Aftershocks of a Draft

So the NBA Draft is over, and a bunch of young players have bolstered mostly weak rosters, but unfortunately, the future of the league is an uncertain as it has ever been. It doesn't help that, with the Lockout (#LWord) looming, some of the best young players such as Harrison Barnes, Perry Jones, and Jared Sullinger decided to skip the draft and go back to school for another year. Yes, the talent crop might look weaker on paper than past years, but take a closer, scrutinised look and you'll find out how several teams upgraded themselves the right way, via drafting crucial pieces or via trade.

So here are the top 14 (lottery) picks of the 2011 NBA Draft. The order is a little different from what you would expect, because several teams pulled off trades on draft night. The most crucial one was the Sacramento Kings pulling off a three-way trade with the Milwaukee Bucks and the Charlotte Bobcats. The Kings received the 10th pick from Bucks and John Salmons. Bobcats received the 7th pick from Kings and the Bucks' Corey Maggette. Bucks received Stephen Jackson, Shaun Livingston, and 19th pick from Bobcats and Beno Udrih from Kings.

Kapeesh? It will make more sense when you look at the draft list now:

1) Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving
2) Minnesota Timberwolves: Derrick Williams
3) Utah Jazz: Enes Kanter
4) Cleveland Cavaliers: Tristan Thompson
5) Toronto Raptors: Jonas Valanciunas
6) Washington Wizards: Jan Vesely
7) Charlotte Bobcats: Bismack Biyombo
8) Detroit Pistons: Brandon Knight
9) Charlotte Bobcats: Kemba Walker
10) Sacramento Kings: Jimmer Fredette
11) Golden State Warriors: Klay Thompson
12) Utah Jazz: Alec Burks
13) Phoenix Suns: Markieff Morris
14) Houston Rockets: Marcus Morris

The first thing I wanna mention is that, after the first 2 picks, the draft became as unexpected as it was expected to become, if you can follow my drift right there. Canadian forward Tristan Thomas took the biggest jump to be picked 4th. Two of the biggest starts in College Basketball last year - Kemba Walker and Jimmer Fredette (Say his name in the TIMMY! voice from South Park: JIMMER!! - fell to nine and ten respectively. My Knicks continued to torture fans by another questionable pick at #17 in the form of defensive guard Iman Shumpert. And the likes of Kyle Singler, Jeremy Tyler, and Josh Selby fell into the second round.



First off, let's start with the Cavs, who took little time in putting an end to their post-LeBron-depression-era by bringing in Duke's point guard Kyrie Irving. No surprises here: Irving is talented indeed, and scouts see shades of a poor man's Chris Paul in his leadership and his on-ball skills. Irving's going first also continued to usher in the hand-check-rule era of point-guard domination in the NBA. After Derrick Rose and John Wall, he was the 3rd PG in the last four years to be picked #1. Clearly, their is a major shift in focus in the league, with PGs getting more and more respect around the NBA. With the fourth pick, the Cavs kinda shocked people by picking Tristan Thompson, especially over guys like Jonas Valanciunas (who is a bit of an unknown project).

Another bit to note obviously was the international flavour in this draft. 6 of the first 7 picks were born overseas. The league continued to have an increasing number of international players picked in the draft - in my NBA-India article today, I suggested that the league should be named to the IBA - International Basketball Association!

Minnesota did what we expected them to do - pick combo-forward Derrick Williams. But now with a plethora of forwards in a similar position on their side, they will have to trade someone. My money is on Michael Beasley saying goodbye to any hopes of balling alongside Ricky Rubio.

One of my favourite picks this year is Turkish PF/C Enes Kanter, who went third to the Jazz. Kanter is freakishly talented, boasting the game of a slightly bigger Carlos Boozer. Because of his foreign origins, he was a bit of a mystery man in the league, but I'm glad the Jazz took a chance with him - I think he will prove to be a star in a league that is forgetting the importance of skilled post-players.

In Jan Vesely at 6th, the Wizards added the guy people call 'Euro Blake Griffin', mostly because of his athletic/dunking ability. The Wizards had a great day at the draft, as they also added a good defender in Chris Singleton as the 18th pick and a stable point guard in Shelvin Mack at 34. They will form an exciting young nucleus around John Wall, Andray Blatche, Nick Young, and JaVale McGee.

My favourite movers and shakers of the draft though were the Bobcats. With the 7th and 9th picks, the Bobcats immediately overhauled their roster by bringing in the person many are calling the next Ben Wallace - Bismack Biyombo, and of course, the player I feel who deserved to be a top 3 pick this year purely based on his winning mentality - Kemba Walker. With the acquisition of veteran Corey Maggette, the Bobcats can finally move on to a new, exciting direction.

At 10th, the Kings brought in the draft's surest ticket in JIMMER!! - JIMMER!! is also the best shooter of the year, and although has questions in his defensive ability, he will bring excitement back to Sacramento. It's a gamble indeed by the Kings, but if it pays off, their nucleus of JIMMER!!, Tyreke Evans, and DeMarcus Cousins could be one to watch for the future.

At 13th and 14th is the wonderful story of the Morris brothers, Markieff and Marcus - Twin big men separated just by seven minutes at birth and a little more than seven minutes at the NBA draft. Markieff went to the Suns and Marcus to the Rockets.

Apart from the names mentioned above, a few other teams made notable moves that I feel should be mentioned here:

- Portland lost Rudy Fernandez to Dallas and Andre Miller to Denver, but they got Raymond Felton in return. I like it.
- Denver made a savvy pick at 22nd by bringing in hustling big man Kenneth Faried.
- Dallas, the best team in the league, just got a little better by adding versatile backcourt player Fernandez.
- Boston got a good player at 27th in JaJuan Johnson.
- And the Spurs traded away PG George Hill to the Pacers, and got the 15th pick in return, who they turned into small forward Kawhi Leonard.

So there we are... The picks have been made, the trades finalised, and the rosters taking shape. All that's left is to hope for the NBA Basketball next season...

... And of course, the 2012 draft! With so many big names dropping out this year, 2012 will be STACKED! Anthony Davis, Harrison Barnes, Perry Jones, Jared Sullinger, Austin Rivers, Quincy Miller, James McAdoo, Michael Gilchrist, Bradley Beal... learn those names now - you will be hearing again, same time, next year!

