Navajo Chief and Old Guy: Ballers Both

Today, I take a somewhat elastic approach to the term "global ball," as in basketball that embraces all types of people, including those of different nations within a country - e.g. the Native American nations in the United States. I also feature a 73-year-old dude who plays college basketball, and breaks all manner of age barriers in the process.
Not to get sappy, but I'll get sappy anyway: A day after the United States' Thanksgiving holiday, I truly feel thankful that I live in a nation in which such opportunity is available to all.

From the Boston Herald:

Alabama State has the pieces to contend for another SWAC title. Center Grienntys Chief Kickingstallionsims, a member of the Navajo tribe, is a 7-1, 265 lb. center who could become Chief Kickingserioustail if he continues to improve. Kickingstallionsims averaged eight points in 16 minutes last season and is a second-team preseason conference pick heading into 2008-09.

So far this year, he has averaged

PPG	APG	3P%	RPG	BPG	SPG
6.3	0.3	.000	2.5	2.8	0

Chief's not kicking stallion butts yet! As we see below, his name does not even mean what I so yearned for it to mean...

Collegehoops.net Top 20 Best Names in college basketball:

10) Preston LeMaster - Kentucky

Why? I am the LeMaster of my own domain!

9) Dipo Popoola - Northeastern

Why? Would be twice as funny if his name was Poopola.

8) Fats Cuyler - MSTU

Why? I used to bowl with a guy named Fats. He was fat.

7) Austin Swig - Montana

Why? It would be cool if college kids yelled "Swig! Swig! Swig! Swig!" at parties.

6) Cleve Woodfork - Tenn-Martin

Why? It takes more than a wood fork to cleave meat.

5) Dexter Shankle - UTPA

Why? This name just makes me giggle for some reason.

4) Austen Powers - CS Northridge

Why? If you don't know, I guess you don't like movies.

3) Willie Dingle - Rider

Why? It's not proper to show your Willie Dingle in public.

2) Chris Porn - Elon

Why? Because this guy knows how to use his Willie Dingle.

1) Chief Kickingstallionsims - Stetson

Why? I figured it would mean "Likes to Kick Stallions." But apparently it means "Strength of Fallen Rocks."

Be proud, Tall Chief.

Also in the South, an old man - a "chief" in years, if you will - is making waves, as only a 73-year-old balling with men 1/3 his age can do.

Here's an excerpt from an article about his exploits leading up to becoming a member Roane State Community College basketball team in Tennessee:

Mink said he spent the better part of last summer in the gym at Knoxville's Central Baptist Church.

"On the average, I was in there seven or eight hours a week, running, playing and getting myself in shape,'' Mink said. "I knew I'd be going to school and playing, so I have to have my stamina built up pretty good.''

Mink said he played on a senior Olympic team this summer (3-on-3, half-court), finishing second in state tournaments in Tennessee, Kentucky and West Virginia.

"And I won the Tennessee state free-throw championship this year by hitting 19 of 20,'' he said.

Mink's goal is to get himself conditioned well enough to play at full speed for a 10- to 15-minute stretch, even though it's likely he won't play more than five or six minutes in a game for Roane State.

No, he's not having a heart attack. Rather, he's having a profound-influence-on-the-way-society-views-older-people-in-sport attack.

Andris Biedrins: All-Star Game Bound?

It's no chin scratcher, Andris. You really do deserve All-Star recognition!

Golden-haired 6-11 Andris Biedrins could be the Golden State Warrior's first all-star since Latrell Sprewell in 1997.

Such a selection seemed unlikely in 2004, when an 18-year-old Biedrins became the youngest player ever drafted by the Warriors.

In his first couple years, he averaged less than 4.5 in points and rebounds and shot a jaw-droppingly inept 30.6% from the free throw line in 2005-06.

His playing improved in 2006 when Don Nelson replaced Mike Montgomery as head coach. Nelson, who had experience tutoring another European project - Dirk Nowitzki, was able able to implement a fastbreak playing style in which Biedrins thrived. (9.5 ppg, 9.3 rpg in 2006-07). Last year, he led the NBA in FG% at 62.6% and became the Warriors' all-time leader in career field-goal percentage (61.4). He bumped his scoring and rebounding average to 10.5 points and 9.8 boards a game.
Nelson called him possibly "the best big man I've ever coached."

