Posted on April 6th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Let’s make this as simple as possible: The NBA has absolutely no reason — at least not a good one — to increase the minimum age for entry to the draft. Such a move would be completely arbitrary and totally unnecessary, causing needless harm and financial distress to NBA-ready 19-year-olds who want to begin their careers.
It’s easy for NBA Commissioner David Stern to push for a bump to 20 years old. It’s easy for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to go a step further, proposing that players be ineligible until three years after their high school class graduates. Stern and Cuban are grown men who have already pocketed millions of dollars; they couldn’t care less about keeping money out of a young adult’s pocket.
Never mind that some of the NBA’s top stars entered the league straight out of high school, players such as LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett. Never mind that young talent has continued to flourish since 2005, when the NBA instituted the age limit and sparked a wave of “one and done” college freshmen stars such as Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose and John Wall. Never mind that players in virtually every sport except football (for relatively obvious reasons) can begin pro careers immediately after high school.
Cuban’s line of reasoning is particularly irksome — the paternalistic notion that the NBA must protect youngsters from themselves. Kids leave college all the time, whether to take a job, take a breather or take a chance. But somehow, if you’re skilled at playing hoops, you can’t be trusted to make your own decisions.
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Posted on April 5th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
As it turns out, Nene and Brian Cook weren’t the only bigs Washington acquired when it traded JaVale McGee, Nick Young and Ronny Turiaf. The Wizards also got the new-and-improved player who was buried on their bench. Wednesday’s game against Indiana presented more evidence of the discovery, yet another exciting chapter in “The Evolution of Kevin Seraphin.”
Seraphin scored a career-high 19 points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds in the loss, continuing an impressive stretch of play since the trades March 15. He actually provided a glimpse of the future three games earlier, when he broke out for 14 points and nine rebounds in the Wizards’ shocking upset of the Los Angeles Lakers.
But the 6-foot-9 forward/center from French Guiana really took off after McGee’s departure. Seraphin played 1 minute, 35 seconds — with zeroes across the board — in the Wizards’ last game with McGee on the roster. Seraphin started the next game, contributing 12 points and nine boards in 29 minutes. He has reached double figures in scoring in 10 of the Wizards’ 13 games since the trade and recorded the first three double-doubles of his career.
“For a young man who just started playing basketball five years ago, it’s amazing,” said Nene, the player to whom Seraphin compared himself after being selected 17th overall by Chicago in the 2010 draft.
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Posted on April 5th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Maybe Muhammad Ali wanted to be on that golf cart Wednesday night. Maybe he wanted to hear a crowd’s cheers one more time. Maybe he actually feels a real strong connection to Miami, where he beat Sonny Liston in 1964 and where the Marlins opened their brand-new stadium Wednesday.
If that’s the case, if “the Greatest of All Time” was eager and anxious to be part of Opening Day ceremonies at Marlins Park, officials should have come up with something else. Perhaps a brief shot of him on the video screen, waving from the owner’s suite. Because putting him on a golf cart for an excruciatingly slow ride from the bullpen to the pitcher’s mound was a total buzzkill.
The scene didn’t fit the rest of the evening, which was joyous, festive and celebratory. Instead, Ali’s appearance was sad, awkward and eerie. When the crowd stopped trying to muster up cheers and a half-hearted “Ali, Ali!” chant, it watched in stunned silence. The 70-year-old former champion, his frail body ravaged by Parkinson’s disease, trembled uncontrollably as Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria wrapped an arm around him.
Loria, who isn’t very popular among fans, likely would have been booed if Ali weren’t next to him. That’s one reason the move to include Ali seemed so exploitative — Loria using him as a shield and unnecessary, high-profile prop.
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Posted on April 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Baylor University’s women’s basketball team just completed a dream season, blowing out Notre Dame to win the national title Tuesday and finish with a 40-0 record. As she’s been throughout the season for the Lady Bears, star center Brittney Griner was dominant. She won the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player award, complementing the Player of the Year honors she received earlier.
After Baylor’s 80-61 victory, Notre Dame coach Muffet McGraw was effusive in praising Griner, calling the 6-foot-8 junior the best post player she’s ever seen. “I think she’s one of a kind,” McGraw said. “I think she’s like a guy playing with women.”
McGraw’s intent wasn’t to insult Griner, and the player didn’t perceive it that way. “Definitely, I take it as a compliment,” Griner said. But the coach’s comparison caused a stir on social media because of the taunts Griner endures about her height and dominating play.
Her stature, deep voice and size 17 sneakers make her an object of scorn and ridicule among ignorant fans who question her gender. They suggest that Griner can’t be a “real woman” — not the way she’s built, the way she sounds and the way she plays. It’s an age-old criticism launched against extraordinary female athletes whom mainstream society deems insufficiently feminine.
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Posted on April 4th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Despite all the hype and highlights, strikes and spotlight, and the accolades and attention, Stephen Strasburg is a relatively unknown quantity. Entering his third season with the Nationals, he’s yet to begin a year in the majors, yet alone start on Opening Day.
He’ll cross both items off his to-do list Thursday. In one sense, he’ll be another wide-eyed fan making his first pilgrimage to Wrigley Field. In another sense, he’ll be the Nats’ long-awaited ace taking his rightful place atop the rotation.
Like the previous two seasons, 2012 will be something of a tease. The countdown on a team-imposed innings limit begins with the Chicago Cubs’ leadoff batter, and likely will end with about one month left in the season. The Nats might be contenders in September, but they’ll have to wait ‘til next year to see how Strasburg might fare in that situation.
Washington could have stretched him out by putting him at the back of the rotation. Delaying his first outing and keeping him on a fifth starter’s schedule could have led to a few mid-September starts. But Strasburg was in no mood to discuss that possibility Tuesday during a news conference at Nationals Park before an exhibition against Boston.