Hoopistani Mocks the 2011 Draft

We are just 6 days away from perhaps the least anticipated NBA Draft of all time. I'm sorry if that's the worst possible way to start an article about the Draft, but it's true - this year promises to present one of the weakest draft classes in a long time. It's going to be slim pickings for the teams announcing their pick on June 23rd, and what's worse is, it's hard to get excited about the future of these youngsters in the league when there is the dark cloud of 'possible lockout' (TheLWord) hanging gloomily above it - how can we be excited for the future if we aren't sure of a future?

That said, at the end of the day, NBA teams will be adding fresh new talent to their squad and hope for them to become the stars of the future. Before writing this article, I checked out the players who are the stars of today, and I'm going to simplify the 'star' argument by choosing the 2011 All Star Teams. In the pool of 25 players in the 2 teams (Yao Ming was selected but injured, so a replacement was chosen), there are an amazing six former #1 draft picks, and 18 overall picked in the top 5! Criticize the choices of NBA owners all you want, but 18/25 picked in the top 5 shows that some of them know what they're doing (and others pick Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh).

But there's hope for the low picks too. Amongst the seven players outside the top 5, we find the last four NBA Finals MVPs: Dirk Nowitzki was a 9th pick, Kobe Bryant was a 13th pick, Paul Pierce was a 10th pick, and Tony Parker, who didn't make the all star team this year but was the 2007 Finals MVP, was picked 28th. The lowest all star in terms of draft ranking? Manu Ginobili, who was shockingly picked 57th in 1999.

What does this all teach us? You'll get an all star when you pick high, but don't knock the low picks, because there could be a champion hidden somewhere.

So without further ado, here are my predictions for the lottery teams (top 14) of the 2011 NBA Draft. I have used knowledge from three reliable sources to help me come up with my list: DraftExpress.com, SLAM Online Mock Draft, and NBA.com Mock Draft. Of course, this prediction is made considering that there will be no picks traded to other teams, in which case, different teams will have different needs to fill:

1) Cleveland Cavaliers: Kyrie Irving
2) Minnesota Timberwolves: Derrick Williams
3) Utah Jazz: Kemba Walker
4) Cleveland Cavaliers: Jonas Valanciunas
5) Toronto Raptors: Brandon Knight
6) Washington Wizards: Enes Kanter
7) Sacramento Kings: Jan Vesely
8) Detroit Pistons: Bismack Biyombo
9) Charlotte Bobcats: Jimmer Fredette
10) Milwaukee Bucks : Kawhi Leonard
11) Golden State Warriors: Marcus Morris
12) Utah Jazz: Alec Burks
13) Phoenix Suns: Chris Singleton
14) Houston Rockets: Tristan Thomas

I feel I should explain a few decisions.

Kyrie Irving seems to be the lock for the first pick, and most people believe that Derrick Williams follows next. When Cavs won the draft lottery, I was sure that they would translate it into the Duke PG. The 2nd pick seems to be settled for Derrick Williams too.

This is where things get interesting, and unlike most rankings, I have picked Kemba Walker to go over the likes of Brandon Knight and Jonas Valanciunas. Scouts be damned - all I know that inspirational college winners are a good sign of winners in the pro league too. If I'm Utah, I'm bringing Kemba in and making him the permanent replacement to Deron Williams.

Since Cavs have already picked a PG in Irving, I say they skip Brandon Knight and pick Valanciunas with their 4th pick.

The other choice I feel I must explain is Jimmer Fredette to Charlotte. Jimmer's stock as been up and down the last few weeks, with teams failing to understand whether or not he could become a star in this league. He was college basketball's best scorer but there are doubts about his ability to play in the pros and defend the bigger guards. For the draft, some say he could go to the Kings, as high as 7, while others have him slipping to Utah or Phoenix at 12-13. I feel 9 is a good spot for him: The Bobcats could certainly use his scoring tenacity and he will learn a thing or two about defense down there, too.

I am also intrigued to see how the international prospects in the draft - Jonas Valančiūnas (Lithuania), Enes Kanter (Turkey), Bismack Biyombo (Congo) - perform in the lottery.

So let's cross our fingers and wait. Let's hope that some of these players become all stars and MVPs of the future, and let's hope there is a season on time come November so we can see them in action!

Kenny Natt: Basketball in India is ready for the first steps in a long journey

“Why India?”

That was the most common question thrown at 52-year-old basketball coach Kenny Natt when he faced some of the top sports journalists and writers in the country. Journalists and writers, who, after years of absorbing themselves in the functioning of the nation’s flawed system, rightly wondered why one world’s most elite basketball coaches would choose to bring his coaching talents to India.

A month ago, Natt was announced as the new Head Coach of the Indian Sr. Men’s National Basketball squad, the Young Cagers, as they’re nicknamed. He was chosen along with experienced collegiate coach Pete Gaudet (Women’s National team) and Zak Penwell (Strength and Conditioning) as the men who have been passed on the baton to instruct and lead Indian basketball into the future.

Natt has followed Bill Harris as the second American coach to be handed Indian basketball’s top coaching gig, but unlike Harris, who was only with the team for a few months as they ventured into the 2010 Asian Games, Natt has signed on to a two-year agreement with the Basketball Federation of India (BFI). He will be the first head coach for the Young Cagers who comes with a glittering resume that includes an NBA head coach job and assistant coaching gigs to teams that included basketball greats such as Karl Malone, John Stockton, and LeBron James.

Which brings us back to the very valid question, Mr. Natt: “Why India?”

I remember speaking to Dan Barto last year, a coach at the IMG Basketball Academy in the USA, about the importance of good coaches in India. Barto responded by saying that in any place where the game of basketball is at its infancy, it is those who spread the knowledge of the game who are remembered, more than those who play it. This concept, he says, was even followed in America, the country playing at the highest level of hoops in the world right now – before the game became a worldwide phenomenon, there were no LeBrons and Kobes - there were the James Naismiths, the John Woodens, and the Red Auerbachs.

Indian basketball is still an infant relative to the rest of the world, and the country is waiting to be moulded into its complete basketball potential. He might have worked with some of the best talents in the world, but Natt says that he is looking forward to going back to doing something that he loves most: teaching the game of basketball from its basic fundamentals.

“This is a great opportunity for me to do something I love – help develop young basketball talent,” says Natt, “I have a passion for teaching young, up-and-coming players.”