He was rewarded this summer with a six-year, $63 million deal and, at 22, has been named a co-captain. The Warriors have eight players on their roster who are 22 or younger, including their last two first-round draft picks, Anthony Randolph (19) and Brandan Wright (20).

This year, in the absence of high-scoring Baron Davis (traded) and Monta Ellis (suspended), he has taken another quantum leap in production by now averaging 16.8 ppg and 13.5 rpg, and even shooting a previously unimaginable 62% from the charity stripe.

Before sketching his background, here's a quick glimpse at the history of basketball in Latvia:
1. Latvia won the first European Championship in 1935
2. Gundars Vētra became the first Latvian in the NBA when he played for the Minnesota Timberwolves for 13 games in 1993. Biedrins is so far the only other.

When Biedrins signed his first professional contract with Skonto Riga, he was 15 and making $500 dollars a month, which is about how much his father, Aivars, was getting as a construction worker.

Aivars Biedrins was able to quit his job after Biedrins' first pro season. Hs mother, Inita, stopped working as an accountant once he signed his first NBA contract, a two-year deal worth $3.6 million.

Here, Andris - or "Dre" as his teammates call him - interviews with an exceedingly chummy Foxsports.com reporter. They talk about Dre chances of becoming the first Warrior all-star in ten years. Notice that Dre foregoes the his famed gelled, spiky hair on non game-days.

Ballin' with Biedrins




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Not a Whole Lotta Success ... Yet: Jenning's Progress

Lottomatica guard Brandon Jennings has played nearly 3 times more effectively in his four Euroleague games this season than his four Serie A Italian domestic league games.

Here's the breakdown:
Euroleague: 10.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 1.5 apg, 41.7 3Pt%, 92.9 FT%
Serie A: 5.5 ppg 1.3 rpg 2.3 apg 18.3 3Pt% 50.0 FT%

This may have something to do with Jennings being a much bigger star in his domestic league and than the "big pond" - all of Europe. Domestic defenders may be focusing on him more than bigger-name Euroleague oppponents. It'll be interesting to see if this trend continues.

The bottom line, though, is that so far Lottomatica Roma is winning: after eight games in both leagues, it was 7-1.


Here's Jennings showing that all that team-first talk is the real deal. Check out this hustle-born floor burn!



I haven't seen Jennings try to do to much of the same showboat style dribbling and passing he was famous for in high school. It seems that Coach Repesa has for the most part been able to tame that side of him. But here's a bit a reversion as Jennings tries to do too much:



Below is video from a victory over Ricky Rubio's Badalona team. Unfortunately, Rubio is injured but will return soon.



Check out this nice backstage interview with FIBA. We learn Brandon models his game after another lefty PG, Kenny Anderson, and is especially close to fellow Los Angelinos Marcus Williams and Tyson Chandler. On the eve of the election, he's also not a afraid to make a pitch!



Interview with Euroleague.net in which Jennings says that the competition is not difficult - he's been playing adults for years and after an initial adjustment period feels he's improving just fine.


We learn some of his habits from his own blog. It's easy to flinch at this a bit and think - "He's wasting an invaluable cultural opportunity!" But, hey, it's not like he's studying abroad or anything.


Other than that, I just go to practice, come home and go right to my room, where I stay on the internet. I’m on Myspace a lot, AIM, I do the Skype thing a little, and I ordered the NBA League Pass online so I’m keepin up with the NBA. And I ordered the college package…

Yao Ming vs. NBA's Giants

As a complementary article to my "Yao Ming vs. World's Giants" article, I have written an article comparing Big Man Yao to all the 7-2+ players in the history of the NBA.

Here are the top three:

1. Yao Ming, 7-6
Career %: .826 (2571 FTA)
Best Season %: 2006-07, .862

2. Arvydas Sabonis, 7-3
Career %: .786 (1690 FTA)
Best Season %: 1999-00, .843

3. Zydrunas Ilgauskas, 7-3
Career %: .781 (2959 FTA)
Best Season %: 2008-09, .838

Go to the rest of my article on interbasket.net for the players 4-27.

Interesting tidbits abound!

Yao Ming vs. the World's Giants

Of the NBA's giants, who stands tallest when it comes to free throw accuracy?

