has become a floor general. Add a nice starting forward like Parsons and they could contend for the ultimate.

Andrei Kirilenko #47 of the Minnesota Timberwolves

Admist of all the injuries and playoffs hopes diminishing, Andrei Kirilenko has somehow stayed healthy and even more surprisingly, he’s playing great ball, night, night out. He’s having his 4th best scoring and rebounding season and has a true shooting percentage (which accounts for shooting efficiency that takes into account 2-point field goals, 3-point field goals and free throws)  of  .599, his career’s second best and somehow all this has flown under the radar.

Jimmy Butler of the Bulls.

Due the prolonged Derrick Rose injury everybody is getting playing time in Chicago and Jimmy Butler is making the most of it. The 30th pick of a weak 2011 draft, Butler has suddenly made Luol Deng expendable for averaging 8 minutes in his rookie season and he has gone to 23 minutes this season becoming a sixth man in Bulls lineup.  His offense is really raw but the best thing about him is his defense; he’s already being nicknamed as the “Kobe Stopper”. Rose’s injury might have helped him find his back-court partner.

Greivis Vasquez #21 of the New Orleans Hornets.

Wait? Who? For a start, Greivis Vasquez is the starting point guard of the New Orleans Hornets. It’s only his third season in the NBA and he is in top-3 in assists at the moment, averaging 9.4 per game. He also averages a respectable 14 points per game and is arguably a contender for most improved player of the year.

Chandler Parsons #25 of the Houston Rockets.

In 2011 NBA Draft, the Houston Rockets selected Marcus Morris with their 14th pick and recently traded him to the Suns for a mere 2nd round pick whereas in the same draft. The Rockets selected Chandler Parsons with the 38th pick and he is now a member of their starting five.

Parsons averages 15 pts, 5 rebounds and 4 assist per game and  is a key piece to the best young team in the NBA. All-round players like Parsons don’t come too often.

JJ Hickson of the Trail Blazers.

Big-man J.J Hickson is only 24 and is already in his 5th season in the NBA.  The Trail Blazer averages a double-double per game (14 pts, 10 rebs) with a  player efficiency rating of 20.5 and yet manages to be under the radar all the time.

Chandigarh always had a decent basketball squad every year and have produced some international players but still the level of basketball isn’t that high. In National competitions, Chandigarh usually finishes in the bottom half of the standings every year and there have’t been any decent tournaments in Chandigarh in the past.

The only proposed indoor wooden stadium to be build in Chandigarh Sector 42 has been in construction for the last 3-4 years and isn’t opening any time soon.

The Chandigarh Administration, amidst the dearth of events, have tried to promote basketball in the city with its 1st All India Invitational Basketball Tournament at the Sector 46 Complex Courts from March 8-12, 2013.

Eight of India’s top Men’s clubs teams have been invited to take  part in the first edition

All matches were played under floodlights. The winners will take home a pay cheque of Rs 1.5 lakh, runners-up Rs 75,000 and third position holders Rs 50,000, besides glittering trophies.

I have to say, the effort put in by the Chandigarh Administration was pretty awesome. The basketball court where I used to play ball for the last few years was completely transformed with new hydraulic rims, digital scoreboards, digital shot-clocks, the court was colored, there was proper catering service for the guests, and great seating arrangements.

The digital score-board.

The Chandigarh Administration did their best to organize a great tournament.

GROUP STAGES

IOB won all their group matches comfortably and finished top of the group B. ONGC also won all their matches although they had to fight for them and most wins were taken away in the very last quarter except for the 86-53 blowout win against CRPF where ONGC’s marksmen Trideep Rai scored a tournament high 40 points.

Hosts Chandigarh and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) exited the group states with a total of 0 wins.

Punjab Armed Police finished second in Group B, defeating Rest of Punjab and Chandigarh, and entered the semis. The same was the case with the Indian Army who defeated RCF and CRPF to enter the semi-finals.

Trideep Rai, former captain of Indian Basketball team.

SEMI-FINALS

In the semi-finals, Pool A winners ONGC faced Pool B runners-up Punjab Armed Police. In the second semi-final, Pool B leaders Indian Overseas Bank of Chennai were pitted against Pool A runners-up Indian Army.

The first semi-final between ONGC and PAP was a hot affair. ONGC won the first quarter by 21-14. PAP hit back in the high scoring second quarter and won by 30-26. With Gurkirpal (33 pts) showing his  scoring skills, PAP won the third quarter by 18-12.

At the end of third quarter, PAP were leading by 62-59 but again ONGC, like all the previous matches, came back in the 4th quarter and won the quarter 28-14 and the game 87-76. Surprisingly, ONGC’s coach decided to sit Mohit Bhandari and Trideep Rai (their highest scorer so far) for most of the part in the last quarter. Instead he added sharp-shooters Suresh and S. Sridhar to the game which was the tournament’s boldest and most innovative move.

In the second semi-final, Indian Overseas Bank of Chennai snuffed out the challenge of Indian Army by 87-60 points. The IOB played like a well-oiled machine. Their plays were spot-on 9/10 times. They were a lock to find the open shooter at the perimeter. Their efforts to grab the offensive boards are great but their work on defense is exceptional, especially their full-court press. Every time they implement it, they force turnovers but the thing I like the most is that they play like a team, much like the Indian versions of San Antonio Spurs/Denver Nuggets. Nobody is the star, they run the right plays and the most important part is their trust and respect for each other; truly outstanding.

THIRD PLACE: PAP

PAP and Indian Army faced off for the third place match. It was a treat and probably the best match of the tournament with the PAP just edging out the Army-men 72-71.

The game was great. I and my friend were pretty annoyed at the the Indian Army loss. They played really hard all along the tournament and deserved a place but PAP was good too and you have to say they didn’t get anything they didn’t deserve.

FINALS

So to the big moment, the finals. Well, the finals really didn’t live up to its expectations. It was a one-sided affair with IOB pulling out with a big 71-57 win. The IOB-led 25-40 at the half and never looked back from then. There was a low moment when ONGC stopped playing in the 3rd quarter after a whistle from the ref, which their coach though was unjust. The tournament officials then went to the team and they resumed play.

ONGC’s only good moment came when their center Murali Krishan dunked in the 4th quarter, garnering huge cheers from the crowd.

CROWD AND ATMOSPHERE

The crowd was great. On the opening night there were plenty of people to cheer the teams, some of them even gave the players new nicknames. Couples, families, all were there.

On Monday, the semi-finals day, there was a little less crowd than usual. A big reason was that the weekend had ended. I really thought the same would happen with the finals but I was wrong. On the finals day, there was a huge crowd. I even saw some of my friends who I never imagined would be there. The most surprising part was that there were also a few foreigners in the crowd and they even took pictures of the championship squad!

I even managed to get a few pictures with the players.

Trideep Rai (L)

Mohit Bhandari and Murali Krishan Ram

FUTURE

The tournament will continue to take place every year from now on in the indoor stadium of sector 42, if it gets completed by next year.