Before coming to India, Natt had worked with the who’s who at the highest levels of the game. But before his journey as a coach began, he was an accomplished player, too. Natt played for the University of Louisiana-Monroe. He averaged 20.1 points and 3.5 rebounds his senior season while earning All-Trans America Conference honors and was named MVP of the Louisiana All-Star Game. As one of the top scorers in school history, Natt was inducted into the Northeast Louisiana State University Hall of Fame in 2003.

Natt was drafted by the Indiana Pacers with the 30th selection in the 1980 NBA Draft. He spent three years in the NBA playing for the Pacers, Utah Jazz and Kansas City Kings. During his career, he played for six CBA teams before finishing his playing career with Fresno and Youngstown of the World Basketball League (WBL).

At the start of his coaching/scouting career, Natt spent two seasons as a scout for the Jazz and as an assistant coach at Youngstown State. He also held positions as an assistant coach/player personnel director for the CBA’s Columbus Horizon, a head coach for the Cape Breton Breakers (Nova Scotia) in the Canadian-based National Basketball League and as player personnel director and scout for the WBL.

And in 1994, he was back in the NBA. Natt has 13 years of NBA coaching experience He spent nine seasons (1994-95 – 2003-04) on legendary coach Jerry Sloan’s staff with the Utah Jazz. He was responsible for the on-court skills development of frontcourt players as well as preparing video breakdowns for game preparations of upcoming opponents. He was a member of the coaching staff that led the Jazz, led by Karl Malone and John Stockton, to the playoffs in eight of his nine seasons in Utah. Natt was on the bench as the Jazz made runs to the NBA Finals in 1997 and 1998, losing only to Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls side both times.

Natt spent the three seasons (2004-2007) as an assistant coach to Mike Brown at the Cleveland Cavaliers, helping the Cavaliers reach the 2007 NBA Finals. Led by a young LeBron James, this defensive-minded team was swept by the San Antonio Spurs in the Finals.

Natt was named to the coaching staff of newly-appointed Sacramento Kings head coach and former Kansas City Kings teammate Reggie Theus in 2007. After Theus was fired in 2008, Natt was named interim head coach of the young, inexperienced, and ultimately unsuccessful Sacramento Kings for the 2008-09 season.

It’s was no doubt then that, with such an impressive CV, Natt instantly earned the attention and respect of the Indian players that he met at the National Coaching camp in New Delhi. “The players look at me and respect me,” he says, “This helps my job because, to have their respect is to have their attention, and if I have their attention then it makes it easier for me to teach them.”

In less than a week, Natt discovered the obvious differences in the ‘Indian basketball’ way, as compared to his past experiences. “The players in India are very willing to learn,” he says, “Yes, they might not be as many tall players here as there are in the USA, but these players have a heart and determination that is very encouraging. I did my homework before coming here, watching the game tapes of the Indian side from past championships, and it was obvious to see that even in losing efforts the players showed courage and a hunger to keep competing.”

Natt’s first challenge with the team would be to lead them into the FIBA Asia Basketball Championship in Wuhan (China) in September this year. By then, Natt hopes to get through to his players as well as he can to prepare them. “We will be successful if we play an up-tempo and organised style of basketball,” Natt says, “We also have good, experienced big men in Jagdeep Singh and Yadwinder Singh – we will get the ball inside to play off them.”

Natt has noticed that the Indian side have shown signs of the defensive principals taught by their former coach, Bill Harris. He is hoping that with more time in his hands, he will be able to bring more organisation and discipline into the team. “It’s important that the players are happy and confident,” he says, “If they’re confident, they’ll compete harder against some of the Asian powerhouses.”

“It will be a long time before we’re in the same league China or Japan – but we will focus on making progress from today. It took China a long time of focus on developing the game for them to get where they are now. The FIBA Asia Championship is the first step in a long journey for us – the important thing is to see progress and put up improved performances.”

Along with the two Punjabi ‘Singh’ Twin Towers in Yadwinder and Jagdeep, Natt says that in the early days with the team, the likes of Vishesh Bhriguvanshi and Trideep Rai have left an impression on him because of their leadership and experience.

In the past though, the same Indian side has suffered due to several fundamental errors – Natt recognises these and has a plan for helping the team overcome them. “The players have to learn to master the basic fundamentals, something I will help them with,” he says, “We have to repeat the basic drills often to get rid of concentration lapses that occur in big games.”

In addition, Natt also expressed joy that, for the first time, the Indian National teams will have a Strength and Conditioning specialist coach in Zak Penwell, who will help the players improve their fitness and endurance to match some of Asia’s best.

“It will take some time, and I’m excited for this opportunity,” Natt says, adding that besides the National team, he will focus his attention in helping the future of Indian basketball coaching and playing, too. “I am looking forward to taking part in a ‘Feeder System’, where I coach the coaches, and then they go back to coach the best players. I’m also excited to see some of the Youth-level talent in India: it is this younger crop who need to be imbedded with the right basketball fundamentals now so that they can become stars of the future.”

A 1.2 billion population. The largest youth-population in the world. A country at the brink of becoming the next big thing in basketball, ready to mature from infancy into a basketball-playing and basketball-loving nation. And an opportunity to rekindle the purest form of joy as a basketball coach: teaching.

Add it up, and you’ll see that the question that anyone should be asked is, “Why not India?”

BIG: A Eulogy to Shaq's NBA Career

How's this for a (semi) oxymoron: devastatingly hilarious.

After 19 years, Shaquille O'Neal retired from the NBA. The only NBA player, or person alive, or person dead, that I can truly describe to be both - devastating, and hilarious. If I can describe him in two words, it would be those two. Not someone who was so hilarious that it almost destroyed people. Not someone who was so devastating that it was funny. No: Shaq was both those things, separately and together, in one single entity.

I heard the news seven or eight hours later than it was first announced: but this is 2011, and in the world of fast news sharing and even faster reactions, seven or eight hours is a lifetime. There was a newsletter from the NBA in my inbox, but instead of discussing the NBA Finals, the focus was all about a certain announcement by the NBA's biggest personality.

On a 16-second long video posted on Twitter, Shaquille O'Neal of the Celtics, and the Cavs before that, and the Suns before that, and the Heat, and most memorably of the Lakers, and for the Magic, announced his retirement.