This question recently came to the fore during a Phoenix-Houston telecast. ESPN color commentator Hubie Brown said that 7-footer Dirk Nowitzki is the best 7-0+ player in NBA history.
Close behind him is Yao Ming, who hit his first 17 free throws this season. Here's the breakdown:

Highest Free Throw % for 7-footers in NBA History

Dirk Nowitzki 87%
Yao Ming 82.6%
Brad Miller 79.9%
Steve Stipanovich 79.6%
Joe Kleine 79.4% (n.b. Kleine played for the University of Arkansas)

I wondered, however, how Yao Ming compares to the tallest of the tall? Arbitrarily, I defined the "tallest of the tall" as 7-2 and above. I wondered how Yao Ming's accuracy compared to 7-2+ giants in NBA history and those now playing abroad. I researched keyhoops.com, eurobasket.com and basketball-reference.com. I will publish my NBA findings at the comprehensive interbasket.net site.

Below, I present my findings in leagues in Europe and Asia. I found that many leagues do not have 7-2+ players, but that many have 7-footers. I have ordered the leagues by the number of 7 footers they have.

1. China's CBA has 16 7-0+ players, including Shandong's 7-4 Priest Lauderdale, Dongguan's 7-3 Sun Zhe, Zhejiang's Jindi Zhang and Quingdao's 7-2 Frans Steyn.

2. Greece's Heba 1 has 6 7-0+ players

Russia's Superleague has 6 7-0+ players, including ex-NBA player Lokomotiv Novosibirsk's Pavel Podkolzine

7-3 Pavel Podkolzine
Career FT % .709
Best Season FT %: 2007-08, .822

4. Turkey's BL - 6 players 7-0+

P.S. Robert "Tractor" Traylor now plays for Kepez Beledeyesi Antalya. He averages 11 points, 8 rebounds, 5 fouls a game while shooting 62.5% from the field and 28.6% on free throws. At 6-8, he's no 7-footer, but his weight doesn't know the difference. Big man used to tip the scales at 285 pounds.

5. Spain's ACB has 5 7-0+ players, including ex-NBA player Fuenlabrada's Peter John Ramos

7-2 Peter John Ramos
Career %: .623
Best Season %: 2008-09, .833

6. Italian Lega A1 has three 7-0+ players, including Lottomatica Roma's NBA-to-Europe returnee Primoz Brezec.

7. France's NM1 has 2 7-0+ players

8. Iran's Superleague has 2 7-0+ players, including Zob Ahan's 7-4 Jaber Rouzbahani, who attempted to enter the 2004 NBA draft but wasn't selected.

9. France Pro A has 1 7-0+ player - Nancy's Zaki Aboubakar

10. German BBL has 1 7-0+ player - Alba Berlin's Patrick Femerling

11. South Korea's KBL league has 1 7-0+ player - 2004 NBA draftee Ha Seung-Jin, who shot 59% in free throws last year in the NBDL.

Belgium's LB - no 7-0 + players

France's Pro B - no 7-0 + players

Israel's Safsal - no 7-0+ players

Unfortunately, statistics concerning Asian players are difficult to obtain. If you know where to find them, please let me know. It would be especially interesting to discover if China's plethora of big men tend to shoot as well as Yao.

Childress Interviews

Here are choice excerpts from four ESPN interviews concerning Josh Childress' foray into Greece:

In this short sit-down, we learn:
1. There are only three other players on his old Atlanta Hawks team that he feels maybe would make it playing abroad as he has:

• Al Horford (a Dominican)
• Zaza Puchulia (a Georgian)
• Marvin Williams (only a US citizen)

2. He has three goals -

• Win the Triple Crown - his A1 Greek league (Olympiakos, 5-0, is currently tied with Panathinaikos for 1st), the Greek Cup, and the Euroleague
• Become a better player
• Have fun doing it

In this interview titled "My Big Fat Greek Contract," we see:

• Childress' "J-Chill" private pool - part of a team-funded private chef, maid service, car, and 3-story apartment package that Childress estimates saves him more tahn half a million a year.
• The scope of J-Chill's popularity in Athens is not necessarily commensurate to the size of the arenas he plays in. He made his Greek League debut in a gym holding around 1,000.
• When he runs onto the the courts of these gyms during the pre-game announcements, the Greek announcer bellows his name: "TZOSSSS CHİLDRESSSS"!
• The owners of Olympiakos said it was not "logic[al]" to offer Kobe or LeBron $50 million to play one season. But they are confident there are numbers that would lure higher-caliber players than Josh, who signed a 3-year, $20 million deal.
• Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni, who played and coached for more than 20 years in Italy, said that Kobe or LeBron would never play abroad because, essentially, their egos would not allow them.
• They both want to be considered the best to ever play, he said, and to do that they have to play with the best, in the NBA. Also, in playing a year abroad, they sacrifice a year in which they could be adding to their NBA statistics.