This time some Indian players didn’t participate as they had just got back from the National Camp. So next time there will be new stars.

There might be new teams added next year if the tournament gets good reviews for the players, which I think it will.

END NOTE 

In the end, I would like to add that the tournament gets a big thumbs-up from me. I know there are many better tournaments held than this one all over India, but basketball hasn’t reached that fan-following and marketability for a person to go out of station to see a match. Therefore tournaments like these really help young minds in understanding and loving the game and indulge the local people as well.

I once remember that during Olympics 2012, my father and brother were forced by me to change the channel and watch the basketball bronze match between Russia and Argentina. You see, I never miss a Manu Ginobili sighting, and in the end I realized that my father were more interested in the game than me. He was calling out on fouls. My father, who hadn’t watched basketball ever before, was calling out on referees! That’s the power of sports. That game made my father understand my love for Ginobili.

All this means that you really didn’t have to know basketball to enjoy it. You can just enjoy it and if this type of tournaments or a big league is held at the stadiums, people will sometime go out and watch it and I’m sure they will like it. Therefore I propose these tournaments be held twice a year.

On NBA Trade Deadline, the Houston Rockets traded Patrick Patterson, center Cole Aldrich, guard Toney Douglas, and cash for this year’s 5th pick Thomas Robinson, Francisco Garcia and Tyler Honeycutt.

Back in time till 2012, Rockets was a decent team, a team that hung on to the 9th and always remained mediocre, as it never got a high pick in lottery and never had a decent salary space/market to attract Free Agents. But then they went on a complete rebuild and what seem like a disastrous season  for the Rockets turned out to successful one.

They started off the rebuilding process near the end of 2011 season when they failed to make the playoffs. The Rockets cleared cap for Dwight Howard and made many off-season deals which completely disjointed their whole squad. They also brought in a number of new players via signings.

So, before the 2012 NBA Draft, The Milwaukee Bucks sent the 12th pick, Shaun Livingston, Jon Brockman, and Jon Leuer to the Rockets for the 14th overall pick and Samuel Dalembert, while the Minnesota Timberwolves traded the 18th pick to Rockets for Chase Budinger.

With those three picks, Houston drafted Jeremy Lamb of Connecticut, Royce White of Iowa State, and Terrence Jones of Kentucky with the 12th, 16th, and 18th picks.

They dealt Kyle Lowry to the Toronto Raptors for a future first round pick and let Goran Dragic sign with Suns, and they also amnestied Luis Scola who later signed with Phoenix. Courtney Lee was also dealt to Celtics.

They signed Jeremy Lin to a 3 year, $25.1 million contract as the New York Knicks decided not to match this offer, a move which was more inclined towards market as Lin would bring a lot of international market to Houston. They signed Omer Asik with an offer sheet with the Rockets worth $25.1 million for three years which Chicago Bulls decided not to match. They also signed Carlos Delfino in the off-season who was a decent scorer off the bench.

They did all these moves to get Dwight Howard but they couldn’t as he was dealt to the Lakers in a blockbuster 4 team trade, with everybody calling them the big losers of the off-season.

But then the trade happened. The Rockets traded Kevin Martin and Jeremy Lamb and other draft picks for sixth man of the year James Harden, along with teammate members Cole Aldrich, Daequan Cook, and Lazar Hayward.

They bought “the beard” in Houston who quickly became the face of franchise with stellar performances – notably 37 points, 12 assists, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, and a block on his debut as a Rocket.

Houston hit both the right chords with the trade; they brought in a future all star and a market potential star in Houston, and suddenly the Rockets had the two biggest market players – The Beard and Jeremy Lin.

The Rockets also exceeded expectations – the offensive improvement of Omer Asik was a big factor as nobody expected him to score and suddenly he was averaging a double-double. Chandler Parsons’ rise as a do-everything type of player (whom they stole at 38th in the 2011 draft) was a surprise and James Harden exploded to be the best shooting guard in the league right now, leading in PER, Estimated Wins Added and Value Added.

Houston Rockets, who were projected to go nowhere, were suddenly holding on to the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, 3 1/2 games ahead of the Los Angeles Lakers, 4 games ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers, and 4 1/2 games over the Dallas Mavericks.

They also had the league best offense scoring 106.4 pts per game.

Then, at trade deadline, they got Thomas Robinson for Patrick Patterson. Patterson was a good player and a starter for the Rockets and changing a starter for a rookie who’s not playing as well as he should is a big but-if, but he has done well.

Just look at the guy dunk on Dwight Howard, amazing.

In just one year the Rockets changed their lineup from Lowry/Dragic – Kevin Martin – Parsons – Scola – Dalembert to Lin – Harden – Parsons – Robinson – Asik.

Which fanbase doesn’t want that ?

Plus the best part is yet to come. The Rockets will have enough cap space next season to offer a maximum to a FA. Just think the above lineup plus a star like Al Jefferson, Josh Smith and maybe even Dwight Howard?

The future looks bright for the Rockets.

All due to Daryl Morey, who gets my vote for this year’s Executive of the Year. Genius.

Other NBA teams, take note.

Last night, it was the battle of point guards :

Chris “best point guard right now” Paul vs Tony “who?” Parker.

The outcome : Tony scored a game-high 31 points on 12 for 16 shooting and dished seven assists without a turnover in just 28 minutes and held Chris Paul to mere 4 points which was even lesser than his fouls.

Also, the Spurs destroyed Clippers.

A few nights ago, Tony Parker and the Spurs held Kyrie Irving to 6 points; in the game, Tony Parker has an impressive stat-line: 24 pts,7 assists and passing the final play to Leonard who went on to hit the game-winning 3.

After all the stellar performances, Tony Parker got some much needed acclaim.

Charles Barkley said:

“This guy — first of all, he should be the MVP,. Listen, LeBron [James] is the best player. Kevin Durant‘s probably a better player. But when we’ve been voting on the MVP the last 25 years, we gave it to the guy who had the best record on the best team. Tony Parker should be the MVP. If they finish with the best record — because you think of all the time that [Tim] Duncan and my man [Manu] Ginobili have missed — this guy’s unbelievable. And just because he’s down in San Antonio with all those big old women, he don’t get the credit and respect he deserves.”

The Spurs now stands atop the Western Conference with a 44-12 record, 4 clear of OKC and there are huge chances they will have the best record. So that means Tony Parker would be the MVP, right? Wrong! He’s from the Spurs and they are boring! What about LeBron James or Kevin Durant? Isn’t Chris Paul a better leader and guard? What’s so special about Parker?

These are common responses that question Parker’s legacy. He may or may not be the MVP, but he’s really awesome. I’ll give you the reasons.

1) Tony Parker is a greatest offensive threat point guard in the NBA. There, I said it.

2) He can hit you on isolations with his combination of speed, floaters and some shakes too. He can hit the mid-range jumper (48 percent from mid range, by far a career-best) coming off a screen; he also hits 44.2 percent of corner 3′s he take – a very important part of Spurs offense; he’s banking game winning 3′s and clutch 3′s.