The 'twitter retirement' was a surprising whimper in the story of a man who is loud, proud, boisterous, and overly Shaqtastic.

Everything about the career of Shaq has been Big. Not just Big, but BIG. It should be in bold actually. As a matter of fact, here you go: BIG. From his 7 foot 1 inch, 150 kg body to his achievements - his four championship rings, his three Finals MVP awards, his 2000 NBA MVP award, and his 15 All Star appearances. He was BIG when it came to dunking on everyone from Dikembe Mutumbo to Robert Parish, and BIG when he broke backboards on his dunks.

Now, he retires as one of the best Centers ever to play the game - and in all seriousness, I will put him in top 3, somewhere in the league with Bill Russell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar - I'm sorry but I have never been a fan of Chamberlain. Put Shaq in the Chamberlain-era and he would've made averaging 60 and 30 look easy.

But his career to me also leaves a HUGE gaping hole and a list of questions and what-ifs - yes, I know, every player has a what if (what if MJ never left in 93? what if Grant Hill never got injured? what if the Lakers never traded for Kobe as a rookie?), but the Shaq what-if is simpler, and thus, most frustrating.

What if he cared more?

Never in his 19-year-career did Shaq play all 82 games of the regular season. His peak of dominance, where he made every other player in the league look like mincemeat, was far too short for someone with this potential. I know I'm saying this of a player, who with one trade, changed the entire balance scale of the NBA, but Shaq was THAT good. Even after a hall of fame career, I say he could've done more, could've been better. What if Shaq tried to stay in better shape? What if Shaq took the regular season more seriously? What if Shaq worked on his free throws? What if there was never any drama between him and Kobe in LA?

I read an article many years ago about how, based on pure dominance, Shaq is the man who comes closest to being the one person to change the entire shape of a franchise. Only Michael Jordan in the history of every great basketball player may rank higher. And what if Shaq had the hunger MJ had? What if he had 75 percent of that hunger? What if he tried harder and sacrificed more to keep winning. I'm convinced that he would be sitting comfortably on a couple more MVP awards, a couple more rings, and a place in NBA history as perhaps the second-best player in basketball.

Well, it's finally over now, and by most reactions, people are happy Shaq called it a day. From being the league's Most Dominating Ever (MDE) to a mere sideshow who was now more famous for his jokes and his dunks, the end of Shaq's playing career was a little too quiet.

There has been just too much about Shaq, on and off the court, to truly capture in a silly little article. I try to think about how to approach this, but the idea of Shaq, like Shaq itself, is bigger than most other NBA personalities. So I'm going to take a cop-out and list to you the many, many, MANY things that I remember about Shaq. Some you may know, some you may have forgotten, and some may be new to you - I just hope that, by the end of this list, you realise that there will never be a player who was as dominant on court and as awesome off it as Shaq again.

1. I have already mentioned this before, but Shaq broke backboards.

2. In additional to his basketball career, Shaq released four rap albums in the 90s: Shaq Diesel, Shaq Fu: The Return, You Can't Stop the Reign, and Respect.

3. Shaq played for six different teams in his career, and he took THREE of them to the NBA finals - the Magic, the Lakers, and the Heat. He won with Lakers and Heat.

4. Shaq did a legendary song with another BIG - the Notorious B.I.G. - on the classic, "You Can't Stop The Reign" - "7-0, towerin inferno / invincible smooth individual / who wanna test it, foreign or domestic / no matter where you're from, I'm not the one you wanna mess wit".

5. Oh, Shaq was rookie of the year too, with the Magic.

6. Yes, Shaq did movies, of course Shaq did movies. You don't remember the classic Kazaam? Or the unstoppable Steel? What's wrong with you?

7. These were Shaq's statistics in the NBA Finals during the three-peat with the Lakers (2000-2002): 35.9 ppg, 15.2 rpg, 2.9 bpg, and 60 percent shooting. He was Finals MVP all three times.

8. Shaq has been in many music videos too, not including his own. This is very random, but I used to watch a lot of NBA Inside Stuff in the 90s, and they showed the making of a video of a little child- Aaron Carter, younger brother of Backstreet Boys' Nick Carter - of a song called "That's How I beat Shaq". No need to say more. (BTW, one of the worst songs ever). "Hey Aaron, are you for real? / One on one with Shaquille O'Neal?

9. Shaq is the fifth all-time in career scoring, at 28,596 points. He has mentioned several times that he regrets not hitting more free throws and getting higher up this list.

10. Shaq like to nickname himself, over and over again. Here is a short list (believe me, it's short): Diesel, Shaq Fu, Big Daddy, Superman (Yes, children, Shaq came way before Dwight), Big Agave, Big Cactus, Big Shaqtus, Big Galactus, Wilt Chamberneezy, The Big Baryshnikov, Dr. Shaq (after earning his MBA), Big Shamrock, Big Leprechaun, Shaqovic and Big Conductor (because he conducted the Boston Pops orchestra, obviously). He even asked fans to give him a post-retirement nickname, and settled with the 'Big 401K'. Not to mention his most recent nickname which he gave himself during the 'retirement press conference', as The Big AARP (Association for the Advancements of Retired Persons).

11. Don't be fooled by the last few years, in his prime, there was no bigger force of nature than Shaquille O'Neal. In his prime, he was one of the league's best scorers, best rebounders, best shot-blockers, and had developed his own drop-step dunk, of course, nicknamed by him, the 'Black Tornado'. To put it mildly, take Shaq 2000-2003, put him against any player in the history of the league, and NO ONE would be able to stop him. The only defense against Shaq was 'Hack-A-Shaq', aka, fouling him and forcing him to shoot free throws.

12. Shaq has a long-list of other possible work avenues besides basketball. I've already mentioned the movies and the music. In 2010 he undertook a PhD in Leadership and Education with a specialisation in Human Resource Development at Barry University. His dissertation topic was "The Duality of Humor and Aggression in Leadership Styles". Humour and Aggression - Laker leadership, anybody? Shaq is an honourary US Deputy Marshall and a Miami Beach reserve officer. He is trained in Mix-Martial Arts - boxing, jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai and wrestling. And he's on Reality TV, extremely popular with the Shaq Vs. show.

