HOOPSWORLD | Basketball News & NBA Rumors

Going into the 2011 NBA offseason there was one name at the top of every team’s coaching search. Without question, the big fish in the available coaches pool was former Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown. The Houston Rockets and Indiana Pacers were among the teams with a great deal of interest in interviewing Brown, but he turned everyone away until the Los Angeles Lakers came calling. Brown was the big name the Lakers needed to replace the retiring Phil Jackson, but that doesn’t mean Brown was the best hire of the summer; not by a long shot.

Brown is a great hire, make no mistake about that. For all of the talk about Brian Shaw taking over for Jackson, the team with the highest visibility and most pressure to win of any team in the world, the Lakers needed a high profile head coach with a proven track record. Mike Brown is just such a coach, having lead the Cavaliers to the status of the NBA’s elite teams, including a trip to the NBA Finals and a .663 winning percentage over five seasons and the 2008-09 Coach Of The Year award. Brown is adept at balancing superstar egos and enormous pressure to win, both of which will be issues in LA.

Still, if the NBA loses training camp and a chunk of games due to the current lockout, Brown has his work cut out for him. There’s very little chance he will try to run Tex Winters’ triangle offense, meaning he’ll be trying to put in his own system basically on the fly. He’ll also be trying to gain the trust of Kobe Bryant, which is no small task, and he’ll be adjusting to life under the world’s largest microscope all at the same time. Brown is the best long-term choice for the Lakers, but under the circumstances, one team did a better job in their coaching hire.

Dwane Casey is also a nice hire, as he will go from winning a championship with the Dallas Mavericks to installing his own system and starting from scratch with the Toronto Raptors. He won’t have savvy veterans like Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and Jason Terry to help him along the way, so Casey, too, has his work cut out for him as he looks to throw things together on the fly. Likewise for Kevin McHale in Houston, who has never had success as a coach, and for Mark Jackson in Golden State, who hardly seems a better choice than the fired Keith Smart.

If the NBA does, indeed, lose games next season the best coaching hire in the league may just be Indiana Pacers head man Frank Vogel. The Pacers were going nowhere fast when they relieved head coach Jim O’Brien of his duties on January 30th. They had lost seven of their last eight games, most of them in embarrassing fashion, and looked like they were headed to the lottery yet again. Pacers assistant coach Frank Vogel told reporters he never expected to be a head coach in the NBA, yet he woke up on January 31st as precisely that, and the Pacers responded in a big way. He turned point guard Darren Collison loose, ran more plays through Roy Hibbert in the post, and his team ran off seven wins in their next eight games. They went on to make the playoffs, where they gave the top-seeded Chicago Bulls all they could handle before eventually losing in the first round.

When the Pacers’ players went through their exit interviews with front office staff, to a man they endorsed the return of Vogel, who made them believe in themselves when no one else seemed to. It is precisely that collective vote of confidence, combined with the momentum the team built in making the playoffs that could mean Vogel was actually the summer’s best hire. The team knows and likes his system, they’ve added a significant piece in George Hill, and they have the cap space to add another major piece, perhaps a power forward like David West or Carl Landry. Indiana is set to take things to the next level, even if the lockout means they have very little training camp and a shortened season. The Pacers are prepared.

Taking over a new team is never easy, and adding the extra challenge of taking the reins without a full training camp and summer of programs under your belt makes the job even tougher. For that reason, of all the teams who signed new head coaches this summer, the Pacers may have made the best hire for at least the short-term and perhaps beyond.

FIBA Not Looking For Part-Time Help

Every day we hear about more and more players looking for jobs overseas to help them weather the storm of the NBA lockout, and today Atlanta Hawks free agent Jamal Crawford and Philadelphia 76ers swingman Andre Iguodala are said to be joining the fray. Joakim Noah is looking for a job playing ball in France, JJ Barea says he’ll play in Spain, Deron Williams already has an offer to play in Turkey, and Kobe Bryant will explore Italy, where his father once played professionally.

But let’s be clear – FIBA teams are not looking for part-time employees. They’re looking for players who want to commit to an entire season of basketball.

The more the owners talk about their willingness to miss an entire NBA season the more likely it is that FIBA teams will start signing some of the top names in professional hoops. Nearly every agent will want to make sure their players have exit clauses that assure them of the ability to leave their FIBA teams the moment the lockout ends. After all, Europe makes for an attractive option, but those clubs won’t be paying anything close to what NBA stars can make back in the good ol’ US of A. As soon as NBA money is on the table – even at a reduced level – those players will want to be back in the States earning that paycheck. FIBA teams understand that.

At the end of the day, it’s extremely likely that a handful of NBA players will take jobs overseas while the NBA and its players work out their disagreements. Do not, however, expect a mass exodus of players to FIBA competition. The money simply isn’t there, and the threat of a sudden end to the lockout and a quick evacuation by NBA players will make FIBA teams think twice before committing time, money and resources to part-time employees.

Basketball Without Borders Celebrates 10th Anniversary

Basketball without Borders will celebrate its 10th anniversary with three camps this summer, the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) announced today. First held in 2001, Basketball without Borders (BWB) is the NBA and FIBA’s global basketball development program that uses the sport to create positive social change in the areas of education and health and wellness.

A highlight of the 2011 camp schedule is Basketball without Borders Europe, which will be held in Ljubljana, Slovenia, Aug. 8-11. This marks the first camp held in one of the former Yugoslav republics, which was where the 50 campers who attended the inaugural BWB camp hailed from. Additionally, many of the original NBA player coaches will return this year, including NBA Legend Vlade Divac (Serbia), who was instrumental in the creation of the BWB program. Other legends attending the camp include Dalibor Bagaric (Croatia), Zarko Cabarkapa (Montenegro), Rasho Nesterovic (Slovenia), Bruno Sundov (Croatia), Zan Tabak (Croatia), and Dragan Tarlac (Serbia).