3) He’s averaging 7.7 dishes per game, also a career high.

4) Duncan’s been rejuvenated this season; but in last few weeks, he has has missed some games. Manu isn’t 100% this season and the only guy that is leading him through with NBA’s best record is Tony Parker who ranks 4th in PER (only behind James, Durant & Paul.)

5) He’s also 3th in true shooting category with .610 only behind Steve Nash & Jose Calderon and ahead of Chris Paul.

6) On the defensive end, Tony’s been very good this season. I’ve already mentioned how he held Chris Paul and Kyrie to 4 & 6pts respectively.

7) Also, according to Synergy Sports, Parker’s also having a benchmark defensive season.

The Spurs are Tony’s team now; he’s the driving force and the most consistent player in their squad. He’s been phenomenal this season and is a real talent who we all just overlook. He might not be a dunking point guard like Westbrook or Rose or have crossover skills like Chris Paul or Irving; but he is a true point guard in every sense – he makes the right plays, he probes for opponents weaknesses and finds the right way to exploit them; he’s making the right decisions on offensive end; he’s been a great shooter and is grabbing a lot of attention on pick & roll only to result in a wide open look at the rim for Duncan/Splitter. In every way, he’s been “the” Point Guard.

His game is so smooth that it’s easily forgettable.

As Dan Devine said :

“You can’t hang on the “he’s not the best, but he means the most” argument when both James and Durant are using a larger share of their team’s possessions and doing so more efficiently/productively; they are playing on an all-time great/seasons-for-the-ages-level, and Parker just isn’t. There’s no shame in that. It’s a simple fact of the matter.”

Agreed.

Tony Parker isn’t going to be this year this MVP, it’s a two way race between James & Durant.

But Tony Parker is brilliant too. He’s the heart and soul of the best run team in the NBA; he is averaging career high’s, he is putting up stellar performances every single night; he is better now then he ever was and needs to be given the respect he deserves.

It’s time we pay Tony Parker his dues.

Kyrie Irving is special.

Kyrie Irving won the 3-point contest, edging out Spurs Matt Bonner 23-20 in the finals.

Just how good is Kyrie?  As soon as Kyrie stepped to contest the first round the commentators were speculating whether he could put up a decent score as they claimed “he’s more off the dribble shooter” and not a “spot up shooter”. But Kyrie let his game do the talking scoring 18 points in the first round defeating Steve Novak and then posting 23 (which was just 2 shot of all time record) in the finals.

On Friday, Irving scored 32 points in the BBVA Rising Stars Challenge, and on Sunday he’ll make his All-Star debut. That’s Kyrie Irving living the moment.

Dunk Contest fails to live up to expectations again!

I’m pretty sure I’m not the first guy to tell you this and I’m also pretty sure you’ll agree when I say that the Dunk Contest isn’t the same anymore.

It came to a point when Kobe Bryant thought putting a photo of his shoes on twitter was more interesting than the dunk contest.

There was like a team when people waited for years for the contest and now they were cursing Gerald Green for cutting the net and wasting time putting it back.

There were Vince Carter – Jason Richardson duel, Jordan – Wilkins duel, Nate & Howard duel. Now we’re left with Jeremy Evans and Terrence Ross to right it out?

That’s the epitome of the Dunk Contest.

Anyways, there were some pretty good dunks especially in the final round.

Damian Lillard is here to stay.

The skills competition involves players navigating a dribbling circuit, taking a 3-point shot, hitting targets with passes and driving for a layup.

Dame Lillard won the taco bells skills challenge with a 29.8 second round in the finals versus Jrue Holiday (35.6 seconds), Dame also had the best time 28.8 in the team rounds as he remained composed. Tony Parker last years champion and a MVP candidate this season seemed nervous and couldn’t hit the 3 pointer taking 48 seconds to complete the course whereas Lillard, a rookie, was just so patient and cool that he came out with 2 of 3 top times.

The future looks good for Lillard.

Chris Bosh is a boss.

Every time  Chris Bosh does something, he has to own it.

He proved it today by beating Oklahoma City guard Russell Westbrook, Maya Moore of the WNBA and former Houston Rocket Robert Horry. The teams had two minutes to make shots from six locations on the floor, including one from half court.

Chris Bosh had WNBA star Swin Cash and Hall of Famer Dominique Wilkins as his teammates but that didn’t matter much in the end. Chris freaking Bosh,  had to win.

BRADFORD, ENGLAND – JANUARY 08: Goalscorers, Carl McHugh and Rory McArdle of Bradford City celebrate after the Capital One Cup Semi-Final 1st Leg match between Bradford City and Aston Villa at Coral Windows Stadium, Valley Parade on January 8, 2013 in Bradford, England. (Photo by Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

The EPL, unlike the NBA, is more shifted towards the moolah. It revolves around the principle of the rich remaining the rich and the poor getting poorer. As a result, apart from a handful of clubs from London, Manchester and Liverpool, all the others are struck in mediocracy.

The formula is simple – the more you spend the more you get. Just ask Manchester City.

It’s so rare to see a surprise in English football, unless the club gets bought by some Arab who has more money than your whole city.

But if that doesn’t happen, you are stuck. Even if you generate players from your academy, you see yourselves trading them because you just can’t keep them; there are always bigger clubs to chew your talent.

But still miracles happen. You see, that’s why they are called “miracles” and a small miracle happened last year in the League Cup when Cardiff City took Liverpool to penalties before falling short in the final. Cardiff is currently leading the Championship and will possibly be a Premier League team next season.

The big miracle this year in the League Cup is Bradford City. I don’t blame you if you hadn’t heard about them before; you aren’t supposed to know about a League 2 club that haven’t played in the EPL since 2001, in which they were poor. And you’re also not supposed to know about a team who won the FA Cup (their only trophy ever) way back in 1911!

Bradford, on their journey to the League Cup final, defeated Notts County, Watford, and Burton Albion in their first three matches to set up a clash with Wigan in the 4th round. Now, a League 2 club facing an EPL team generally means the end of the road, but somehow the Bantams survived, taking Wigan to penalties and eventually winning the tie.

That meant Arsenal was coming to the Valley Parade stadium.

This was big for Bradford. Their stadium generated gate receipts of £300,000, the highest ever in their history. But Bradford wasn’t content with that only and they took Arsenal to penalties after it ended 1-1 in regulation and extra time.

And then they beat the Gunners in penalties and progressed to the semifinals.

The win over Arsenal was a milestone for the Bantams and it changed their mentality. They beat Aston Villa 3-1 in the first leg of the semifinals and then suffered a 2-1 defeat in the second leg, but still made it to the finals on 4-3 aggretrate where they will now meet Swansea (who beat Chelsea 2-0 agg.)

If the Bantams win the final, they would be the first club outside the top two leagues to win the trophy since Swindon Town did it in 1969.