13. In 2004, when Shaq was traded to Miami, it became the biggest shift of NBA power in recent memory - he immediately made a paper thin Eastern Conference stronger. The only other players to make a big difference in the entire map of the NBA within one year in a new team have been Kevin Garnett (Timberwolves to Celtics in 2007) and LeBron James (Cavs to Heat in 2010).

14. Shaq liked to dance, and we like to watch a behemoth dance like he's Michael Jackson. Out of all of them, my favourite highlights are: 1. Shaq, LeBron, and Dwight Howard having a dance-off at the All Star Game, 2. Shaq dancing with the Jabberwockiez, and 3. Shaq challenging Justin Bieber to a dance-off.

15. Shaq played for six different teams during his career - definitely the most for any player in my 'greatest ever' list: Magic, Lakers, Heat, Suns, Cavs, and Celtics. What I liked was how, in every city, he truly embraced its culture and became a complete vocal part of the team.

16. After Kobe lost the 2008 Finals to the Celtics, Shaq went on stage at a club to sing, "Kobe, tell me how my ass taste?"

17. Only three players have won the All Star MVP, NBA MVP, and Finals MVP in the same season. They are: Willis Reed (1970), Michael Jordan (1996 and 1998) and Shaq (2000).

18. No, Shaq didn't play a lot in his last season in Boston, but he entertained fans in another way - posing as a statue in Boston Square, dressing up in drag on Halloween and calling himself 'Shaqueeta'.

19. I'm currently working on my list of top 25 greatest players ever, a list that takes into account a mixture of talent, peak, and overall resume. At this point, Shaq ranks 6th, only below Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Bill Russell, Larry Bird, and Tim Duncan.

20. It's fitting that Shaq said his goodbye via twitter. He has more followers than any other player in the NBA (3,888,667 and counting), and ranks 28th in the top list of all twitter accounts. Considering that the existence of Twitter has been parallel to the downfall of Shaq's dominance, it shows how popular Shaq is off-the-court.

But the off-the-court Shaq isn't going anywhere - if anything - he's gonna be present more - analysing NBA games, doing reality shows, making rap albums, saving the world, whatever. It is the on-court Shaq that is done, and his contribution to the NBA will be dearly missed. He is the one and only one: a personality that can be so devastating and so hilarious at the same time.

In a list of top-10 greatest players ever, there can only be 10 players. And 10 out of thousands is a very small number: very rarely will we get a chance say goodbye to someone as dominating as Shaq, but the time is here and now: So goodbye, finally, to the BIG Everything.

Cavs win 2011 draft lottery

There are some smaller market teams who, for the longest time, remain shunned from the limelight. Whether they perform well or badly or anything, they remain mostly anonymous, especially in comparison to the Los Angeles', the New Yorks, the Miamis, the Bostons, or the Chicagos.



The Cleveland Cavaliers are not one of those teams.

It is been quite a decade for the Cavs, hasn't it? And no matter what their ups and downs have been, they have somehow remained relevant, remained breaking news.

The Cavs won the draft lottery in 2003, just in time to pick a certain fresh-faced high-schooler by the name of LeBron James as the first pick of the draft. It was a no-brainer of a pick, and LeBron paid them back well during his years. He won rookie of the year and a few years later, Cleveland, who had suffered a history of sporting heartbreaks, was suddenly a major contender. Not only were they winning basketball games but they were also winning the hearts of bandwagon fans from across the world. This was a team that historically didn't make the playoffs very often, and when it did, it didn't get very far.

Suddenly, the Wine, Gold, and White colours of the Cavs were sexy. Suddenly, every second basketball fan was a Cavs fan in his/her James 23 jersey. LeBron took the Cavs to an NBA Finals appearance and twice helped them finish with the best record in the league. He changed the face of the franchise.

We all know what happened then, right? LeBron made a 'Decision', packed his bag, and joined Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami Heat, South Beach. The Cavs were left with nothing. Suddenly, we started to see blowout losses and a 26-game losing streak. Suddenly, I began to wonder, where had all the Cavs fans gone?

People connected with the Cavs organisation reacted sharply to LeBron's decision, from owner Dan Gilbert writing him a scathing open letter to fans burning his jersey and cursing his name. Things became so bad that the only real identity they had for 2010-11 season was that they were 'LeBron's Ex'.

But on Lottery Night for the 2011 draft, the Cavs won their chance at redemption. The lottery bounced the right way for Cleveland, and they scored two picks of the top five of the draft, including the #1 pick. What was perhaps ironic that the pick that won them the #1 spot wasn't their own to begin with, but a pick they had received in a trade from the Clippers earlier in the season. (Aaah! the Clippers luck continues - but that's another story).

What is perhaps also intriguing is that, eight years ago, the last time that the Cavs won the first pick, the talent level was mesmerisingly good - as a matter of fact, 2003 is considered to be one of the best draft classes ever, featuring: All NBA-ers LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Bosh; All Stars Chris Kaman, David West, Josh Howard, Mo Williams, other great role players like Kirk Hinrich, TJ Ford, Mickaël Piétrus, Nick Collison, Boris Diaw, Kendrick Perkins, Leandro Barbosa, Luke Walton, Steve Blake, Zaza Pachulia, Matt Bonner, James Jones, Kyle Korver, and a certain bust named Darko Milicic.

The 2011 Class, unfortunately, is considered to be one of the worst. In an article by Marc J. Spears for Yahoo! Sports, one Western Conference GM called the pool of available player "horrendous". If the Cavs really did win big, the general consensus is that they won big at the worst time possible.

Of course, no one can fully predict how well or how badly the current draft class will do as pros. The Cavs are expected to make Duke's point guard Kyrie Irving into the first pick, a player in the mould of Chris Paul who is expected to finally give a new identity to LeBron's Ex-es. Other big names in the draft include power forward Derrick Williams, NCAA tournament winning PG Kemba Walker, Lithuanian Center Jonas Valanciunas, and PG Brandon Knight.

Here is the order at which the lottery teams will be making their picks come draft day, June 23.

1. Cleveland Cavaliers (via LA Clippers)
2. Minnesota Timberwolves
3. Utah Jazz (via New Jersey Nets)
4. Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Toronto Raptors
6. Washington Wizards
7. Sacramento Kings
8. Detroit Pistons
9. Charlotte Bobcats
10. Milwaukee Bucks
11. Golden State Warriors
12. Utah Jazz
13. Phoenix Suns
14. Houston Rockets

The other 16 playoff teams will pick in the opposite order of their end-of-season record.