“That’s something you guys [the media] talked about,” he said. “I don’t think it was ever discussed in the coaching staff or within the organization. I don’t have much to say on it.”
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Posted on April 2nd, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Considering the Charlotte Bobcats’ status as one of the NBA’s laughingstocks — currently on a seven-game losing streak and in possession of the league’s worst record — fans were probably heartened by a recent report involving team owner Michael Jordan. Arguably the NBA’s all-time greatest player but a lousy owner, Jordan reportedly is considering selling the team if he continues to lose millions on his investment.
“I told [General Manager Rich Cho] to make us better,” Jordan told one associate recently, according to the Daily News. “If that doesn’t work and I can’t make a profit in the next three to four years, then I’m selling.”
Jordan joined the franchise in 2006 as managing member of basketball operations for then-owner Robert Johnson and took over as owner in 2010. The Bobcats have produced one winning season with Jordan’s fingerprints on the team, compiling an overall mark of 188-232 — not including this year’s 7-43 record, which makes Charlotte the NBA’s only team with fewer than 10 wins.
But before fans could take to the streets to celebrate his impending departure, Jordan said that the report isn’t true. “I was disturbed to hear the false report that I intend to sell my majority interest in the Charlotte Bobcats,” Jordan said Sunday in a statement. “I am 100 percent committed to building the Bobcats into a contender and have no plans to sell the team.”
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Posted on March 30th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Prior to last year, just two freshmen had ever left Duke University for the NBA draft during coach Mike Krzyzewski’s long tenure. Now, in his 32nd season at the school, Krzyzewski has lost freshman players in back-to-back years: The Cleveland Cavaliers selected Kyrie Irving with the No. 1 pick in 2011, and Austin Rivers entered his name in the draft this week.
“Austin had a terrific year as a freshman and has put himself in a position to pursue his dream of being a great player in the NBA,” Krzyzewski said in a statement. “He is an outstanding young man with an even more impressive family. We are in total support of Austin, his family and his decision. We look forward to watching him continue to develop and excel at the next level.”
Ever since 2006, when the NBA stopped allowing high school players in the draft, the “one and done” phenomenon has been a major issue in college basketball. The University of Kentucky and coach John Calipari have come to symbolize the trend, drawing plenty of criticism as a result. Eight of the 40 players drafted by the NBA as freshmen the past six years came out of Calipari’s programs at Kentucky and Memphis. His freshmen have been top four picks in four consecutive drafts, including No. 1 picks John Wall in 2010 and Derrick Rose in 2008.
The streak is expected to continue this year, with Wildcats freshman Anthony Davis projected as the No. 1 pick and another, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, projected in the top five. Neither player has announced his intentions yet, but it’s completely understandable if they leave after this season. They’ll be guaranteed millions of dollars to play against the world’s best competition.
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Posted on March 29th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, I declare that John Calipari and Kentucky have been falsely accused and unfairly maligned. Mr. Calipari and the Wildcats have conducted themselves with honor and followed the rules in their three seasons together. Charges that they’re ruining college basketball and making a mockery of education are without merit and should be dropped immediately.
Please allow me to explain.
First of all, the events that transpired under Mr. Calipari’s watch at Massachusetts and Memphis are irrelevant and inadmissible. Yes, UMass star Marcus Camby accepted about $28,000 from sports agents, which forced the school to vacate its 1996 Final Four season. And yes, the NCAA ruled that Memphis star Derrick Rose committed academic fraud, which forced the school to vacate its 2008 Final Four season.
But let the record show that the NCAA exonerated Mr. Calipari of wrongdoing in both instances. And neither school faced a postseason ban or loss of scholarships. Implying that the coach is tainted, nonetheless, is the worst form of guilt by association.
While there is no defense against such whisper campaigns, they have no bearing on the subject at hand, the Kentucky Wildcats.
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Posted on March 28th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Magic Johnson’s famous smile was plastered on the faces of Los Angeles Dodgers fans everywhere on Wednesday. Their beleagured team has finally changed hands, and Johnson’s ownership group is taking over.
“It’s great not only for the Dodgers but for the city,” fan Charlie Alvarez told the Los Angeles Times. “Now that Magic is with the Dodgers, I expect to see championships. He’s a winner. Anything Magic touches turns to gold.”
Transforming the Dodgers would be one of Johnson’s greatest feats yet. The franchise has one of Major League Baseball’s richest legacies, but the organization fell into disrepair the last several years under owner Frank McCourt. The Dodgers struggled financially and on the field as fans stayed away in droves. But that didn’t dissuade Johnson and his partners from making a $2 billion bid for the team in bankruptcy court.
“I am thrilled to be part of the historic Dodger franchise and intend to build on the fantastic foundation laid by Frank McCourt as we drive the Dodgers back to the front page of the sports section in our wonderful community of Los Angeles,” Johnson said in a statement.
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Posted on March 27th, 2012
By DERON SNYDER
Is coach Mike Krzyzewski running a basketball factory at Duke? Has he turned his back on education? Are his Blue Devils better role models than John Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats?
The correct answers are yes, no and no, respectively.
But (don’t look now), Duke has produced a one-and-done player for the second consecutive season. Freshman Austin Rivers is leaving for the NBA draft.
“Duke has prepared me for the challenges that are ahead both on and off the court,” Rivers said in a statement issued by the school. “I have learned so much from the coaching staff and my teammates that will help me succeed at the next level.”
A certain stereotype often is attached to one-and-dones, much like the cliched image of preps-to-pros who preceded them until 2006. They all hail from poor families and they’re poor students, possessing poor character and judgment. Basketball is their only “ticket” out, as they neither appreciate college degrees nor have the intellect to obtain one.
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