Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Corey Maggette

by: Nba BattleGround


from the Jimmy Kimmel live show - Dream

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Opinion - Hasheem Thabeet Is A Flop

by king13

Everyone thought the 2009 draft class is weak class and Blake Griffin is the only player that can develop into a star, but as the Las Vegas Summer league startes we could see a lot of potential. pay attention to Tyreke Evans the Kings #4 pick, Sacramento suprised the criticizers with this pick but it will eventually pay off. Curry and Derozen are also solid picks, and Curry will be the next Monte Ellis. Rubio in the next 10 years will be one of the best PG in the NBA, and Griffin is already the superstar we expect him to be.

The biggest mistake in this draft was made by Memphis, Altough Hasheem Thabeet the #2 pick got a lot of potential they need to realize that potential is not enough. his weak offensive game and his defense that was great in college but will not be enough in the NBA. even in the summer league Thabeet having a hard time, the big phyisicallity diffrence between college and NBA will have big effect on him, and his size is not giving him the same adventage he used to get.

Kwame Brown and Michael Olokwand are just couple examples for players that didnt make the adjusment they had to do to become NBA stars, and from college/HS monsters they become Draft flops, Hasheem Thabeet will join their club soon and remember where you heard that first...


Saturday, July 11, 2009

NBA European Division

By NBA BattleGround

Just a year ago the CNN reported that David Stern, the NBA commissioner, is about to publish the plan for the NBA European division. This main idea in the plan is to add a new division for the NBA with about 5 new teams, which will take part in the NBA league. Those 5 teams should be from five big markets in Europe like Rome and London, but will only participate in the NBA and not in the local leagues.

The plan sounds great but there are several reasons why it isn't realistic. Although NBA is popular across Europe and probably all the seats will be sold out, we need to understand that at least three of the five big markets already have a basketball team that play in the Euroleague for example: Athens got "Panathinaikos" the European champions. Rome got "Lottomatica Rome" a solid Eroleague team and the Spanish cities got "Real Madrid" and "Barcelona FCB". So by making new teams in those cities will make a competition that will cause one of the teams Damage that will be hard to fix and it most reasonable that this team will not be the NBA one. Also the new team will cause the Euolaeague and the local leagues to loose their crowd because they cannot compete with the NBA glow and the NBA stars.

Crowd mentality is the next problem. While the American crowd come to a NBA game to watch a show, cheering according to the screens and even watching the rival team stars the European crowd. There isn't something wrong at it and it's even better than the aggressive European crowd that sings, drums, lights fireworks and throwing coins. Just try to think what will happen if a coin will be tossed in a NBA game and will hit a player (we all remember the pistons – pacers brawl ). The European crowd will only make damage for the NBA image. And you can not make the European crowd less violent.

Courts and budget is not the reason that prevent the plan to start moving and the problems I just mentioned is only a drop in the sea of problems that the plan is causing so for now I don't see that happens in next ten or even more years.


Here is little taste of what is a Basketball Crowd in Europe:



Friday, July 10, 2009

Cristiano Ronaldo And NBA Merchandise

By NBA BattleGround

Last week millions of people around the world watch the young superstar from Portugal while he came to the Madrid Soccer Stadium with his new shirt, and now a mission for the soccer fans here take a look on Ronaldo presentation and find out where is the mistake that worth millions





so if you haven't find out yet Ronaldo wears the number 9 jersey just like another Ronaldo that was playing in Madrid few years ago. That is a huge merchandise mistake that no explanation can justify. The main reason that Ronaldo was bought from Man. United for over 90 million dollars it's his popularity. And now after that mistake lot of the fans will use their old Ronalodo shirts and even new uniforms will not fix it.


What the NBA teams got to do with it? We all know that a lot of the NBA team profits is from selling merchandise, but there is a limit of how many shirts every player can sell. one of the players that realize it was Kobe Bryant, the profits that the change of jersey gave him was great, by getting the number 24 he started a brand new line of shoes and clothing. And also the lakers fans bought a huge amount of his new jerseys.



But not all the teams got a Superstar like Bryant that can Raise the profits so fast, but they can reinvent themselves as a team. The Orlando Magic for example is still Losing money despite the great season. We all felt that the Magic is a bit Old product, but now with their success and their new Arena they can lead a revolution that will make the brand more attractive. For example change in uniform or change the logo again (the "new" logo isn't modern enough).