Where did all the Cavs fans go?

Which was one of the most popular teams in the league for the past half a decade? Which team had the best regular season record - by a good margin - for the last two seasons? Which team had fans all across the world wearing their jerseys, watching their games televised week after week live? The team that was considered to be title contenders? Which team was the first to 40 wins last season?

You might know the answer to that. But how about this, here are some more clues: Which team, after losing a couple of players in the offseason, became the first to lose 40 games this season? Which team holds the worst record in the league so far this season, the only one to not reach to double digit victories? It's the same team that is probably the most ignored and unfancied side this year. It's the team, that almost overnight (following a certain 'Decision' on July 8, 2010), lost all of its fanbase.

I'm speaking, of course, of the Cleveland Cavaliers. After a loss to Portland last night, the Cavs have now entered the annals of NBA history, but not in the way they would have liked. The Cavs have now lost 24 straight games, the highest losing streak ever. They are yet to win in 2011, have lost 34 of their last 35 games, and after an average start to the season, now sit at a disgusting 8-43 record.

NBA fans know the back story well by now. Cleveland's own son and number one pick, the darling of the basketball world, and the two-time MVP, LeBron James transformed the Cavs into a force to be reckoned with for the better part of the last decade. And then, with one swift move in the offseason, they were left headless without their best player. James joined the Heat, and less significantly, he was followed there by the Cavs' highest-tenured player, Zydrunas Ilgauskas. Shaquille O'Neal and Delonte West left for greener pastures, literally, to the Celtics.

Everyone expected the Cavs to fall, but did we really think that the fall would've been this hard? Did anyone really think that they would become this bad, this soon? From winning 66 and 61 games the last two seasons, here is a team that is finding it difficult to win 10 games this time around. Is this how bad LeBron's supporting cast was? LeBron was surrounded by the likes of Shaq, Ilgauskas, Mo Williams, Antawn Jamison, Anderson Varejao, Leon Powe, JJ Hickson, Daniel Gibson, Jamario Moon, Anthony Parker, and Jawad Williams last season. All of those players, barring Shaq and Ilgauskas, are still there.

Apart from contending LeBron's, Shaq's, and Big Z's loss, the Cavs lost Varejao to a season-long injury, and Mo Williams has been out injured, too. There squad is now full of nobodies like Christian Eyenga, Manny Harris, and Alonzo Gee.

And still, we never expected them to be this bad.

But honestly, I don't really care about their struggles, personally. I never like the Cavalier franchise, before LeBron joined them, didn't like them during LeBron's tenure, and sure as hell don't care about them too much since he has left.

What infuriates me, however, that LeBron's move away from the Cavs has exposed my least-favourite facet of NBA fans: bandwagonning. How could a team that was loved so ubiquitously be ignored so much simply because a couple of players left? Because basketball has become that kind of a game. Fans focus on stars and not on teams. A year ago, I couldn't walk into a single major adidas store in India without spotting Cavs merchandise next to the usual Celtics/Lakers garb. Now? It's as if the Cavs never existed.

Former Cavs fans: I'm calling out to you specifically. Where are you now? How could you follow a team night in and night out for so many years and them completely forget about them overnight, conveniently taking your support to the South Beach like LeBron to support the Heat? I know the answer to these questions, but it still saddens me.

Looking at NBA fans in India now, a majority support either Celtics or the Lakers. But my question is, would you have cared about, say, the 96-97 Celtics that featured a starting lineup of Brett Szabo, Rick Fox, David Wesley, Antoine Walker, and Eric Williams? What about the 93-94 Lakers, with the excellent starting five of Nick Van Exel, Tony Smith, Vlade Divac, Elden Campbell, and George Lynch? I'm expecting only a few to answer an honest 'yes', and it's understandable. People don't like shit teams. Nobody notices you until you perform well. Or you dunk all over the universe like Blake Griffin.

And this is what separates NBA fans from say, football fans. From my experience, football fans who begin to seriously follow a team then follow them all the way, through thick and thin. Liverpool fans will still be Liverpool fans, whether they finish 2nd in the Premiership like two years ago or near the relegation zone, like they have threatened to this year.

There is a certain joy in standing up for your squad even though they might be going through a shit-storm. I've been a tragic New York Knicks fan ever since the Allan Houstan-Latrell Sprewell-Marcus Camby inspired squad hustled hard as the underdog and made it all the way to the Final in 1999. It has basically been downhill from there, and although the Knicks haven't been the league's worst team all those years, they have certainly been the league's biggest laughing stock. It was difficult to wake up every day and see an 'L' next to a Knick box score. And yes, they have improved this season a little, but there is still a long way to go before they achieve elite status.

I wish the Cavs' fans had stuck with them, too. 24 straight losses aren't easy to take. What's worse is the 24,000 fans who they've lost, too. Or perhaps, they shouldn't have gained these many fans because of one man in the first place, right?

Anyways, here's a heads-up to those looking to jump a bandwagon. The Knicks are close to trading for Carmelo Anthony, and thus making them more exciting/likeable. Become a fan now before everyone else finds out.

The Indian Basketball Fan

A cliché about India is that the country this vast size and population has "all types of everything." It is a country of a thousand religions, tribes, languages, languages, but most importantly, tens of thousands (or millions) distinctly different opinions.

And the same holds true for basketball. India has a rapidly growing basketball community - Basketball is the second fastest growing sport in India (after football) with four million Indians playing the game, and of course countless others who are involved in the game as administrators or as fans. With such a large and rapidly growing population, it is hard to classify the types of fans, but here I would like to give it a real go! (Thank you JD Walsh, by the way, for that awesome pic!)

There seems to be one thing in common about basketball fans in India (or NRI hoop fans) that I have either come across or those that have reached out to me: outside the circle of their own friends/school/teams, every fan thinks that they are a minority, and there is a beautiful thrill in coming across other desis that also adore the game.

This is especially true for NBA nerds in India - for the longest time, my older brother and I staunchly believed that we would never find more of our kind, those that shared our crazed enthusiasm for the league, those that checked box scores every day and threw statistics at each other, those that spent hours discussing and debating our ultimate starting fives (Greatest ever, Most defensive, Most notorious, Best without-a-championship, Best second-fiddles, etc, etc, etc, I could go on all day...)