Below, Panayiotis Angelopoulos, who owns Olympiakos with his brother, discusses what he perceives as the main difference between European club owners and NBA owners - NBA's owners assess players according to the salary cap and whether their market value will increase over a 2-3 year window whereas European owners, without a salary cap, have a more season-by-season approach.



Alright, ya'll, below we get to see that "J" truly is a "Chil" guy:

• He's picked up about 10 Greek words so far, including the expected bad ones.
• Skinned rabbits at the local grocery store freak him out.
• He looks at a dead, frozen octopus eye and doesn't flinch. If nothing else - you gotta check out the last 15 seconds of this video - it's redunk!

So when not staring down dead seafood, how is Josh faring in his league, you ask?
Here's the update:

Courtesy of Eurobasket:

Olympiakos S.F.P. Pireus Statistics

Season: 2008-2009 Field Goals Rebounds # Game min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a off def tot ast pf st bs pts 6 Childress, Josh 5 23.6 67.6% 16.7% 85.2% 1.0 2.2 3.2 0.2 1.2 1.6 0.8 14.4 16 Printezis, Giorgos 5 18.4 61.8% 25.0% 63.6% 0.8 2.4 3.2 1.0 1.8 0.4 0.2 10.4 10 Halperin, Yotam 5 19.8 77.8% 46.2% 75.0% 1.0 2.4 3.4 1.2 0.4 0.2 0.2 7.6 11 Greer, Lynn 5 17.0 77.8% 30.8% 85.7% 0.2 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.6 0.6 0.0 7.6 18 Teodosic, Milos 5 20.2 66.7% 54.5% 66.7% 0.4 3.0 3.4 1.4 2.4 0.4 0.2 6.8 9 Bourousis, Giannis 4 17.0 66.7% 50.0% 75.0% 2.0 5.5 7.5 0.5 1.3 0.5 0.8 8.3 17 Erceg, Zoran 5 14.6 50.0% 25.0% 77.8% 1.0 2.0 3.0 0.8 2.4 0.0 0.2 6.4 7 Vujcic, Nikola 4 21.0 47.4% 0.0% 63.6% 0.5 3.0 3.5 1.3 2.0 0.0 0.5 6.3 4 Papaloukas, Thodoros 4 20.0 60.0% 25.0% 100.0% 0.3 3.0 3.3 5.0 1.5 1.8 0.0 5.8 15 Schortsanitis, Sofoklis 2 10.0 80.0% 0.0% 60.0% 2.5 0.5 3.0 1.0 2.0 0.0 0.0 9.5 5 Pelekanos, Mihalis 4 12.8 50.0% 37.5% 25.0% 0.5 3.3 3.8 1.8 2.0 0.3 0.3 3.5 13 Vasilopoulos, Panagiotis 3 16.3 75.0% 33.3% 100.0% 0.3 1.7 2.0 1.0 1.0 0.3 0.3 4.7 14 Vougioukas, Ian 3 8.3 66.7% 0.0% 66.7% 0.3 2.7 3.0 0.0 1.7 0.0 0.3 4.0 19 Sloukas, Costas 2 6.5 0.0% 0.0% 100.0% 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.5 0.5 0.0 1.0 8 Milosevic, Igor 2 6.5 0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 1.5 0.0 0.0 0.0

He leads the team in minutes, points, steals, and blocks (the latter two showing his defensive versatility and superior athleticism). But notice how the stronger "team play" in Europe can be seen in individual statistics. Nobody dominates the scoring, rebounding, or assist column like the best players do in the NBA. Admittedly, it is strange to my American eye to see half the team average 3-4 rebounds and 1-2 assists a game...

Houston v. Portland (an international player snapshot)

With all the hubbub surrounding Barack Obama's election to U.S. President and my following of the reactions worldwide (truly the proudest day I've experienced as an American!), I haven't had much time to blog this week.

Still, I was able to snack on a quarter of Thursday night's Houston - Portland game. Here's a snapshot of the international players' play in the first quarter:

11:50 Yao Ming has his shot emphatically blowed by Joel Pryzbilla, who's at least four inches shorter.

