Holy Road Trip, Batman!
by Steve Perrin on Jul 29, 2010 11:32 PM PDT
in News
37 comments
I've never really explicitly stated it before, but the whole 'Citizens' thing, in addition to being an obvious extension of the 'nation' metaphor, is also a minor homage to the old Batman TV series with Adam West. I always loved that show, and particularly liked the way Batman refered to the denizens of Gotham City - "Thank you for your support, citizen" - that sort of thing.
Anyway, after catching up on what's been going on here for the last few days, I feel like I need to give a Batman-esque speech to everyone. "Citizens... please, remain calm. Return to your computers and everything will be fine."
EJ- USA, and some point guard play.
Quotes of the article,
"I've played a lot of point guard out here with this type of talent and I think I'll be able to adapt later on," Gordon said. "I'll probably play a little more 1 this year because we don't have that many point guards so I'll adapt to doing that a little bit."
"It's got to be [a fresh start]," Gordon said. "With a new team and a new coach it's going to be very different."
From Steve:
A timely article from Dave McMenamin, given my post about Team USA yesterday. Hat tip to citizen baronycamby for posting the FanShot.
As I said yesterday, it's defense that will get EJ onto this team. I'm not sure I agree that Chauncey Billups, Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook should all make the team. In fact, I think that would be a big mistake. Other than Billups, none of those guys are perimeter threats (not one of them has even made 1 of 4 three pointers in their NBA careers). That's a pretty clear recipe for disaster in the international game, where they play a lot of zone and there's no defensive three second rule. Rose has supposedly worked on his shot, but is this really where we want to find out how that's going? Rondo and Westbrook are essentially the same player - you don't need both of them.
So assuming they take five guards total, I would have EJ battling with O.J. Mayo and Stephen Curry for two spots. But it sounds like the battle may be for a single spot. Which would be a mistake, but not the first one Team USA has made. EJ's advantage is that he's a better defender than Curry or Mayo. We'll see if that does it.
It's good to see that he feels good about his performance and that Colangelo had nice things to say about him. Last year he was a total non-factor. Of course, he never had any chance to make that team, but he did not have a good camp either. So hopefully this is good for his confidence.
Seems strange that he was playing point for Team USA in Vegas, when they were already awash in point guards.
Lorenzen Wright Reported Missing; NBA Player Not Seen Since Sunday - SBNation.com
Former Clippers Lorenzen Wright has been missing since Sunday.
Team USA - A Three Year Commitment, Unless You Can't Commit To That
by Steve Perrin on Jul 23, 2010 4:11 PM PDT
in News
43 comments
I've ranted about this before, and I'll probably rant about this again, but I just think it's so funny how Jerry Colangelo supposedly completely overhauled USA Basketball, and had all kinds of praises heaped on him for getting the USA back to the Gold Medal podium in Beijing, when in fact it's just been business as usual the entire time.
Let's start with the obvious fact: the US has the best basketball players in the world and therefore should be the favorite to win the Gold Medal in any major international event. As it happens, the US has one Gold and one Bronze in their major two events under the direction of Colangelo. So I ask you: is that a good record?
The big changes that USA Basketball supposedly underwent in 2006 never seemed so big to me. They won in 2008 because they had the best basketball players, and in particular great point guard play with the internationally unretired Jason Kidd and developing stars Chris Paul and Deron Williams.
A New Twist in the Big Sofo Tale - Maybe He's Not Headed to Panathanaikos After All
by Steve Perrin on Jul 23, 2010 2:41 AM PDT
in News
52 comments
A little while ago I received an email from Citizen teregosa in Greece. He was unable to get into Clips Nation to share this news with us at the time. Here's his story:
[Earlier] www.sport-fm.gr reported that according to a Serbian website, Panathinaikos are in the process of signing Australian big man Aleks Maric from Partisan. They've agreed on the transfer fee and now they need to make their offer to the player. If Maric signs, the report goes, then Panathinaikos will not be looking to Sofo.
Panathinaikos have been knocking on Partisan's door for days, but initially the Serbian club didn't seem interested in talking. All that seems to have changed in the past couple of days. Although Sport-fm.gr is reliable (it's the website for the largest Greek sports radio), sports media in Greece are known to jump the gun just so they can appear to be the ones breaking the news so, like you said in your post, grain of salt.
The link for the article is http://www.sport-fm.gr/article/284197 .
So it looks as if Sofo won't be playing for the Greens after all.
Is this going to be a little side plot for us all summer? Is MBFGC this summer's Ramon Sessions?
NBA Summer League: What Happens In Vegas - SB Nation Los Angeles
Here's a Summer League recap I wrote for SNBation LA.
The End of the MBFGC Era - Schortsanitas Won't Be a Clipper Any Time Soon
by Steve Perrin on Jul 21, 2010 8:28 PM PDT
in News
34 comments
With the news that Sofoklis Schortsanitis has apparently signed with Greek powerhouse Panathanaikos, the seven year long MBFGC experiment has likely come to an end. Technically, the Clippers still retain Sofo's NBA rights. But realistically, with an expensive three year deal in Europe (presumably including an expensive buy out), he's not ever going to be playing in the NBA. There's just not much market for 28 year old NBA rookies from Europe. Luis Scola (27) and Arvydas Sabonis (31) are the only precedents I can think of that come close. Thanks to Citizen Ming for bringing the latest to our attention, and for helping to translate some of what is being said in the Greek media. A word of caution: take all of these reports with a grain of salt. The European media (and the Greek media in particular) tend to be even more sensationalistic than we here in the US. If you'll recall from my conversation with Sofo earlier this month in Playa Vista, I was impressed with his command of English, specifically in his use of the phrase "selective hearing." Guess who he was talking about when he said that? The Greek media.
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Pacific Standings
| W | L | PCT | GB | STRK | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Los Angeles Lakers
|
57 | 25 | .695 | 0 | Won 2 |
|
Phoenix
|
54 | 28 | .658 | 3 | Lost 2 |
|
Los Angeles Clippers
|
29 | 53 | .353 | 28 | Won 1 |
|
Golden State
|
26 | 56 | .317 | 31 | Won 1 |
|
Sacramento
|
25 | 57 | .304 | 32 | Lost 3 |
(updated 7.31.2010 at 6:57 AM PDT)
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