It would also be an emotional victory for the club, given that the last time they ever won a trophy, the old 3rd division back in 1985, was sadly marred by a fire in the stadium on the day the trophy was presented, which killed 56 fans.

Their win would also set another great example that money doesn’t buy everything.

Let’s not moan about all the wrongs here and have a look at some of the best Premier League trades this season so far.

Berbatov scored two goals in his home debut for Fulham and everybody knew the big Bulgarian wasn’t going to be stopped this easily. Age might have taken the best out of him, but I’m sure there is pretty much left in the tank.

Plus, when he pulled that “keep calm and pass me the ball” stunt after scoring against Southampton, it was just priceless.

On 20 July 2012, Michu signed a three-year contract with Premier League side Swansea City for a fee of £2 million – for freaking £2 million! And that guy is third on EPL scoring list – well done Swansea!

He’s probably got the best nickname in the league. Hell, I want a jersey with Michu written on the back, it sounds so cool!

So Swansea got a leading scorer and a very good marketing asset for £2 million – I guess that’s enough.

Oh, and he also did save a third tier Spanlish La Liga club (his former club) by buying some of their shares. Okay, that’s more than enough.

Harry Redknapp on BBC’S Match of the Day – “He’s been the best summer signing so far this season”. Well, either Harry forgot about RVP or he just thought domestic transfers aren’t called transfers any more.

Anyway, I’m not saying Santi is a bad pick, but surely he isn’t the best you see and I’ve got two more names ahead of him.

Santi has been phenomenal for Arsenal and he’s like the next version of Cesc Fabregas, only with a much better looks.

He’s been the floor general of Arsenal this season. With 5 assists & 7 goals so far, Santi is looking to be the next promising Arsenal star to move to another club in 5 years  under Arsene Wenger.

Having won Ligue 1’s Player of the Season twice in successive years with Lille OSC, everybody wanted Hazard until Chelsea snatched him up for heavy £32 million price. Sure, it looked a steep amount but now when he has scored 5 goals and created 6, it looks like it was all worth it.

Hazard has been completely menacing this season with his Messi like dribbling and his towering presence on the offence, he is surely a top transfer this season.

Sir Alex described him as their Christmas gift they got early and the fans simply love him. Robin Van Persie, with his £24 million move from Arsenal, is definitely the pick of this season.

He snatched wins at Southampton and Manchester City single handedly. He leads the league in scoring (17 goals) and is 4th in the number of assists (6 assists). Robin Van Persie is just the best of the rest in this list and is probably the best player in the EPL even!

Robin Van Persie might have made some people unhappy with his move to United but that just doesn’t mean that he isn’t playing at the top level right now.

I think it’s time we all start giving respect to Robin. After all, he is a player who would be proud to have seen.

A guy signed at £14 million, scores 2 goals in his debut and then scores 5 in his first 4 matches. He then goes on to win the Premier League player of the month award for September. He surely deserves a place on this list, doesn’t he?

“You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.”

The above quote describes LeBron James‘ NBA career so far perfectly –  how he went from being NBA’s most loved player, who everyone wanted to get a ring in Cleveland, to become the most hated player in NBA, who nobody wanted to get a ring in Miami.

If this list had been made for 2000-09, I firmly believe LeBron James would have been the #1 player!

Let’s take a look at LeBron’s journey so far:

For all those who don’t know, LeBron at his school, St. Vincent–St. Mary, starred as a two-sport athlete, playing basketball and football and he excelled a both. James broke his wrist before his senior year and gave up football but there are many who ponder whether James could get into NFL; that’s the legacy of LBJ!

In Basketball, the self proclaimed “Chosen One” played like one and was dominant at every single stage. He was the complete package – doing it all – points, rebounds, steals, assists , everything. He even brought NBA Stars to watch him play.

LeBron also made his way to the 35 Greatest McDonald’s All-Americans list.

Then it happened. LeBron went major. He went to the NBA. He arrived as the most hyped  high school player in modern history and he arrived dominantly – In his first professional game, he recorded 25 points, 9 assists, 6 rebounds and 4 steals on 60 percent shooting – setting a record for the most points scored by a rookie in his first game.

Late in his rookie season, LeBron also became the youngest player to score 40 points – at 19.

His rookie year averages were 20.9 points, 5.9 assists, and 5.5 rebounds per game. Other players to do this before him – Oscar Roberston, Michael Jordan.

He also became the youngest player to record a triple-double, youngest player to named in all-NBA team, all star MVP and won many more accolades.

LeBron was one beast on the court. You could see that he was feared by his opponents, with teams adjusting themselves to focus on James. He had such an effect that no other player since MJ had.

Out of the court, he was a polarizing figure, he was a style icon, he appeared in magazine covers, covered billboards, he gave cameos and struck huge endorsement deals. Everybody loved him up to the point of ‘The Decision’ – which happened in 2010.

His pre-game ritual was better than some WWE‘s wrestlers go-to moves! Such was the power of LeBron Raymone James, that players across the globe tried emulating him.

Last year, one of LeBron’s sneaker was priced at $135. A sneaker priced so high hasn’t been seen since Michael Jordan’s “Jordans” and that too, it was high priced sneaker in NIKE history.

In a scoial world – LeBron is a sponsor’s delight.

In the sports world – he’s a viewer’s delight.

LeBron Raymone James is #7 on this decade list, a decade which wasn’t the best of his career.

Even after so many achievements he still has got half of his NBA career ahead of him – good things are waiting to happen.

Yesterday, Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar bid adieu to One Day International Cricket. After nearly 22 years of dominance, Sachin will never wear the blue jersey again, Yes, its a horrific truth but as Kanye West once quoted “People in life are seasons, and all that happens – happens for a reason”.

I guess this was just the time for Sachin to hangs his boots up.

Now, I don’t need to tell you how great he was, because I know that you know, Sachin was Sachin. Ever since coming into the ODIs at the young age of just 16 years and 223 days, he was strong, dominant, legendary and down to earth, making records like it ain’t nothing.

I never saw Don Bradman play, I saw Sachin play and as my friend once described “Seeing Sachin bat is better than sex”. Agreed.