This change is easier in the smaller teams but it still necessary. just think how many jerseys Lebron James can sell if the Cavs will change their Home Uniform... I think every team need to maximize their profits out of merchandise every few years and sometimes they forget it...

NBA BattleGround Review: Orlando Magic "Superman Returns", or maybe not...

By NBA BattleGround

Alright so let's take a quick review of the Orlando Magic in their 2009/2010 Model.

So the biggest change the magic did this summer was trading Courtney Lee and Alston to the Nets in exchange for Vince Carter. For my opinion that is just an OK trade and not good as everyone think. And that because the success of the magic this year was a combination of luck and unique team chemistry. the team didn't had a Superstar ego on the court, and Dwight Howard was part of the team and not a superstar and you could see that in the critical moments of the playoff when the Magic looked for Rashard Lewis and Hedo Torkoglu to take responsibility. the decision to bring carter, was forced after the big hole the team had shown in the SG position and because of Torkoglu that became too expensive (and not worth it by the way).


Courtney lee and Michael Pietrus wasn't enough to deal with Kobe And Lebron, but Lewis and Torkouglu Along with Howard made the team the best in the east. Nelson was great too all season long but in the playoff without him the team played even better. i'd rather pass nelson and try to bring a good Pf so lewis will play in the SF, than stay with nelson and risk with another injury. Anthony Jhonson proves himself in the PG position and its too bad he didnt got his chance in the finals. However by bringing carter the whole game style is going to change and carter-nelson-pietrus create a very good offensive back line along with Lewis-Howard which is a very good front line but yet I was prefer to see a more massive player in the PF position.

Howard needs to Grow Up this year and start taking more responsibility and stop with his stupid Technical foul thing. Also he should develop some killer moves in the paint and keep getting better from the free throw line. this year the Magic will not be The underdog anymore and the pressure is on them.

NBA BatlleGround prediction: East Semi-Finals.



One More thing, take a look at Dwight Howard teasing Shaquille O'Neal

NBA BattleGround Review: Does The Los Angeles Lakers Found Their Pippen?

By NBA BattleGround

Hi Everyone,

I'm Glad that finally, after a long time, we start this Blog. in the next Few Weeks We Gonna Review the NBA teams in their 2009/2010 Model.

So Let's start with the new champions, the Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers made their first and probably the last big trade for this summer. Usually people think that if something is not broken you don't need to fix it. but the Lakers management is realistic and knows that the other teams that in the race for championship next season already made their adjustments, and also knows that the last year roster will not be enough for this year.

So Far So Good, the Lakers succeed, to keep Coach Jackson For at least one more year and made the Artest-Ariza "trade" with the Rockets. I cant avoid from the comparison between kobe & artest and Jordan - Pippen. I think that Along with Pau Gasol the Lakers is of course the best in the west and the match between her and the celtics will be much more exciting than the last time.

But, and there's a big BUT, the team have few big problems that we all saw in this year Playoff. first the PG position. with all the respect that i have to Fisher, we all know that is not enough. I think he can give the team some good minutes off the bench, but not as a starter. Its true that the team has no need in a Scorrer PG but she need a Smart One. because there is no chance to bring a superstar like Chris Paul so i would go for Stephon Marbury (free agent). I Know it's a High Risk but he can get the starter Position and if he starts ruin the game there is always fisher. also i think that when the Championship Is The goal even Marbury can Adjust himself.

The Second problem is the Bench, there is a great sixth-man, Odom Or Bynum, and that's it. the other players are not at the level that a champion team wants to have. Vuajcic, Walton, Farmar is not enough, and more than one injury at a time will finish the team. the Lakers Got To Expend their Bench.

So After that, We can say that we all pray for Celtics-Lakers final like every year, and so far it looks the most reasonable possiblity. Artest and Bryant Can make a team that we havn't seen since Jordan's Bulls but we will have to wait and see how it will all connect.

NBA BatlleGround prediction: Western Conference Champions.

That's it for now, but we won't leave you without Artests Tribute For Michael Jackson R.I.P





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