“After witnessing the devastating effects of the Yugslav wars, I felt it was important to bring together our young people in a positive way through the unifying nature of sports, which was the genesis of Basketball without Borders,” said Divac. “Basketball was always a source of pride in the former Yugoslavia, and I thought it would be a great vehicle through which to teach tolerance and mutual respect after a period of such division and conflict. I am amazed at how the program has grown over the last decade and couldn’t be prouder to participate in this special anniversary celebration.”

Basketball without Borders Americas will be held from July 29-Aug. 1 in Rio de Janeiro, where the first Americas camp was staged in 2004, and will feature Adonal Foyle, Allan Houston, Sam Perkins, and Dominique Wilkins as camp coaches. NBA Global Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo will lead a group of NBA legends for Basketball without Borders Africa, which will return to Johannesburg, South Africa for the eighth time, Sept. 1-4, after being held in Senegal last year.

“Basketball without Borders has seen amazing success over the last decade thanks to the tremendous efforts of FIBA, our marketing and community partners, and the many members of the NBA Family who have joined us along the way,” said Kathleen Behrens, NBA Executive Vice President, Social Responsibility and Player Programs. “This program embodies the NBA’s commitment to growing the game of basketball globally while also using our sport to address critical social issues in communities around the world.”

“It is a great privilege to mark a decade of working together with the NBA on the Basketball without Borders initiative,” said Patrick Baumann, FIBA Secretary General and member of the International Olympic Committee. “10 years is a strong testament to the impact of the program, the quality of instruction and guidance provided both on and off the court. Since 2001, it has been our goal to provide young people all around the world with the opportunity and the tools to improve and showcase their basketball skills by learning from some of the best players and coaches around. We have also enabled them to have a positive effect on their communities by becoming role models.”

NBA, NFL Two Different Animals

There have been many comparisons between the NBA and the NFL of late, due to the fact that both leagues have locked out their players and some of the same legal team is working on behalf of the players on both sides. There is one significant difference, however, as Memphis Grizzlies free agent Shane Battier recently pointed out in an interview with WFFA in New York.

“I’m cautiously optimistic that we will get something done before missing any games. We all know what’s at stake. We can’t afford to go through what the NFL is going through in that we can’t afford to lose the fans. I just think we have a perspective after going through this in ’99 that it’s in the best interest of everybody to hammer out a fair deal.”

{AUTHOR_BOX}The NBA has grown exponentially in terms of being a global game, but the popularity of the NBA still pales in comparison to that of the NFL. If the NFL alienates a few fans it will simply free up some seats for other fans who haven’t been able to score tickets to the limited number of games that comprise the NFL season. For the NBA, selling out 41 homes games is challenge enough in most markets without the league alienating any fans with a lockout. Battier breaks down some of the major issues that still lie between the owners and the players in efforts to reach a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.

“I don’t know the ins and outs of the flex cap. I think it’s a pretty clever term by Commissioner Stern. The main issues for us are the revenue sharing amongst the big market teams and the small market teams. That will really lead the discussion to what share the players will share with the owners. The league maintains that the revenue sharing is an internal matter and they will take care of it themselves. We think it’s a huge part of the bigger picture, the big collective bargaining discussion. Once we sort of see how the revenues are going to be split amongst the teams I think that will be a huge, huge advantage to getting a deal done.”

Battier has been open in saying that he was disappointed by the mid-season trade that sent him from the Houston Rockets to the Memphis Grizzlies. His wife was just weeks away from delivering a baby and thus couldn’t move with him to Memphis, and it meant Battier had to find a temporary residence in Memphis as he prepared for free agency this summer. Still, the move to Memphis meant he got a chance to be in the playoffs, where the Grizzlies shocked the San Antonio Spurs in the first round.

“We knew that we had a favorable matchup in the Spurs,” says Battier. “Did we think we could beat them and take the Thunder in second round to seven games? I’d be lying to say I knew that was going to happen. We knew we had a chance against the Spurs. We felt that we matched up great against them. We were younger and we were more athletic. After we won that first game in San Antonio, we all looked at each other and said ‘hey guys we can do this.’ We went on a magical run, the city was behind us, it was simply electric, and it was a fantastic lightning in a bottle run for us.”

One big key for the Grizzlies was the play of Zach Randolph, who has grown up a lot in recent years according to Battier.

“The beauty about sports, it doesn’t matter what sport you play, you win a few games and do it on the main stage, it’s amazing how your reputation and your image changes. Zach is a great player, he’s a pretty good guy and I’ve known him for ten years now. He’s a ten-year veteran and I think he’s grown up a lot. He’s probably done some things in the past that he regrets, but he’s matured. He was simply fantastic for us and a great locker room guy. That’s not something you would say about Zach Randolph five or six years ago.”

If there is, indeed, a lock out and the NBA misses games it will mean some great stories start to evaporate. One of those stories will be the Memphis Grizzlies, who took the playoffs by storm and look poised to make some serious noise next season if they can retain key free agents Marc Gasol and Battier. Keen observers of the NBA can’t wait to see a team like Memphis continue to make progress and perhaps get even further in the playoffs next season. That’s just one of the many reasons for the NBA and its players to find common ground before October, when the season would normally begin. The NBA simply can’t afford for the world to lose interest in the many great stories we were left with at the end of the 2010-11 season.