MING YAO...A GREAT???

Since the news of Ming Yao's retirement plans there has been much talk of him being one of the games greats. I think this is absolutely ridiculous. I think one of the main reasons for this nonsense is to keep the Chinese fans involved in the game and keep the NBA big in China.

If we consider Ming as a NBA great we are placing him with the likes of Ewing, Olajuwon, Kareem and Shaq. That's just to name a few who plays in his position. I'm sorry but he just didn't showcase enough to be in this company. Don't get me wrong, for somebody his size he had incredible touch and a good sense for the game. He was an 8 Time NBA All Star but never once made the NBA First Team in his career. The only reason he made most of those NBA All Star Teams was because of his country men and women voting by the 100s of 1000s. I think one or two of those years he hadn't even played a game and he was the highest voted center. What sort of joke is that?

His stats over his first few seasons were good. Rookie season he averaged 13 points and 8 rebounds. His second year 17 points and 9 rebounds and the Rockets got knocked out of the playoffs by the Lakers in the first round where he averaged 15 and 7. From 2005 to 2011 Ming suffered injury after injury and the Rockets never got passed the 2nd Round of the playoffs.

Many people may disagree with what I am saying, that's fine. But I am just sick of people placing him within the wrong group of people. I think if Ming was healthy throughout his NBA career things may have been different. The problem is...he wasn't. I think the NBA is being blatantly obvious to keep their ties with China under a strong grip by making Ming an NBA great.

BABY BOOMERS

WHY AREN'T OUR BEST ON THE FLOOR?

This week the Boomers have been preparing for the YouYi (friendly) games which are to be played in Perth and Singapore against China. Brett Brown has made his way back from America to put his team through their paces in preparation for the Olympic game qualifiers. 

You wouldn't think playing for your country was that important though seeing there is only 3 players from the 2010 World Championship group playing. I would understand totally if there were other commitments going on, but there isn't. All the European competitions are finished up along with the NBA (which may not even go ahead in 2011/12) and still our big guns are no where to be seen. I mean Andrew Bogut, Joe Ingles and Patty Mills all seem to be in the country over this weekend, why don't they have a run? Give the fans something to be excited about! 

Where is Brad Newley, Aleks Maric, Steve Markovic, David Andersen and Matt Nielsen? Why is Nathan Jawai not at the camp? Khazzouh gets his first chance to play for Australia and decides not to be available. I know if I was in his position I'd be jumping at the opportunity to play for my country. It seems to becoming less and less important in Australian basketball. I know in all our other major sports in this country, athletes would die to compete for the green and gold. 

I've got nothing against the guys in camp at the moment (some of them I call friends) but that group is not upto international standard. We haven't done well in an international tournament in many many years. Why when we have all the pieces are we not making it compulsary to be available when there are camps or tournaments. We can't just let our elite athletes stroll in whenever they feel free too. It shouldn't work like that but it sure is at the moment. I don't know who is letting it but it's got to change and do so quickly, otherwise another first round knockout is on the cards at the Olympics.

I'm glad the game is being held in Perth, they love their hoops over there. I'm pretty much guaranteeing that if it was in Sydney there would be nobody there. There is no marketing material on that team, no names people can associate with. It doesn't mean they're no good it's just that basketball isn't as big as some of our countries other sports. That is why these events are key in bringing people to the games and showing the country we have some world wide elite athletes. 

I don't know New Zealands team but if we don't bring a good team to the Oceania Qualifications we may not even make the Olympics!

SYDNEY KINGS ROSTER NEEDS BOOSTING

 SPEND SOME CASH TURNER!

I've been looking at the NBL website every couple of days for the last two weeks now hoping to see a couple of big name signings for the Sydney Kings. Again I'm disappointed in the inability to snap up big names when they are on the market.

The Melbourne Tigers went on the hunt straight away picking up Daniel Dillon, Ayinde Ubaka and Ron Dorsey. They've picked themselves three quality players who helped Cairns get to a game three of a finals series last season. Perth have signed Damian Martin, K-Lisch, Cameron Tovey, Jesse Wagstaff and Brad Robbins.

The Sydney Kings have signed Khazzouh, Graeme Dann, Luke Martin, Luke Cooper and Aaron Bruce. I'd say we need three of them (in bold). Why on earth after last years shenanigans would you sign three point guards? We need a import point guard! I'm positive that's what all the fans were hoping for this season. If I were Bob Turner I would be throwing all my money at Gary Ervin and Adam Ballinger. The Kings would be a force next year if they could get those two. We would have two of the premier big man in the competition and the MVP. You could then build around them with the likes of Dann, Martin, Knight and another import as Ballinger is an aussie.

If Turner stopped being a tight-arse the Kings would enjoy some success. I have nothing against Cooper and Bruce but the roster isn't big enough for three point guards.

My Kings team for next season:

Khazzouh/Pero Vasiljevic (if unsigned)/Greg Vanderjagt
Ballinger/Knight
Import/Dann
Magden/??? (Weigh or Hill would have been great off the bench but got snapped up by other clubs!)
Ervin/Martin

These are my thoughts on next seasons Kings team. What are yours?

Wild Series Across The Tasman

The NBL has one finalist confirmed in what was one of the wildest playoffs series to date. The Breakers will go into the NBL Finals for the first time in franchise history. Their fightback, after dropping the first game at home whilst losing Mika Vukona, will go down in Breakers folklore. 

