The NBA – Where 365 Days Of Entertainment Happens

As the 2009 NBA playoffs wrapped up, fans began pondering about life without basketball – if only for a few months. Luckily with emergence of social media and the overwhelming NBA presence on these platforms there has been no “off-season”. Fans went straight from playoffs to mock drafts, to free agent frenzy to what I call “Marketing Season”. I’m not sure its been all positive, but you can’t deny that it’s kept the game relevant even though the shot clock is off.

Here are some of the highlights along with some link love…

D Wade is the “Worst Rapper”?

Looks like Baron Davis has recruited Wade to start up a contest on I Beat You (a business venture of Baron’s) Previously we have seen the likes of Steve Nash and Chris Bosh take part in contests but this one has the potential of being great if they can get Shaq and Ron Ron to enter.
Check out the Flash show of his skills on the mic – Rap 1 Rap 2
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Shaq steps into the ring

Sir Charles in Charge: Shaquille O’Neal On Raw (…)
Talk Hoops: Shaq Fu Part 2
Waiting For Next Year: While We’re Waiting… Shaquille O’Neal on Raw
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Shaq gets “blocked”

D.C. Sports Bog: Shaq Denied Entrance to White House
True Hoop: Shaquille O’Neal vs. the Secret Service
Binary Basketball: Shaq’s White House Marketing 101
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Shaq steps into reality

BDL: Shaq to face Phelps, Pujols and De La Hoya in new reality show
Awful Announcing: Shaq To Take On Various Athletes In New Reality Show
King James Gospel: The Big Diesel vs. Big Ben?
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Dwight Howard – Hey Wooorrrrld!

Right now Dwight Howard has pretty much set himself up to take over the most loveable big man title. He is everywhere – Twitter, Facebook, uSTREAM. His blog is updated on the regular giving his fans access like never before.
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Stephon Marbury has escaped from the BOX

For your enjoyment – Here you can find an MP3 of one of the famous quotes from #marburython and RedsArmy has a t-shirt ready to go

J.A Adande (ESPN): Streaming Steph is a sad, sad show
NBA Musings: When eccentric stops being fun
Empty the Bench: What’s Your Favorite Quote from Steph’s Live Stream?
Hoops Manifesto: He Blew His Mind Out
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The Race to 50K – CB4 v/s CV31

I wrote on the subject earlier in the month on HoH

Bleacher Report: An interview with Charlie Villanueva
Raptors Republic: The #50k Fail
Red’s Army: Villanueva, Bosh race to 50K on Twitter
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Ron Artest pays tribute to Michael Jackson

World Star Hip Hop: click here for the full version (H/T RoShine)
NBA Fanhouse: Ron Artest’s Tribute to Michael Jackson
Lake Show Life:Ron Artest’s Michael Jackson Rap Crap
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Ron Artest – Live in Concert

Sharapova’s Thigh: Ron Artest Rapping in China
The Faster Times: Ron Artest Brings the Hood to China
That NBA Lottery Pick: Ron Artest Rap Tour hits China
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UPDATE: Ron Artest Reflects – THE BRAWL

Had to throw this in. Ron Artest who has been touring China hopped onto twitter and posted the video along with the tweet: @96TruwarierQB Shin Shin wanted to know so I told her
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If I’m missing any stories… put in ’em in the comments

Raptor Rant – Never Underestimate an Athletes Will to Win (Race to 50K)

V/S

These are the dog days of summer when it comes to the NBA. You are trying to get excited about next season and summer league ball just isn’t cutting it.

Enter twitter…

I joined twitter about a year ago (@Nat77) and used it primarily to connect with other sports bloggers and fans. It was different from facebook because it lends itself to discussions. Slowly it began replacing my RSS reader and before I knew it I was addicted. Twitter has become a primary platform for athletes to connect with their fans and several athletes on twitter have echoed my sentiment, admitting the addiction.

Sometime last week, Charlie V(@cv31) challenged Chris Bosh(@chrisbosh) to see who could amass 50 thousand followers first. It’s not uncommon to see athletes conversing over twitter and this was a chance for fans to take part. The wager was that the loser would have to star in the winners video on Youtube. CV wanted Bosh to do the Shane Mercado and Bosh left it up to his “twitter army” to decide CV’s fate if he came out on the losing end of this. Bosh started off the challenge behind Charlie by about 2k followers but with the help of some major twitter spam, live chats and a entire country backing him – he managed to take the lead. The two started pulling out all the stops. Bosh pulled out the free stuff card and CV raised using the charity card.

This was all meant to be in good fun but at some point along the way it started to annoy the diehards. These guys were straight up begging – Charlie V even offered up $3100 worth of diamonds if he won! At any given time my entire twitter feed was taken over by the two, lost in the mix were tweets from people that were actually offering up intelligent material to ponder over. It came to a point I just wanted one of them to win quickly so my twitter could return back to normal. I found it amusing at times to see these athletes showing how bad they wanted to win even though this duel wasn’t going to be settled on a basketball court. No one likes to lose, especially two guys who play a sport for a living – winning is everything.

Late Tuesday night,  Bosh was down about 500 followers with under 1000 to go. It was the 4th quarter, it was go time and for a change Bosh came through in the clutch. He thanked his fans, CV gave him a virtual pat on the back and the world was spinning again.

In other news…

Lets NBA! – Trading away Jawai and Humphries suddenly left the Raptors lacking depth at the 5 spot. It has been widely rumored that the team is interested in bringing back Rasho Nesterovic using their bi-annual exception ($1.9M) Rasho has openly stated that he has always loved the city and the feeling is the team would welcome him back with open arms. The reunion will happen, the only question remains is – when?