But as I have delved deeper and deeper into my obsession, I have discovered that I'm far from alone. Basketball (and NBA) fans are a small but loud community in India, but one that is set to continue growing rapidly and continue making their voices heard.

So without further ado, here is my breakdown of The Indian Basketball Fan. Where do you stand?

1). Stalwarts of basketball in India: These are the ones who have represented our country in hoops, have played in tournaments and camps around the country, who have spent hours every day since their teenage years perfecting the game, listening to the barks of a ruthless (but affectionate) coach, and asking for the courts blessings every time they step on it. A large majority of these fans are so obsessed with the game that they are experts at the local knowledge of hoops but don't know much NBA or other world basketball information. To them, the real hoop legends are TJ Sahi, Sambhaji Kadam, Divya, Singh, Geethu Anna Jose, and Trideep Rai.

2. Basketball is religion, and there's the NBA, too: These fans are much like the ones above, as in, they are mostly players of the game. But they also follow the international game and the NBA - they have been waking up at 5:30-6:30 in the mornings two or three times a week for a decade (or more), have been watching the NBA players, trying to emulate them, but still holding the grassroots stars in greater regard. When asked, many of these fans would probably reply that their favourite NBA players are Kobe Bryant or LeBron James, or Shaq, Iverson, and Michael Jordan for the older school.

3. The NBA superstar fans: This category encompasses the legion of fans who play regular hoops at their school or their nearest playground and try to emulate their NBA player obsessions on court. These are the ones who may not have made the game their life and profession, but love it nonetheless, and are also huge fans of the NBA. Again, limited by what's shown on TV, these players love Garnett and the Celtics, Kobe and the Lakers, Dwight Howard and the Magic, or LeBron James and the Cavaliers... Okay... maybe not the Cavaliers any more! You're a fan number three if you supported the Cavs until last season but ever since his trade, you're a Miami Heat fan. You're a fan number three if you follow the player, not the team.

4. The NBA "all-player" fans: Above are the fans who only like the marquee players that are hyped up all the time: (LeBron, Kobe, Dwight, Wade, Garnett, etc), but this category is for the ones who are crazed about the underrated stars of the league. If you're more interested in David Lee's double-doubles, Stephen Curry's shooting percentage, or Shane Battier's defensive intensity, you belong in this category.

5. The NBA teams' fans: This category is usually filled with older NBA fans, or at least the more stubborn ones! These are the ones that will support a team rain or shine. Of course, it is difficult being loyal to an NBA city when we live thousands of miles away, but these fans try. A part of me belongs to this stubborn list too, as I've been a New York Knick fan for over a decade and seen only one year of relevance for my favourite squad! Despite the popularity of the Cleveland Cavaliers, it's hilariously obvious that the team didn't have any real fans - you just need a revisit to your nearest Adidas shop in India to see that all Cavalier merchandise has suddenly disappeared!

6. Fans of the game, and nothing much else!: These are the ones usually go on to become the coaches or the referees! These are the fans that just love basketball - who is playing, who they are representing, where they are playing doesn't matter. They love the game, the Xs and and Os, they love designing plays and reading them, they love to study the arc on the perfect jump-shot and the shoulder-to-knee posture of the perfect defensive stance!

As I write this, I have started to have a sneaking suspicion that many fans could relate to at least two or three of these categories. But wherever you find yourself as a fan, there will be one thing that will unite you all: passion. Despite the relative lack of exposure, popularity, and media hype to basketball, Indian fans have somehow remained loyal to the game.

So if you're not a hoops fan yet, join one or six of the crazed categories above, because I guarantee you will come out rewarded. I did!

US Colleges chasing the Giant Bhullars!

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This could potentially be huge for Indians and my fellow Brown Peeps all over the world - The giant Bhullar brothers, whose parents hailed from Punjab (India), who settled into Toronto (Canada), and who have recently been making some noise with their basketball at Kiski School in Pennslyvania (USA), may soon become a very, very big deal in the States.

College basketball recruiting in America is an uber-competitive, harsh, and crazy world, and it seems that once they finish High School, the Bhullar Brothers are set to become sought-after commodities.

Truly giants, Sim Bhullar (17) is 7 feet 4 inches, and weighs almost 130 kgs. The younger brother, Tanveer (15), is 7 feet 2 inches, and weighs around 118 kgs. Their parents hail from Amritsar, Punjab - father Avtar is 6-1 and mother Varinder is 5-10. Hey, the father's name is Avtar. Didn't anyone else see this coming? I've seen how tall those Na'vi are.

Anyways, since I last checked on the Bhullar Bros, they have improved considerably. Under the tutelage of Kiski School head coach Daryn Freedman, the brothers have improved several parts of their game. Leading the school to a 16-4 record this season, Sim averaged 16 points and 14 rebounds per game and his strenghts on the court include a surprising three-point range, strong passing, and the ability to finish strong around the basket. Tanveer, who averaged 12 and 11, possesses a smooth 15 to 17foot jumper, has quick feet and soft hands, which are key attributes to low-post success.

As American college sports website Rivals.com reports, some of the best colleges and coaches could be coming after the Bhullars very soon.

"You just don't find big guys that agile," Kiski School head coach Daryn Freedman said. "There's nothing like him in the country right now."

They both have improved immensely at Kiski School under Freedman, a longtime college and NBA assistant who arrived at the school about a month before the Bhullars did. They have since remade their bodies, regularly working out at 5 a.m. with the Kiski wrestling coach.
Sim, who has lost 30 pounds, could not run the court more than two or three times. Tanveer, who started last season as a backup, needed a month before he could dunk after a running start.
And while they both have areas to work on - Tanveer must resist the urge to shoot fadeaway jumpers and improve his foot speed; Sim needs to be a more active rebounder and to maintain his composure after committing a silly foul - there have been glimpses of greatness.

West Virginia has already offered Sim a scholarship. Duke plans to visit him.
Duquesne, Florida State, Kentucky, LSU, Penn State, Pittsburgh, Stanford, Texas, UMass, USC and Washington State have expressed interest in both brothers.