So here, along with my tribute to the little master, are some of the best quotes on him by great personalities/organizations :

“I want my son to become Sachin Tendulkar.” - Brian Lara

”We did not lose to a team called India, we lost to a man called Sachin” - Mark Taylor

‘Nothing bad can happen to us if we were on a plane in India with Sachin Tendulkar on it.” - Hashim Amla

”He can play that leg glance with a walkin stick also.” - Waqar Younis

”There are 2 kinds of batsmen in the world. Sachin Tendulkar and all the others.” - Andy Flower

“I have seen god. He bats at no.4 for India in tests.” - Matthew Hayden

“I see myself when I see Sachin batting.” - Don Bradman

“Beneath the helmet, under that unruly curly hair, inside the cranium, there is something we don’t know, something beyond scientific measure. Something that allows him to soar.” – BBC Sports

“The more I see him, the more I want to see him.” – Azhar

“”On a train from Shimla to Delhi, there was a halt in one of the stations. The train stopped by for few minutes as usual. Sachin was nearing a century, batting on 98. The passengers, railway officials, everyone on the train waited for Sachin to complete the century. This Genius can stop time in India!!” - Peter Roebuck *Aussie Journalist*

“I am fortunate that I’ve to bowl at him only in the nets.” - Anil Kumble

“Test cricket is bloody hard work, especially when you’ve got Sachin batting with what looks like a three metre wide bat.” – Michael Hussey

“He has been in form longer than some of our guys have been alive.” – Daniel Vettori

“I had to remind Gary Kristen often that he was in the covers to field against Sachin, not to applaud him.” – Hansie Cronje

“This little prick’s going to get more runs than you, AB.”  - Merv Hughes to Allan Border after an 18-year-old Tendulkar scored a century in Perth. Tendulkar now has scored more runs than Border.

“What we (Zimbabwe) need is 10 Tendulkars.” – Paul Strang

“I never get tired during umpiring whenever Sachin is on crease” – Umpire Rudy Kortzean

“We won with ten, but lost to one.” - Steve Waugh

“Sometimes you get so engrossed in watching batsmen like Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar that you lose focus on your job.” – Yaseer Hameed

“I will see god when I die but till then I will see Sachin Tendulkar” – A Banner in Sharjah

“Do your crime when Sachin is batting, because even God is busy watching his batting.” - A placard at the Sydney Cricket Ground

And a message to all the critics who are still asking questions like “Whether Sachin should retire from Test Cricket also ? ” – I say to them, get a life and leave the master alone, he has done more than enough for this country to be asked such questions.

And to all you out there, “Always Remember we lived in the time of Sachin Tendulkar”.

This was my third article in the Greatest Quotes series. Here are the previous ones.

• Rahul Dravid
• Manu Ginobili

Surprise! Surprise!

With a quarter of the season passed, everything looks rather blurry. And while Miami are inconsistent, the Spurs have stumbled through their last 5 outings (although Tim Duncan is killing it). Boston has really ran out of gas and the Lakers, they are running out of time to figure things out.

The only elite team that looks consistent right now is the Thunder, leading the league with a 21-4 record. But let’s be honest, they still aren’t as good as last year.

On the other hand, there are some teams that are just performing brilliantly out there. Granted, that only quarter of the season has passed, but  these teams (in no particular order) have been pretty good:

Stephen Curry #30 has led the Golden State Warriors ably.

The Warriors have annoyed their fanbase more than any other team, but this season they have been off to a flyer with a a 17-8 start.

Their comeback win at Miami gave us every reason to believe that Golden State is for real. They are placed 11th in the defensive rankings even without Andrew Bogut in the lineup.

Much to their success has been due to the giant progress of Stephen Curry, who it seems like doesn’t have ankle problems anymore and is lighting it up every night.

There’s still long way to go in the season and who knows what will happen, but the Warriors are pretty good right now.

Is there a power-shift in LA?

The Clippers came out all guns firing this season; they even beat the Spurs twice. The Spurs are the benchmark here, if you beat them twice you’re supposed to be good.

And it’s not that they have only beaten the Spurs,  the Clipps have got to their 18-6 record by sheer hard-work. They’ve already beaten the Grizzlies, the Heat and the Bulls.

Their bench is the second-most productive in the NBA, with Jamal Crawford’s making a name for the  Sixth Man of the Year Award.

That aside, with Lamar Odom & Blake Griffin coming back to form and DeAndre Jordan repaying his contract with some serious improvement on both sides of court, the Clippers looks like a legitimate threat in the Western Conference this season. And then, lest we forget, there’s Chris Paul.

Nobody would like to go to Madison Square Garden come post-season.

The Knicks are shooting lights out from the 3-pt range this season, they have been a top offensive team all season long. They have already had wins over the Spurs and the Heat twice apiece — the latter by 20 points both times out.

Still, Amar’e Stoudemire and Iman Shumpert have yet to play this season. Which might be their biggest problem; how do you bring them back into the lineup without breaking any chemistry?

Jason Kidd has been legendary this season (at his age) and Carmelo is being Carmelo (who may be the NBA MVP, if the season were to end today). It  also seems like Raymond Felton has taken all the off-season criticism and turned it into his motivation.

The Knicks are playing good “team” basketball, something that was lacking last season. And if they figure out for to get Amare & Iman into the lineup, which I’m positive Mike Woodson (coach of the year nominee for me) will, they’d be a force to reckon with.

In other words, the Knicks are a work in progress and might be title contenders if they played like this in playoffs.

Josh Smith and the Hawks have pleasantly surprised us all.

We all know Joe Johnson wasn’t worth the $22 million contract, but still he was a franchise cornerstone of the Hawks. Moving a cornerstone and still getting better the next year is a huge task. And the Atlanta Hawks have done it and they are playing some really good basketball at that.

Josh Smith & Al Horford have been leading the team by example, and Jeff Teague is really popping out. Danny Ferry’s idea of having two twin towers with sharp shooters (Kyle Korver & Anthony Morrow) is working out really well.

But will it work all season long? Let’s watch out.

Marc Gasol is probably the most underrated centre in the league.

While the whole NBA is playing fast-paced small ball, the Grizzlies have stuck stubbornly to playing slow, inside-out basketball.

Having Marc Gasol & Z-Bo upfront of course, helps you play this way.

With their 16-6 record, it seems like Lionel Hollins’ team has done quite well till now.

The Grizz don’t take many threes, but they convert the ones they attempt at a top-10 mark. So that pretty much sums it up, the Grizzlies have been playing careful basketball. Michael Conley Jr. rapid rise as a floor general  is also helping the team a lot this year.

Plus Justin Timberlake now owns a part of Grizzlies, so there’s the mojo.

This Blue Collar Town team may not play the prettiest basketball, or have a market like the Knicks, but they’re only doing what they know best.

And having already beaten the Spurs in the Playoffs last year, and taking the Thunder to 7 games, they are a tricky outfit. If Z-Bo gets to his 100% this playoffs, who knows?

Derrick Rose’s career right now is a big IF.

What if he turns out like Michael Jordan for the Bulls and gets his side a handful of NBA championships, scoring and dishing and stealing and dunking his way through a decade-long reign in the NBA ?

Or 

What if the torn ACL  robs him of all his explosiveness, and what was earlier a possible Hall of Famer career turns out to be just another ‘What if ?’ career. (Hello Greg Oden.)

We just don’t know yet, but we also will never forget Goran Dragic, who is in the video below for all the wrong reasons.

But let just put our worries aside about his injury and think of it as a just an inspiration point for D-Rose to come back even stronger.

Derrick Rose is clearly the be(a)st dunking point guard in NBA, so much so that if you would look up explosive in the dictionary, a picture of Derrick Rose would surely pop up.