After being wiped off their home court in the first game of the series, I thought the Breakers were toast heading into game 2 in Perth. The Jungle being one of the toughest places to play to date, especially in a finals series. I didn't get to catch the game but when I checked the box score and saw that Vukona played I couldn't believe it. Without Vukona the Breakers struggle mightily, they find it very hard to stay on the defensive glass and don't have the energy and hustle he brings when on the floor. A huge game from Penney saw the visitors scrape home and send this series to a decider. 

It's extremely tough to win in New Zealand, let alone twice in the space of two weeks. I'm sorry but NZ were never losing this game. Bevo even fired them up saying "they didn't lose to the Breakers they lost to Penney". I love ya work Bevo but don't know if firing up the rest of the team away from home was a good idea. The Breakers started slowly but found their defensive gear I hadn't seen in many weeks. They put the clamps on and made life very difficult for the Wildcats to get any clean looks. You know the Breakers mean business when Penney actually tries to play some sort of defense. The Breakers were too good in the end blowing the Wildcats off the floor by 16. They are set to meet a much different opponent in either Townsville or Cairns. 

The one thing I didn't understand about this series was that there simply was no defense. NZ dictated the play throughout the series. Even though they lost game one the style of the game was exactly how they liked it, they just couldn't make their shots whereas Perth did. I think Bevo is a great coach and a great bloke but I don't understand his tactics for the rest of the series. Perth have always been a team who knuckles down on the defensive end and plays to their tempo which sometimes is ugly but very effective. I'm sorry but I did not see that once this series. It's a shame as I believe they would be the ones in the finals if they played to their liking. I thought the game in Perth was going to be a low scoring grind except it's another score fest, just how the Breakers like it. The same thing happened in game three. It's just not good enough. I think Perth do have the scoring power to compete but the Breakers have way more. The Wildcats have a way better defensive team and could have easily locked up the Breakers if they played their style of basketball. 

We shall now see how if the Breakers can dictate the tempo against two teams who haven't put up a big score in either of their two playoff games.

WHO REALLY WANTS TO WIN THIS COMPETITION??

 WHO WANTS NUMBER ONE??

The NBL is only six rounds away from finishing up their regular season. There are some serious questions to be asked about who really wants to win this competition!

Everyone is expecting the Kiwis to romp away with the trophy for the first time in the franchises history. I'm not convinced just yet. The way they have been playing over the last few weeks at home suggests a team may be able to spring an upset. Their victories over Melbourne (who won't make the four) and Perth (who are still coming to terms with their loss of inspirational captain Shawn Redhage), just weren't of championship quality. I'm waiting for them to start blowing teams out of the water but it's just not happening. They are the favourites and will definitely have home court advantage in the finals but I just don't see any value in backing them. 

Who do you back then? I mean Perth are struggling without Redhage and unless Matt Knight comes back they will just creep into the finals.

Cairns are no chance because they can't play away from home. Their losses to both Sydney and Melbourne were disgraceful. These losses have cost them a home final. This road trip was key for them and they blew it. Credit must go to Sydney who played hard enough to grind out a victory against a top four team. They should be proud of their efforts over the last month or so. Big shout out to Graeme Dann who is having a career best season and I couldn't be happier for him! 

Townsville at the moment are the only real challenger. They have only dropped one home game this year, meaning in any finals series they are going to take it to a decider.  The trouble again with Townsville is their away record is 3-7. It's just not good enough. A confident booster they can take with them is that they tend to keep their games close! In a game three of a finals series anything can happen and if they are close who knows New Zealand may crumble!

Wollongong have absolutely fallen apart!! I know they had injuries but their ability to lose by 30 points against Townsville and Melbourne with full strength teams have to say something about their ticker! Gordie must be spewing. I think their finals hopes are gone!

The GC are my dark horse. Their run home is tough. They play NZ twice and they have a horror road trip to Perth and Melbourne. If they can beat New Zealand once, I think they will be the fourth team in the finals. If they make the finals they could really give it a shot. If Wortho didn't go down for the season, I'd say it would be a NZ v GC final. 

INCREDIBLE!!

It has now been proven why the Phoenix Suns have been such a well oiled, high scoring machine over the last 5 years. I mean if a person can fit through their rings, the Suns must be shooting through hoola hoops!!

THE ART OF GRUNTING

 AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

So after watching the first couple of days of the Australian Open I am already sick of the amount of grunting women are using during their matches. 

Personally I think it is cheating. I feel it is a way of putting your opponent off. The other night while watching the Groth/Wickmayer match I couldn't help but feel for Groth. I don't know if any of you caught the match but Wickmayer was grunting for so long that you could still hear her while Groth was about to hit the ball. I don't see that as being necessary at all. The men don't do it, why do the women? 

A couple of years back I was down in Melbourne and was watching Serena Williams play against Kuznetsova. In the first set Williams did not grunt once! She lost that set. After a slight rain delay and the Russian pushing for victory, Williams decided to start grunting. This came out of the blue and people in the crowd were wondering where this came from. Williams prevailed in the end, winning the match in three sets. 

During one of the matches this week an umpire told the crowd to keep quiet between the first and second serve. How about you tell the two girls in the middle to shutup during their points!

While I am typing this I have the Azarenka match on in the background. All I can hear is both chicks grunting. If I was taking a stroll past my house right about now I'd think two women were going at it in the bedroom. It's absolutely disgraceful. If we were complaining about the vevuzelas at the World Cup, this is just as bad.

I'm wondering what you guys think. Some people may get their kicks out of two chicks groaning and moaning on a tennis court. I think umpires these days need to make a decision sometimes on excessive groaning. I would understand if the match was 10-10 in the third set but 1-0 in the first set. Damn girl, you been running a marathon before the match?