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I know this is a basketball website/blog, but I can’t help myself. The football season starts today and how great is fantasy football? There is nothing better than sitting  in front of your TV on a lazy Sunday, not caring one iota about the score, but just cheering for your fantasy running back to get the ball on every down–even if it is 4th and 15. I am so obsessed that I would rather own the jersey of my fantasy #1 pick than my favorite player on my favorite team. Granted, my favorite team is the Dolphins and the only jersey I would get is OL Jake Long, but still I think you get my point.

I want to talk about my own fantasy football experiences and in particular my family league. The group consists of my dad, my brothers, one uncle and my cousins. In all, there are 10 players and the trash talking has been going on since the season ended last year. I must say that of all the participants I think my Dad is the most into it.

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Lebron showed up near our place in Venice Beach the other day, and played a game of Horse with David Kalb, a warehouse worker from Ohio, and apparent trick shot guru. Looking like Billy Hoyle from White Men Can’t Jump, David earned some street cred on the courts of Dogtown. It would have been way better though if he rocked the backwards Tie Dye hat.
*notice Jaime performing tricks on the boardwalk at the :30 second mark.

It’s starting to look increasingly likely that Monta Ellis’ severe ankle injury may not have happened exactly the way he described it to the Warriors.  Recent reports indicate that the nature of the injury is not what you would typically see from someone who had just turned an ankle while playing basketball. Additionally, a number of “cuts and abrasions” observed on Ellis have raised questions as to what might have really happened.

Having observed nothing first hand, I can only take a guess, but it seems likely to me that he probably got injured either on a motorcycle or ATV and it sounds all too familiar.  There have been several high profile players in recent years that have sustained serious injuries on motorcycles or participating in other activities that violate the terms of their contracts (opening them up to serious financial penalties) - giving them very good reasons to not be forthcoming about the nature of the injury.

Jay Williams - Suffered life threatening injuries wrapping his motorcycle around a pole in 2003, essentially ending his playing career.  The Bulls could have refused to pay Williams, but ultimately offered him a $3 million buyout for reasons I have never understood.

Kellen Winslow - After breaking his leg and losing almost his entire rookie season, Winslow then lost his entire second NFL season when he blew out his ACL after hitting a curb in a parking lot on his motorcycle.  It was widely suspected that the Browns would attempt to recoup a portion of his $6 million signing bonus, but ultimately passed.

Jeff Kent - Broke his wrist performing wheelies on his motorcycle while initially claiming to have fallen while washing his pickup truck. Unfortunately for Kent, there were multiple witnesses to his crash on a busy street in Phoenix which did him in.

Vladimir Radmanovic - Told the Lakers he slipped on ice while carrying some coffee, but actually separated his shoulder while snowboarding during the all-star break in 2007.  The Lakers fined Radmanovic $500,000 or almost 10% of his salary for violating the terms of his contract.

It will be interesting to see how the Warriors and Ellis soap opera plays out.

Image Source: NBA

Jamaal Magloire has signed a contract to play with the Miami Heat next year. Per team policy, the terms of the contract were not disclosed.

Last year, Magloire essentially fell off the map. He played with both the Dallas Mavericks and the New Jersey Nets and was rather unproductive playing in only 31 games and averaging less than 10 minutes a game. I was shocked to see him fall off so quickly for a former all-star who is only 30 years old!

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After a few sad articles and news, I thought I would lighten it up a bit and talk about a player who lost his career to a knee injury…But, seriously, there is light at the end of this dark blog.

Jonathan Bender was selected 5th by the Toronto Raptors in the 1999 NBA draft. He was 18 years old and straight out of high school in Picayune, Mississippi. On draft night, he was traded from the Raptors to the Indiana Pacers for veteran big man Antonio Davis. Bender was dubbed to be the next Tracy McGrady, but he never lived up to expectations due to persistent right knee problems.

In 2006, he decided to stop rehabbing and battling the damaging right knee and called it quits on his short-lived professional basketball life, but his career was far from over.

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I meant to tell this story about Wayman Tisdale yesterday, and I ended up forgetting.  This story will give a little insight into Wayman and his personality.

About 40 games into his rookie season I called a timeout late in a tied up game, to set up a last shot play for Wayman.  I had scouted Wayman while he played at Oklahoma, and saw that about 90% of the time they had him posting up on the right block.  So naturally when we got him, I usually designed plays for him on the right block.  Made sense to me.

Well, as I was designing this play on how to get the ball to Wayman on the right block, he told me he preferred the left block!  I looked at him incredulously, and asked him why he hadn’t said something earlier.  He just said that I was the coach and he was just trying to do what I asked.  Of course in a Hollywood ending, he would have made the game winning shot, but he didn’t.  However, we did go on to win in OT.  After the game we sat down and had a long talk about if there were some other things I should know about him that I needed to know.  It’s not like we hadn’t talked before, but I emphasized to him not to hold back.

Think about this though.  He had only played about 40 games with us when he told me he preferred the left block, and that was with us playing mostly passing game, where he did get to move around.  At Oklahoma, he was there for three years, posting up on that right block, and never said anything.  I think that attitude, although being coachable, actually held him back some.  I think Wayman too easily went along with things, and didn’t force himself onto situations enough.  Wayman was an enormous talent and could have been a great player, but ended up being just a solid player.  I think many of the great players are not always so easy to coach.  They usually have strong personalities, and strong convictions.  They may clash with their coaches some.  As long as the desire to win is paramount, that’s OK.  As a coach, I would rather have some discord with the player who helps win games, than have smooth sailing with players who lose games.