Similarly, if you saw a whole Chicago Bulls game, you’d definitely see Rose popping out at the rim with a force you’d never have seen before.

That guy is a absolute athletic freak.

Derrick Rose hasn’t still played in a competitive game since April, and he’s cried over it, so watch out for him when he comes back. He’s going to kill ‘em.

Keep an eye out for the remaining spots in the list of the top 10 dunkers, as we countdown to the guy who slams the ball home the best in the NBA.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8. Dwyane Wade
9.  JaVale McGee
10. Josh Smith

In this series you can check out the  top 10 Dunkers in the NBA voted for by five basketball writers at Sportskeeda: Neeraj Grover, Vinay Sundar, Sidhartha Patra (sidhartha), Souvik Roy Chowdhury (souvik) and Siddarth Sharma (Sidbreakball)

I (read: everybody) know that Josh Smith can’t hit a decent mid-range jumper even if he was aiming at the broad side of a barn. Also, we all think he will never stop trying.

On the other side, we all know the guy’s dunking ability. I mean, if you are in the paint alone and Josh is running with the ball in his hands then there should be no questions such as “how could I stop him ?” in your mind; and if you have that question in your mind either you are Javale McGee (can also be read as dumb) or you are seriously dumb.

Here’s a video-graphic proof of how his “effing” shooting is and how good his dunking is.

(P.S  - He once hit a 3 when I was playing as Atlanta Hawks in NBA 2K12)

Anyways, Smith has been regarded as one of the premier dunkers in the NBA, dating back to his rookie season seven years ago, when he won the 2005 dunk contest.

At 6’9″, the lefty Smith has unusual quickness and leaping ability, and he utilizes his extremely long arms to load up and throw down dunks pretty much every time he has the chance to do so and even in clutch time, he knows when to use his mojo:

On the other hand, he also is exceptionally well in blocking shots, only in his second season Smith was seventh on NBA shot blocking list averaging a giant 2.25 blocks PPG, a big thing for a sophomore who was drafted out of the lottery (and never attended college).

And he’s not even reached his potential yet. Last season was the best of Josh’s career he averaged a near double-double(18.8 PPG 9.6 RPG). This year, with the absence of Joe Johnson (a franchise face before), Smith will have more opportunitys & responsibilities in the team and he’s only 26. How will he step up remains to be seen.

Until then dwell on this.

Top 10 Josh Smith Dunks.

Some Smith Facts :

• Smith is the youngest player to block 10 shots in a game, he was only 19 years and13 days then.
• He’s also the youngest player to register 500 & 1000 blocks respectively.

Check back soon for the 9th player on this list.

Since the NBA switched to a three-division format (the expansion in 2004), the Southeast has been the shallowest in terms of talent. They’ve never really had more than one good team compared to the Western and Eastern divisions, which have had more than one great team  for many years. While there were some good teams  (Heat of 2005-06 and the 2008-09 Magic) they were more imposters than contenders.

Duh, but they do have the Miami Heat now.

Last year, the division also managed to have three .500 teams (that’s only happened thrice in nine years) but it’s going back to  it’s usual lacklustre history this season, with Miami favourites to win this season and no one really challenging them or any other team at all.

Still with Washington improving and the new look Hawks and Magic, the division might get a little interesting. Let’s take a look:

And oh about the Bobcats? Well, the less said about them the better. Sorry, can’t get over these Bobcats jokes.

Off-season moves:

Players Added: Lou Williams, Kyle Korver, Anthony Morrow, James Anderson, Devin Harris

Players Released: Joe Johnson, Kirk Hinrich, Marvin Williams

This off-season Hawks hired former San Antonio Spurs player & assistant coach Danny Ferry as their GM and the first move he made was to dump off Joe Johnson massive contract. Johnson was kind of a franchise-face who didn’t played in the recent All-Star game, who was earning like a franchise-face but couldn’t perform like one (see Kobe Bryant & Kevin Durant). I actually liked Joe Johnson but that doesn’t mean his absence will do Hawks any harm.

They replaced him with speedy guard Devin Harris, assertive Lou Williams and probably got the best two 3-point shooters in the league in Kyle Korver & Anthony Morrow.

They’ve still got an all-star front-court in Josh Smith & Al Horford; with Jeff Teague to run the point. So they are probably a lock-on for the playoffs. How far they will go that still a question?

Prediction: 4-8 in East and then I’m betting on a first round exit.

Off-season moves:

Players Added: Michael Kidd Gilchrist (via Draft), Ramon Sessions, Brendan Haywood, Ben Gordon

Players Released: DJ Augustin, Corey Magette

The Bobcats are the Bobcats and I think for a few seasons they’ll remain the same. They missed out on Anthony Daviswith, the Draft lottery and then drafted MKG, who is probably the most hard-working of this year’s class and has amazing potential. Still with Ramon Sessions running your point and Brendan Haywood as your starting centre, you can’t see a lot of wins, but the team looks way better than the one the last year.

Prediction: Will fight with Magic for second last place in both Southeast & East #Lotterybound.

Off-season moves:

Players Added: Ray Allen, Rashard Lewis, Josh Harellson

Players Released: Juwan Howard, Ronny Turiaf, Eddy Curry.

The Miami Heat is where my money is on for winning the Eastern Conference unless Boston goes old-school and Derrick Rose’s comeback is Michael Jordan-esque. Heat winning the Southeast is pretty much 100 %.

The players they released this season were probably the ones that were getting the least time on their roster, so it isn’t much of a loss. Put into perspective who’ve they replaced that lot with: probably the greatest 3-point shooter in Ray Allen, another triple-threat in Rashard Lewis and a decent big-man in Josh Harrellson, who is younger than the released trio.

Then there is LeBron James, the greatest basketball player in the league right now, coming off a championship win. Only good things can happen from here.

Prediction: Wins Southeast, #1 in East; into NBA finals and kills it.

Off-season moves:

Players Added: Andrew Nicholson & Kyle O’Quinn (via draft), Arron Affalo, Gustavo Ayon, Nikola Vucevic, Moe Harkless, AL Harrington.

Players Released: Dwight Howard, Jason Richardson, Ryan Anderson.

Confusing.That pretty much sums up Orlando’s past off-season. They signed 30-year-old Jameer Nelson for a $20 million on a 3-year contract and then traded Ryan Anderson because they want to rebuild.

I mean, who signs a 30-year guard for $20 millions when you want to rebuild? You need experience; you can get it on the cheap.

But the bad thing is that it doesn’t even end here.

They had to trade Dwight and they were never going to get an replacement as capable as D-12. And then they didn’t unload Hedo Turkoglu contract with it. Something is really wrong with their boardroom.

However, I don’t think their season is going to be that bad (like the Bobcats 2011-12, sorry I couldn’t help myself.)

Prediction: 13-15 in East, definitely lottery bound and if not, they’ll trade someone to make them for obvious rebuilding reasons.

