Basketball and everything in between

Another Saturday, another edition of Silly Sollies.  Here we go:

- Whilst I try and keep this blog purely Australian hoops related, I am not going to be tied down to that.  Once again I want to comment on the Stephon Marbury situation which is really satring to annoy me.  Dr Browntorios from The Hoop Doctors recently wrote an article titled Is Stephon Marbury of the New York Knicks the Mike Tyson of the NBA?  Whilst some readers of the article might think that it is a comparision between their awful head tatoos (I wonder if these tatts would make the list on the OT) it isn’t.In the article Dr Browntorios states:

So is Stephon Marbury now the Mike Tyson of the NBA? I’d have to say no.
Why?

Because for Marbury to be the Mike Tyson of the NBA, he would have had to at one point been the best in the game. The MVP caliber point guard, the best and brightest of the point guards in the league. Similar to a current Chris Paul, or Deron Williams. Or even in the recent past a Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. Don’t forget there once was a time when Mike Tyson was the best of the best. The youngest of champions, raw fury and power all bottled up and waiting to explode on his next opponent. He was always a little rough around the edges but no one could deny his brilliance in the ring. Then he crashed and burned. He basically imploded and fell apart as an athlete, as a person, and as a boxer.

In my opinion Marbury never achieved even the slightest level of “greatness” to be compared to the Mike Tyson’s of the world. Sure he’s a high profile athlete that ensured the implosion of his career through a series of bad choices and attitude problems. Sure he was an all-star caliber player at one point, but Marbury was never in the conversations of an MVP level player, or even a top 3 or 4 point guard in the league. So enough with the Marbury-Tyson comparisons already……

I think that I agree exactly with what Dr Browntorios states and wish that he would just get over himself and start to play.  It is purely his own fault that he has been supsended and he has nobody to blame but himself. 

- Over the past couple of weeks there has been a lot of talk about Kirk Penney and if he should be in the NBA.  The latest people to come out and say it are Brian Goorjian and Conner Henry.  Kirk Penney is an outstanding player who is well respected by the entire basketballing community in New Zealand and Australia.  Brian Goorjian even thinks that he is the best player in the league at the moment.  In my opinion he is a very very good player who it is awesome that he is in the league.  At best he would be a role player in the NBA but he could certainly fill a role.  That role would be as a shooter.  He would never be a defensive stopper or slashing two guard but he could hit the open shot pretty effectively in my opinion.

- 35 year old Martin Cattalini has done a Cher and turned back time and found some form.  It is good to see that he is getting the job done.   I have always been a huge fan of the ‘Cat’ and love the way that he attacks the basket.  He has a new role as a weapon coming off the bench and I feel that this could extend his career for an extended period.  Hopefully he can keep on keeping on.

- Chris Anstey is ready for the rowdy reception that he will receive on Saturday night when the Tigers travel to Adelaide to take on the 36ers Anstey has never been a crowd favourite in the city of churches and after the ‘Maher episode’ he is surely to be more unpopular.  Good luck Chris!

- The Bendigo Braves are currently touring the USA and seem to be having a lot of fun! I remember a few years ago when I toured the USA with the Brisbane Capitals as their assistant coach.  We played Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Portland, Portland State, Boise State and Montana in the space of around 14 days.  It was an awesome experience but a pretty bloody hard slog and a lot of travel.  The pre season tour used to be a done thing for most NBL teams but it seems to have gone from the radar due to our scheduling change.

- Apparently Brendan Joyce is going to apply to be the next coach of the Boomers!  I am sure that the Wollongong fans will be happy to hear about this.  I wouldn’t be betting millions on it like Gold Coast owner Owen Tomilson has on the NBL 

- It seems as though Greg Vanderjagt has landed on his feet as the development officer at Southern Districts. 

- I stumbled across this YouTube clip of the signing of Simon Kerle.  He certainly could never be accused of being a quietly spoken young man!  This got me thinking – how awesome would it be to have Simon Kerle commentating on Fox Sports or writing a column for a website (how about Basketball and Everything in Between Simon?) or making comments on the game.  He certainly was outspoken and was a character which we need in our game at the moment.   

- Whilst I am on the YouTube bandwagon, check out this clip of a 3 point shooter getting monstered on the closeout  I wonder if JR included in his shooting video how avoid getting killed as you are shooting the three ball.  Also check out this situation where a player from the University of Virgina uses the hoop to commit a hard foul on his Tenesse opponent.  Here is a highlight package of the Top Ten unsportsmanlike plays from Sportscenter, a NBA ref taking out a player, a huge no call by a ref on a charge blcok situation and a NBA player called David Wesley produces the worst lay up in the history of the game