In the past couple of days there have been a couple of sad stories relating to retired NBA players.  First was the story about the untimely death of Kevin Duckworth, of which Jaime wrote.  I knew Kevin a little bit, about how an opposing coach gets to know players on other teams.  Kevin was a solid player, a big guy who could cause problems for the opposition because of his size, and he possessed a nice shooting touch.  He was an integral part of those very good Blazer teams in the 80’s.  Kevin was a very nice person.  Polite, humble but with a fun personality.  He was liked and respected, not only by his teammates and coaches, but by opposing players and coaches.  A gentle giant of a man.  I was very saddened by the news.

Today, I learned about Wayman Tisdale needing to amputate part of his right leg due to bone cancer.  I know Wayman very well.  I was the head coach of the Pacers when the Pacers drafted Wayman in the 1985 NBA draft. That was the first year of the draft lottery.  Of course, the big  prize in that lottery was Patrick Ewing, a potential franchise center, which he turned out to be.  The Knicks won that lottery, amidst some speculation, especially in Indiana, that there was a fix in to ensure the Knicks having the first pick and obtaining a great center.

While, we at the Pacers  were disappointed about not having the chance to draft Ewing, we were thrilled to have the 2nd pick in the draft and the right to draft Wayman.  Most everyone in the NBA felt Wayman was the second best player in the draft. He was the first freshman to be named to the All-American first team, and, I believe, the only player ever to be named first team All-American his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.  If Wayman had stayed for his senior year, he probably would have become the all time leading scorer in college basketball history, surpassing the great Pete Maravich, who, by the way, also only played 3 seasons (freshman were ineligible back then), and without the 3 pointer.

That 1985 draft was a strange one.  First was the controversy surrounding the lottery. Second were the players themselves.  Tisdale had a solid, but not a great NBA career.  Some near busts, especially considering where they were taken, in the top 6, like Benjamin, Klein, Koncak.  Then Chris Mullin at 7 (terrific pick), the solid Schrempf and Oakley at 8 and 9.  The big questions about the draft ended up being how could a Karl Malone fall to 13?  And then Joe Dumars fell to 18, behind Hughes, Rasmussen, Wennington and Blab?  Two fine players closed out the first round, A. C. Green at 23 and Terry Porter at 24, both of whom had fine NBA careers.

Drafting Tisdale ahead of Malone tuned out to be a mistake, because Malone just may be the best power forward ever.  Did I lose sleep over it?  No. There were reasons pertaining to Malone why 10 more teams let him slide by them.  However, if we would have been picking later in the top ten, and let Malone slide, I would have done some serious revaluating of my analysis.  And I would have lost sleep over that judgment.  A couple of years later, I had a highly respected GM tell me if his owner ever read his report  on Malone, he’d be fired.

Wayman has gone on to have a fine career in the music business as a Jazz Bass guitarist, after retiring from the NBA.  He has made several award winning CD’s and has often toured.   I wish the best for Wayman and his family in this tough time.  Wayman is a good guy.  Easy going, fun to be around.

A couple years back my mom was in her office and heard a song on the radio that she liked and asked the receptionist who it was.  “Oh this is Wayman Tisdale, he’s absolutely my favorite musician.”  My mom proceeded to tell her how nice a guy he is, having known him during his Indiana Pacer days.  “Wayman Tisdale was a basketball player?!?” was the woman’s only response.  She knew him only as the award winning jazz musician that he has become since his playing days ended.

It’s remarkable when you stop to think about the fact that a two-time All-American, Olympic  gold medal winning basketball player who averaged over 15 ppg during his professional basketball career is so good at his post-basketball career that he’s now thought of first as a musician with his playing career a mere afterthought.

News came out today that Wayman had a portion of his right leg amputated to treat the bone cancer that he has been fighting for over a year now.  Wayman was indeed one of the friendliest players I was around during my time as a Pacer ball-boy and when I ran into him in the airport a couple of years ago, he remained every bit as nice as he has always been.

With any luck this surgery will have eliminated the cancer from his body and he’ll be entertaining us as a smiling and talented musician for years to come. Good luck to you Wayman. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

Image Source: NBA

In much sadder news, former Portland TrailBlazer Kevin Duckworth past away yesterday at the age of 44 years old. According to the associated press, he died on a trip to the Oregon coast to host a free basketball clinic. The cause of death was yet to be determined.

For those of you who do not remember Duckworth, he was the monster big man in the middle during Portland’s NBA Final runs of the 90’s and was an NBA All-Star in 1988. Duckworth was known for being a tank in the middle with soft hands, a nice baby hook and a good passing touch for a big.

Kevin Duckworth will be missed and must say this is all quite disheartening news. A life is always precious but passing away at such a young age and on his way to do charity work. I did not know Kevin Duckworth but sounds like I wish I had.

Image Source: Jamd.com

Hamed Ehadadi. Does that mean anything to you? Does it ring a bell? No, this site did not turn into a breaking news blog, and, no, Ehadadi is not the newest member of Al Queda to be captured by the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.

Hamed Ehadadi is the 7-2 center for the Iranian national team who has showcased his talents this summer between the Utah summer league and the Olympic games. In the Olympc games, Ehadadi went out and averaged 16.5 ppg and grabbed 10 rebounds a game. NBA front offices began salivating at a chance to sign the 7-2 prospect/project, most notably being the Memphis Grizzlies.

So, whats the problem? Sounds like a fairy tale ending. Wrong. The problem is the U.S. blocked the NBA from signing the Iranian national. According to yahoo sports, the NBA sent this memo to all 30 NBA teams, “We have been advised that a federal statue prohibits a person or organization in the United States from engaging in business dealings with Iranian nationals.”

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