Off-season moves:

Players Added: Bradley Beal (via draft), Martell Webster, Trevr Ariza, Emeka Okafar

Players Released: Rashard Lewis, Andray Blatche

The Washing Wizards are looking way better than last season. Bradley Beal is certainly a good pick-up and he’ll fit in well for them. Plus Webster, Ariza & Okafar are decent players off the bench if not starters.

John Wall will have better team-mates (minus Javale Mcgee) so he might have a career year. Their defense (Okafar- Nene- Ariza) looks pretty solid and  putting into fact that Randy Wittmann is an old-school coach only helps the cause.

This season will definitely be something totally different in recent years. Gone are the likes McGee, Blatche & Young, their locker room will be a lot more professional this year.

It’s set up perfectly for the Wizards to show some magic, this season.

Prediction:  9-11 in East

The NBA season is just about to kick off in few weeks but we can have some laughs before that, can’t we?

No offence to McGee fans but whenever I think funny + NBA, I think of Javal McGee, maybe because whenever you Google his name the first two autofill results are “JaVale McGee stupid” and “JaVale McGee embarrassing”.

Introducing Javal

JaVale McGee is the kind of talent the NBA sees once in a generation. It’s not a Michael Jordan type of talent, or even a LeBron James type of talent. No, JaVale McGee’s talent is being unequivocally interesting no matter what he’s doing.

He’s a dude on Twitter

At-least he tried to be emphatic.

He’s on Yahoo Answers.

Q.If Lebron and Javale Mcgee jumped off the cliff, who would hit the ground first?

A.Lebron, Because Mcgee would have to stop and act for directions.

He’s rules Youtube.

Javale McGee has his own stride on YouTube, yup there are like thousands of Basketballers videos on youtube but gosh McGee is freaking McGee, if you want to laugh watching your favorite sport McGee is it.

Here’s a video below where Chandler who just dunked on Javale hanging on a rim trying not to land on McGee but you know he’s McGee so …….. just see it.

When the videos end you’ll get a lot more suggestions to keep you Javale-busy.

He’s a Meme King.

He’s in Quotes.

God made mountains, God made lakes, God made McGee, well we all make mistakes.

P.S – I still like McGee a lot. At least he brings smiles to my face.

There’s a very slim chance that you’ve heard the name of the club mentioned above, and I don’t blame you. They aren’t really that exciting, so for a start – it’s a club that now plays in the English Championship.

Around 28 years have passed since BHA last played in the first division – their biggest achievement is reaching the 1983 FA Cup final in which they lost to Manchester United (2-2 first leg, 0- 4 second leg).

Last season in the championship, Brighton & Hove Albion finished 10th.

But currently, they are sitting top of the championship with 8 matches done (I know its only 8 games!), but the way they are playing, they are probably a lock-on to get into the premiership next year.

The reason for the rise of BHA is not that they are exceptional at something, it is just that they are getting good at everything.

The model of Brighton & Hove Albion F.C is one based on hard-work in every aspect related to their club. Sure it doesn’t hurt to have an Arab Owner spending as much money as you want, but not everybody gets that, and BHA shows us how to succeed without it.

Plus apparently Snoop Dogg is also an Brighton & Hove Albion FC fan, whoa!

Now who saw this coming.

Few years back Jeremy Lin, un-drafted guard out of Harvard was struggling to find a place in NBA.

Flash Forward few years and The New York Times calls Lin “[the Knicks'] most popular player in a decade” and he has endorsements from the likes of Nike & Volvo.

To answer the question, let’s go back and get to where it all started.

The Story So Far.

Lin went un-drafted in the 2010 NBA Draft.

He then joined the Dallas Mavericks for mini-camp as well as their NBA Summer League team in Las Vegas, and in five Summer League games, while playing both guard positions, Lin averaged 9.8 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.2 steals in 18.6 minutes per game and shot a team leading 54.5% from the floor.

He received offers to sign from the Mavericks & Los Angeles Lakers.

But on July 21 2010, Lin signed a two-year deal with his hometown Warriors and also signed a three-year guaranteed contract with Nike, His jersey was already on sale before his first NBA game, he seemed to have a cult following from the start of his career due to his Asian ethnicity.

Lin acknowledged the expectations and simply quoted,  ”I won’t be an All-Star this year.”

On December 12, 2011, Lin was claimed off waivers by the Houston Rockets, but before the start of the season, the Rockets waived Lin to clear payroll to sign center Samuel Dalembert.

The New York Knicks claimed Lin off waivers on December 27 to be a backup behind Toney Douglas and Mike Bibby after an injury to guard Iman Shumpert; as also recently signed guard Baron Davis was also injured and weeks away from playing.

On January 28, Davis suffered a setback that postponed his Knicks debut, Then New York considered releasing Lin before his contract became guaranteed on February 10 so they could sign a new player. However, “in desperation” coach Mike D’Antoni decided to give Lin a chance to play and the rest you might know.

On February 4  Lin had 25 points, five rebounds, and seven assists—all career-highs—in a 99–92 Knicks victory.

He then went on to became the first NBA player to score at least 20 points and have seven assists in each of his first five starts.

Here’s an amazing video depicting the whole LINSANITY.

 After 26 games Lin had a small meniscus tear in the left knee. Lin opted to have knee surgery and missed the remainder of the regular season.

He became a restricted free agent at the end of the season.His success over only 26 games left teams uncertain about his overall standing among the league’s point guards. Some still believed he was suited as a bench player.

Then Houston gave Lin a 3-year $25 million “poison pill” deal and the Knicks didn’t match.

What Now ?

Rockets are in full rebuilding mode this season, they tried their best in getting Dwight Howard, releasing 7 good players in the process and still couldn’t land D-12.

This year Rockets will have numerous players in their 1st or 2nd season only. So that means ample game-time for Jeremy to have a break-out season.

So will he succeed ? 

The answer is , yes he will. If you ask me if he will put all star numbers, I wouldn’t be so sure but he’s definitely going be a solid player this season.

Why ?

Well, because Lin has been a talented player since his childhood. Here are some facts to accompany the above statement.

In his high school, Lin captained Palo Alto High School to a 32–1 record and upset nationally ranked Mater Dei, 51–47, for the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II state title. He was named first-team All-State and Northern California Division II Player of the Year, ending his senior year averaging 15.1 points, 7.1 assists, 6.2 rebounds and 5.0 steals.

He received no athletic scholarship offers out of high school and went un-drafted out of Harvard University.

By his junior year during the 2008–09 season, he was the only NCAA Division I men’s basketball player who ranked in the top ten in his conference for scoring (17.8), rebounding (5.5), assists (4.3), steals (2.4), blocked shots (0.6), field goal percentage (0.502), free throw percentage (0.744), and three-point shot percentage (0.400), and was a consensus selection for All-Ivy League First Team.

In his senior year (2009–10), Lin averaged 16.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 2.4 steals and 1.1 blocks, and was again a unanimous selection for All-Ivy League First Team.