10:42 Argentinian power forward Luis Scola - whose continuing improvemnent in his second year I think will mean as much to the Rockets' title hopes as their acquisition of Ron Artest - cans a 20-footer off of a Ron-Ron dribble-drive. Houston looks nice.

10:16 Portland's Nick Batum, who's making his second start of the season, rattles out a straight-on three. Looks fluid though.

9:41 Scola takes a Rafer Alston-led fast break pass to the bank, and cashes it in for two off the backboard, avoiding Aldridge's out-stretched arms.

9:21 Batum, who played 18 minutes in his first start the night before, cans a 15-footer and trots backwards downcourt. Like butter.

9:12 Yao misses a hook shot over Pryzbilla. Joel can play some D.

8:28 Batum uses his speed to jet out in front of the pack, take a beautifully passed ball from Steve Blake, and delivers it unto the Rim for 2 points. Nice speed, Nicky B.

8:02 Scola pivots, shakes and bakes for a turn-around 2 from 10 feet out.

6:27 Despite tying up a guard on the defensive end, Yao misses another shot. Not a good night so far.

5:43 Yao finally scores, after grabbing a Scola, pirouetting in front of the rim, and laying it up.

3:20, Scola hits an 18-footer, and now has 8 of his team's 15 points on 4-5 shooting. Soon thereafter, immediately after entering the game, Portland's electric Spanish shot-maker Rudy Fernandez rattles out a trifecta. Hombre ain't shy, ya'll.

2:14 Rudy storms into the paint and zips a pass on Martell Webster, leading to 3.

:33 Yao misses yet another shot! A forgettable quarter for sure for the 7-5 center.

:1 Sergio Rodriguez and Rudy get mixed up defending Houston's inbound pass, leading to an Aaron Brooks three. Rudy looks back at Sergio before dashing towards Brooks in the corner, and shows remarkable closing speed in oh-so-almost blocking his shot. Had he only not looked back!

Score at quarter - Portland 21, Houston 18
Final Score - Portland 101, Houston 99

Courtesty of basketnea1


I have to add to tack this on, too. U.S. National team member LeBron James did a lil' jig last night when he saw big man Drew Gooden trying to guard him. It reminded me of footage of the good ol' loosey-goosey ABA days of the early 1970s, when players weren't afraid to put a little paprika in their game:

Courtesy of LOserNetw0rk:


(Hint: It's at 7 seconds)

Beverley in Ukraine

It's not too often that an Arkie (Arkansan) like myself gets to write about a connection between my home state and the big, wide world of international basketball, but tonight is an exception:

Guard Patrick Beverley, who starred for the University of Arkansas Razorbacks the past two years, is playing for BC Dnipro in the Ukraine this fall due to undisclosed reasons.

The Chicago native averaged 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds a game last season and would have been the Razorbacks' returning leader in both categories (I remember he averaged over 10 rebounds a game in the first half of the SEC season last year - a phenomenal feat for a 6-foot-1 guard!)

According to ESPN, he originally wanted to play in the NBA's Developmental League in order to prepare for the 2009 draft, but decided to play in the Ukraine after he learned that DC Dnipro's coach is Bob Donewald , who has coached in the college, the NBA, Great Britain and Brazil personally trained NBA players LeBron James, Carlos Boozer, Dejaun Wagner, Jamal Mashburn, Baron Davis, Nene, and Marcus Vinicius Vieira De Sousa.


The ability to learn under such an experienced teacher and garner a 1-year salary of over $100,000 likely proved decisive for Beverley.

So what exactly is BC Dnipro and how is Beverley faring on its team?

BC Dnipro is located in Dnipropetrovsk, the 3rd-largest city in Ukraine.

The team plays in the 5200 person arena SC Meteor.

It is in the 8-team UBL league. There are two other Ukrainian domestic leagues - the 10-team Superleague - and the 12-team Higher League.

Currently, BC Dnipro is 3rd place at 6-3 - so far an improvement over last year's 8th-place finish (with a 8-14 record) in the Superleague.

Beverley is making Chicago and all of Arkansas proud over there, leading the team in minutes a game (32.3), steals (2.2), assists (3.7) and 3-point % (47.6). He's second in points (16.2) and apparently blocked shots (3.3!)

In the UBL league, Beverley is 10th in points, 7th in assists, 3rd in steals, and 4th in blocks.

We sure miss him in Arkansas, but it looks like he's doin' just fine overseas so far.