Jacked Up – We are at the halfway point regarding the waiting period to see if the Pacers are going to match the offer sheet signed by Jarrett Jack to join the Raptors next season. Multiple sources have mentioned they don’t believe that Indiana is in a position to match but as we have seen this summer (See: Marcin Gortat) it ain’t over till the clock strikes 12. For what its worth, Bosh did have Jack as a guest on one of his live chats where the two spoke about Jack coming up to Toronto soon to find a place to stay – that is if bosh doesn’t plan to set up the bunk beds in his home. The two were roommates in college and from listening in on the chat, they seem to have maintained a solid friendship. I wanted the team to draft this guy in place of Joey Graham in 2005 and getting him now with the experience under his belt would be so much sweeter.

D Squared – The heir apparent in Toronto coming through “As Advertised” at NBA summer league. In 4 games, he has averaged 16.3PPG and 4.5RB (DD stats) He has been aggressive in all the games, his jump shot has been falling and aside from the production at the FT line, DeMar DeRozan is already proving to be just what this team needs. He has not shied away from having the ball in his hands in late game situations and the coaching staff have trusted him to make the correct decisions on the floor. With just 1 game left to go, he knows what he has to work on for the rest of the summer. There has been nothing but praise about this guy from the day he got drafted – check out this interview by Holly MacKenzie from the score – and we are still a few months from seeing him take the court in Toronto, but I believe this rookie will be in ROY conversations by mid January.

Delfino – $5 million? Apparently that’s what its going to take to get the former Raptor to return to the ACC. News came out yesterday that he was offered $4million a season and he was none to thrilled by that number. Personally, $4 million is still too much for a guy who didn’t show us enough the first time around and I would be hesitant to bet the bank on him. Sure he fills in some of the leaky spots in the rotation but I would much rather have Jack split time at the 1 and 2 and sign a Matt Barnes or Linus Klieza to fill the holes at the backup 3 spot. Either way we probably wont see any movement on this issue until the Jarrett Jack deal is finalized.

The A-S-S-O-C-I-A-T-I-O-N has R-E-S-C-I-N-D-E-D…

There was an NBA game played tonight in Cleveland, but elsewhere – in parts where Agent 0 is throwing up jumpers in an empty gym- the Scripps National Spelling Bee took center stage. As Lebron James took care of business, so did Kavya Shivashankar, taking home the coveted trophy and title that went with it. As both events were going on simultaneously, James from DinoNation Blog threw out the question, “Which NBA player would win the spelling bee?”

I went with the Poet – Etan Thomas and he went with Shane Battier. Soon after, I posed the question to my twitter followers and the answers came in a flurry. I put together a list of top 10 players and a reason why they made the list. Feel free to add to the list in the comments section.

Emeka Okafor: His major at UConn was Finance and he graduated with honors in 3 years with a 3.8 GPA. Okafor was named the Academic All-American of the Year in 2004 for his work on and off the court. (H/T @bothteamsplayed )

Chris Bosh: Bosh was a National Honors Society member and graduated with honors from Lincoln High School^. He is also a member of the National Society of Black Engineers but left Georgia Tech after only 1 year to join the NBA.

Grant Hill: He completed all 4 years at Duke University and put together a book to boot!

Tim Duncan: He majored in Psychology at Wake Forest where he lived out a promise to his mother to graduate with a college degree. He is most definitely known as the most stoic player in the NBA and just exudes that “wise beyond his years” vibe. (H/T @stackmack)

Shane Battier: He was the most popular answer and statements about his interest in politics just make him the guy you want leading your spelling bee team. As a side gig he is also the Tech Editor of HOOP magazine.

Adonal Foyle: Another budding poet, political activist and contributor to HOOP magazine – he holds the post of Literary Editor. Foyle may not be all that on the court but he did graduate Magna Cum Laude from Colgate Univesity, with a degree in History.

Steve Nash: A graduate of Santa Clara University, Nash is known more for his Humanitarian work and was given Canada’s highest civilian honor, the Order of Canada. (H/T @RapsFan)

Etan Thomas: A graduate of Syracuse University, Thomas has shown he is more than just an NBA player. He published a book of poetry and frequently blogs for the Huffington Post.

Mark Madsen: Stanford Graduate in Economics. Went to Spain as a missionary after High School and became fluent in Spanish. Plays Chess and loves to read and study Finance in his spare time.

Dikembe Mutumbo (Dikembe Mutumbo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jaques Wamutumbo): Intended to be a doctor, Speaks 9 languages and can spell his own name…. need I say more! In honor of his humanitarianism, Mutombo was invited to President Bush’s State of the Union Address in 2007.

Runners Up: Josh Childress (you gotta be smart to go to Stanford right?), Anthony Parker (chosen by @Scottph), OJ Mayo (He scored a 29 on the ACT, placing him in the 95th percentile nationally – chosen by @stackmack) Arron Afflalo (chosen by @isaiahk) , Kobe Bryant (Speaks 3 languages fluently and never went to college… HELLO!) Roger Mason Jr. (Graduated with a degree in Architecture – speaking from experience he has to be on the list!)

On the subject of spelling bee’s, the NBA has a fair amount of players who have names that could make the list in the final round of the National Spelling Bee. We hear announcers butchering these names on the regular and many of their own teammates would have a tough time spelling them with a 2 minute shot clock!

Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Marreese Speights
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Didier Ilunga-Mbenga
Wally Szczerbiak
Kelenna Azubuike
Andrea Bargnani
DeSagana Diop
Sasha Vujacic
Oleksiy Pecherov

Give it a try….