He was also  one of 30 midseason candidates for the John R. Wooden Award and one of 11 finalists for the Bob Cousy Award, so that proves he was exceptional always, it’s not that he just got some magic MJ sneakers one night and took the entire NBA world by storm.

All the above stats verify the fact that Lin’s magical run wasn’t fluke, it was only a matter of chance, a chance to prove that he was great, that he was the JEREMY LIN.

Whenever you think about Real Madrid, you think about the glitz and glamour, the stars, the giant summer signings and it’s pretty easy to forget what they do at the youth level like Barcelona, Manchester United and Arsenal, which had ample amount of talented players from their Youth academy.

The philosophies of the Madrid-based club, including the famous Galactico Era, do not revolve around promoting youth like clubs such as Athletic Bilbao or Barcelona. They simply trade for the best.

Last year at La Liga, Barcelona have 11 players (out of 22) in their squad belonging to their youth academy whereas Madrid only had 5 (out of 26) and there are players who often, after being sold, are bought back, but it is usually forgotten that they were once canteranos.

But still, at the end of the January transfer window, out of the 20 teams in the Primera Division, only four –  Real Sociedad, Athletic Bilbao, Barcelona and Zaragoza – did not contain one player in their squad who had graduated from Real Madrid’s cantera.

It’s quite an astonishing accomplishment to see 16 teams containing at least one player instilled with the Los Blancos philosophy, and apart from Zaragoza, the other three have known for developing their own talent.

Yet, across Europe, the talk is that Barcelona’s La Masia is the greatest academy, but with these numbers of players in Spain alone, can Real have an argument that there’s is just as good? Maybe.

They might not have the best youth academy’s in the world but certainly they are not that weak as you might believe, and to make my point stronger, below is the list of some great players who belonged to the youth academy of Real Madrid, which will certainly make you think twice.

Iker Casillas

Captain of the white side of Madrid as well as Euro, World & Euro (again) Champions – Spain.

So in my free time, I decided to make a list of teams to watch for the next season, the teams included in the corresponding list are those who had a major off season haul or had changed line-ups completely, so Miami, Spurs and OKC are not on the list.

NEW ORLEANS HORNETS

Anthony Davis alone is enough to make this an intriguing team, and having Eric Gordon, Ryan Anderson and Austin Rivers, Robin Lopez alongside him only helps the cause but I think they are just too young and undeveloped to push past any of the remaining teams.

GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS 

Stephen Curry – Klay Thompson – Harrison Barnes – David Lee – Andrew Bogut, with solid bench depth at every position makes the Golden State team as much exciting as any team to watch but the only reason they are not in the list is HEALTH. Will Bogut, Lee and Curry, who have had health problems all throughout their NBA span, be fit together for a whole NBA season?

5. DENVER NUGGETS

If you think this team played too fast last season with no defense get ready for this season, they added Igoudala who is a beast on fast-breaks dunk finishes and is renowned defender.

So basically they upgraded their offense and improved their defense with one solid move.

Between Lawson, Iggy and the Manimal, there’s already enough excitement in the Mile High City to put them in the top 5.

4. HOUSTON ROCKETS

Gone are the likes of Scola – Lowry – Camby – Dragic,  and the  perennial 9th place finish.

The Rockets have tanked out this season, with 4 rookies , 3 sophomores, Jeremy Lin and Asik. Rockets would be team to watch this season, right they are not gonna win anything , but still the lineup is pretty interesting.

3. BROOKLYN NETS

New City. New Colors. New Stadium. New Culture. New Stars. New Hope

The Brooklyn Nets had a pretty successful off-season, they resigned their franchise star Deron Williams, bought him a perfect running mate in Joe Johnson and resigned all their starters plus added pretty good bench mobs. (even a previous Euro League MVP) making them a lock for this list.

2. MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Alexy Shved and Andrei Kirilenko were part of the top 10 players in London Olympics Basketball, and now both of them are in Minnesota, also they got Brandon Roy back after a year hiatus, a potential star in Ricky Rubio, a dark-horse in Derrick Williams and the recipe: a prefect franchise face in Kevin Love.

They pretty much got it all, the question will they over-achieve of under, look out for the answer this next season.

1. LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Steve Nash.

Kobe Bryant.

Metta World Peace.

Pau Gasol.

Dwight Howard.

Probably the best team ever ? Maybe.

Only the Lakers have the capability to stay contending for the championship each season due to their off-season moves, their off-season moves have always been fascinating and this season was no different.

They brought in the League best passer in Nash, the best defensive player in Howard and bench presence in Jodie Meeks and Antawn Jamison.

What more could you need?

]]> http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/08/29/exciting-teams-to-watch-for-in-the-nba-next-season/feed/ 1 12183 http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/08/16/piers-morgan-goes-on-twitter-rampage-after-rvp-news/ http://www.sportskeeda.com/2012/08/16/piers-morgan-goes-on-twitter-rampage-after-rvp-news/#comments Thu, 16 Aug 2012 07:09:15 +0000 Neeraj Grover http://www.sportskeeda.com/?p=605280 CNN talk show host, and also an Arsenal fan, Piers Morgan was frantically tweeting about Robin van Persie signing with the dreaded Manchester United.

The former judge of America’s Got Talent went crazy last night over the news of Van Persie’s  sale to Old Trafford, sending out numerous tweets dissing Van Persie, and calling the incident a “‘Sickening betrayal“.

He also got on with Wayne Rooney (which seems to have become his Twitter hobby), Rio Ferdinand (Rioferdy5) and out of nowhere he called Ashley Cole (TheRealAC3) as “Cashley”, Whoa !

Check out his hilarious tweets below.

Neeraj Grover

Chelsea’s home shirt for the 2012-13 season looks very modern. The famous blue shirt of Chelsea features a gold trim. It’s a classy design; very simple, but the gold trim adds a unique touch to make it stand out from the crowd, and even celebrates their Champions League win.

Chelsea has gone French on their Away kit, depicting a design similar to French Club Marseille. According to the club website, “The strip is a modern design with a classic twist, featuring a light aqua diagonal flash across the main white body, and the first ever fading three stripe pattern on both sleeves. A navy v-neck collar and trim ensures that all the various colours synonymous with our success in recent years are well represented, while the shirt also features the adidas TechFit technology, which has been proven to enhance performance.”

Unveiled today, Chelsea’s third shirt for the next season looks futuristic; the yellow trim is one thing but details on the chest is something you have never seen before.You can make fun of the shirt as much as you want, but heck, its only a third kit so i gave thumbs up to Adidas and Chelsea for trying something completely different. If you’re going to experiment with designs, why not do it with a club’s third shirt?

According to the Chelsea press release, “The striking sun graphic on the front of the black shirt creates a contrast in colours, giving the impression of power, while the fade in the graphic represents speed. The Chelsea badge is black and white and stands out against the sun graphic.”

All in all, i think Chelsea have done pretty much justice with their kits unlike Liverpool who just went wild with theirs.