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.

Rudy Fernandez and Nick Batum Make NBA Debuts

Portland is officially one of my favorite teams. They're young, exciting and have two of the most exciting European players in the league - guard Rudy Fernandez and Nicholas Batum.
Here's a description of their first two NBA games:

Oct. 28 Portland vs. Los Angeles

1st Quarter
2-4, 4 points

• 3:50 Rudy's first shot, a three, was a clanger off the right of the rim.
• Later, he's thrown to floor by Derek Fisher, four inches shorter but much stronger, while going after the ball.
• 1:50: Flashes by Jordan Farmer just north of the free throw line and throws in a beautiful 10-foot running teardrop.
• 1:18:Fernandez curls around a Pryzabilla screen and drains a 16-foot swisher.
• 1:01: Bricks a 16-foot fadeaway over Gasol

2nd Quarter
1-1, 5 points

• 10:22 Portland guard Sergio Rodriguez attempts to lob an alley-oop to Fernandez over his Spanish teammate Gasol. But it falls short, and Odom picks it off.
• 9:50 He drains a three over the Slovenian Vujacic, accounting for 7 of Portland's 17 points.
• 6:16 He slices through the Lakers' defense like a Ginsu knife, gets fouled, and nets two.

Third Quarter
0-2, 0 points

• 2:02 With the Trailblazer down 46-69, and in dire need of a jolt, he misses a three.
• 1:20 Nice, quick jumping swing pass from Bayless to Roy, which turns into an assist for a three
• :27 Rudy shows some of his seven years of European experience by passing on an open 11-footer and passing back to Bayless for a three, which leads to a foul.
• :19 He clangs a 19-footer from the corner
• :02 Corrals a rebound, ending his worst quarter

Fourth Quarter
2-2, 7 points

• 11:03 He makes a technical foul shot after a technical foul on Lakers forward Ariza. Portland Coach McMillan obviously has confidence in him early in the season.
• 8:42 The most exciting sequence of the game: Ariza the Acrobat erases a Bayless lay-up, the Lakers advance the ball to mid-court, where Roy steals it, then dashes back, hits Rudy at the elbow and swish ... 3-ball!
• Roy's unselfishness is a good sign. He trusts Rudy already, and this will pay big dividends later in the season.
• 6:50 He claps for the ball to trigger a fast-break, receives it at mid-court, takes two dribbles and delivers a fine bounce-pass to Outlaw for a deuce
• 6:12 Fernandez steals an in-bounds and drills a triple from the same spot he'd hit from 2 1/2 minutes before. Somebody's suddenly lookin' seriously sharp...

Rudy finishes as Portland's best player in a 76-96 loss. He scores 16 points on 5-10 shooting, makes all 3 free throws, and gathers 4 assists, 2 steals and 2 rebounds in 29 minutes.
Despite talk that Batum would start, he doesn't enter the game until late, but makes his presence known in 4 minutes: 2 points, 3 rebounds, and a steal.

Courtesy of BRUNAMONTI




Three days later, Rudy and the Trailblazers (second-youngest team with an average of 23.9 years) took on the San Antonio Spurs (the the oldest team in the league with an average age of 29.9 years)

1st Quarter

• 2:28 When he enters the game, the crowd swells: "Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!"
• "Did you hear those chants," ESPN's color commentator Jon Barry asked. "I thought I was at Notre Dame!"
• 1:44 Portland swingman Nicholas Batum grabs an offensive rebound, tears down the sideline, goes airborne and unspools the ball to Aldridge for a dunk
• :01 Fernandez misses a three after a sick B-Roy crossover

2nd Quarter

• 11:47 WOW! 6-8 Batum meets 6-11 Duncan at the rim and swats his stuff seven ways to Sunday!
• Now that's the way to greet a hall-of-famer... afterward, it takes the crowd about 15 seconds to calm down.
• 11:05 Rudy snaps a three from the corner.
• 10:01 SWEET LORD Almighty! Batum takes the ball outside of the elbow, holds it like a hot pizza box, swoops through the lane, knocks it off the backboard, and delivers two with a silky-smooth lay-up.
• Replays show that as he released the ball, he barely looked up.
• 7:24 Batum strikes again, stealing the ball at mid-court, and streaking to the bucket for another sweet lay-up.
• Color commentator Jon Barry notes that there's "no timidness to this guy ... he playing so aggressive, he's in guys' faces, he tried to dunk on Tim Duncan earlier, he's taking the ball to the basket." A far cry from the Batum I saw last year.
• 7:01 Rudy skys over the Spur's Udoka to snag a defensive rebound, gets fouled, then hits 2 free throws.
• 5:32 Is this the greatest quarter of Batum's career so far? He drains a three and stands there, hand upraised in a follow-through, a la MJ in the 1992 NBA Finals versus, you guessed it, Portland. The 19-year old's got 8 points now..
• :06 Batum, 6-8 and 200 pounds, guards the Tony Parker, 6-1 and 180 pounds, and does a nice job - using his length to prevent his ultra-quick fellow Frenchman from scoring a lay-up.

Third Quarter

• 3:29 Once again, Batum scores off a fast-break lay-up employing what Jon Barry called the "euro two-step. You slow down, you let two players go by." Whatever it is, it's two points.
• 00:30 Thank you, fast-break dunk. You just gave Monsieur Batum a baker's dozen.

Fourth Quarter

• 10:40 Batum misses a wide-open straightaway three. Once he can nail those consistenly, he will be scary.
• 7:55 Parker scorches Batum on the perimeter and leaves a tasty 2-point treat for Duncan: Spurs now down by four, 80-84.
• 6:17 With Portland up 87-84, Rudy bricks a deep three off the front rim. You get the sneaky suspicion the veteran-laden Spurs, even without Ginobili, are going to tie it up soon.
• 4:23 With a Portland four-point lead and 19 seconds into the clock, Rudy fires up another brick from long. Not a good shot at all.

Blazers win 100-99.
Rudy only scores 6 points on 1-6 shooting, but corrals 8 rebounds and plays 30 minutes.
Batum, as you can see above, had a mighty impressive debut: 12 points on 5-9 shooting, 2 blocks, and a steal, assist, and rebound in 22 minutes. I think he should be able to contribute fast-break points all season long, but the question is: what else can he give you?

Courtesy of Wuithier:

ESPN 360's Euroleague Schedule

For Americans who have an interest in Euroleague basketball, ESPN's online station - ESPN 360 - will air 40 Euroleague games this season. It sounds all good and dandy, until you read the fine print - and find out that ESPN is in cahoots with certain cable internet providers but not others. Meaning if you use Comcast, only the largest provider in the nation, you cannot access this potentially wonderful feature. Instead, you must have:

AT&T, Verizon, RCN, Insight, Frontier, Cavalier, Charter, Mediacom, Conway, Grande Communications and many more. It is also now available at no cost to approximately 18 million U.S. college students and U.S.-based military personnel via on-campus educational networks (with a ".edu" domain) and military networks (with a ".mil" domain).

Even if you have an AT&T account, as I do for my cell phone, still no cigar. You gotz to have that cable provider!

For those of you blessed with the above, go here for a schedule of upcoming games.

Oct. 29
Panathinaikos Athens at FC Barcelona

Nov. 5
Alba Berlin at Tau Ceramica

Nov. 12
Virtus Roma (Brandon Jennings' team!) at Tau Ceramica

Nov. 19
Real Madrid at Efes Pilsen (read my preview for this Turkish team here)