The Bhullars are looking for a strong academic school that excels at developing big men and is close to Toronto. And they'd like to play together.
"If we could," Sim said, "we most likely would do it."
Anyone who has seen them together, understands why.
"Everyone thinks they're twins," Freedman said. "They're really, really tight... They definitely have each other's backs all the time."

It is definitely exciting to see the attention these boys are getting from top NCAA basketball colleges. They have an experienced coach in Daryn Freedman who has worked with several Division 1 schools and with NBA teams New Jersey Nets and Philadelphia 76ers.

But the best part of their story has been the potential interest of superstar coach John Calipari of Kentucky. Calipari is the same guy who has coached the last two NBA rookie of the years, Derrick Rose and Tyreke Evans. He is the same guy who has been the coach of the consensus top pick in the NBA Draft on June 24th, John Wall. He is the same guy who recently made the cover of SLAM magazine with Wall and other players of the Kentucky team. And he's the same guy who is now being linked to coach the Cleveland Cavaliers (and keep LeBron James in Cleveland).

The Bhullars' current coach Freedman spent eight years as an assistant to Calipari. "He was my mentor, my coaching idol," Freedman says - some assume Kentucky has the inside track.

Wherever Sim and Tanveer end up, these are exciting times for basketball fans in India. Both the brothers dream of playing in the NBA.

The brothers are serious about their future - and would welcome roles as Indian basketball pioneers.
The NBA had players from 36 countries and territories this season, but none from India.
The brothers already have a following. When they visited the Golden Temple, a Sikh spiritual and cultural center, last summer, about 100 people crowded them.
"If I was able to make the NBA," Sim said, "that would be something big for India."

For a big country like India, there will be nothing bigger in basketball than these giants. Let's hope that the Bhullars are guided and coached well so that they can make a difference in college basketball in the States, and eventually fulfil the dream of every Indian fan by one day playing in the NBA. I'm going to ignore the fact that they are actually now Canadian.

Here is a video of the Bhullars sure to get more than a few fans excited...

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You will hear an Indian accent when you call Mike Brown

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I found a surprisingly funny story today and realised immediately that I had to blog it. The biggest free agent story of all time now potentially has an Indian stakeholder. Let me introduce to you to the characters in our little drama this morning...

First meet Mike Brown. Brown is the former head coach of the Cleveland Cavaliers, and fired just three days ago from his position after leading the reigning two time NBA MVP LeBron James and the Cavs to two straight years as the best regular season team in the league. Of course, that didn't translate to post-season success, as the best Cavs team ever assembled once again choked in the playoffs, this time at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Brown also has struggled with teaching this talented squad with LeBron, Shaq, Jamison, Mo Williams, Varejao, Hickson, Anthony Parker and others any sort of offence except 'give-lebron-james-the-basketball-and-pray'.

Now meet Rajesh Kumar. Kumar is a 24 year old from New Delhi who recently completed his Master's degree in engineering from New York University, and has lived in the US for around two years. In August 2008, Kumar lived in Cleveland for a month, and aquired a phone number... which turned out to be Mike Brown's old number.

So of course, ever since Mike Brown got fired from his job, Rajesh Kumar heard the condolences. From NBA Fanhouse:

"I have gotten over 150 phone calls since (Monday)," Kumar said Tuesday afternoon in an interview with FanHouse from New York. "I took a nap and I woke up and I had 37 voice mail messages. I thought Mike Brown must have lost a big match."
Pardon Kumar's terminology.
"I'm a fan of cricket," said Kumar, who later was able to find out Brown's firing was the reason for all the commotion. "It's a very exciting sport."
Kumar doesn't know who most of the callers have been since he simply tells them they have the wrong number. As for the messages left on Kumar's voice mail, which has an automated recording rather than his voice or name, he has deleted them immediately.

But Kumar did say he got a call asking for Brown from somebody identified as being from the office of New York mayor Michael Bloomberg. The call ended after Kumar said it no longer is Brown's number.

So why would Bloomberg's office be calling Brown? Well, Bloomberg did speak on his weekly Friday show on WOR Radio on May 14 about believing Cleveland star guard LeBron James, who had played for Brown, would want to sign with New York or New Jersey when he can become a free agent this summer.

Don't ask Kumar, though, to speculate about any relationship between Bloomberg, Brown and James. Kumar knows little about James.
"I had heard of him," said Kumar, saying he learned of James before he got Brown's old cell number but couldn't speak much about him. "I'm not sure when I heard of him."
Kumar's number was Brown's at least through the 2007-08 season. After he got his number, Kumar began receiving some calls for the coach.
"After about a week, I realized he must be a celebrity," Kumar said. "I wondered who this Mike Brown was. So I Googled him."

Wow! There are at least 2,523 funny things about the story above, but I'm going to ramble off the first few that pop up in my head:

- His name is Rajesh Kumar. I mean, he could've only gotten Indianner if he was called Patel or something.
- The Americans just don't seem to understand the word 'match'. Match? "Pardon his terminology!"
- I love how he drops the fact that he's a fan of cricket and that "it's a very exciting sport".
- So, apparently, the Mayor of New York called him. To discuss LeBron James.
- Kumar really has no idea who LeBron James is. "I have heard of him - I'm not sure when I heard of him," may be the greatest quote of the LeBron James free-agency mania.
- And finally, Kumar googled Brown thinking that Brown is a celebrity. I'm not sure I would call the former Cavs coach that, but hey, standing next to LeBron James and feigning orders while actually being his slave has to count for some celebrity status, right?

Come on Kumar. Do your Indian buddy here a favour - next time LeBron dials a wrong number and finds you, tell him about how awesome the New York Mayor / The Knicks are. You need to help make him a Knick next season. And wish him good luck for his next 'match', too.

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The Curse of MVP

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The most cherished individual accolade in the NBA consciousness is the Most Valuable Player (MVP) - more than All Star game appearances, more than All Star game MVPs, and perhaps more than the Finals MVP. Look at the list of former MVPs (and many, present and future Hall of Famers), and you will realise how much on an effect their performances for the given season have on the history of the NBA - Bob Petit, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Moses Malone, Larry Bird, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Karl Malone, Tim Duncan, Steve Nash, and LeBron James - just to name the ones who have won the award more than once.

Every year, the MVPs are discussed, argued, and the meaning of 'valuable' itself faces heated debates from across the basketball-speaking world. Is the best statistical player the most valuable? Is the best team player the most valuable? What about the best player on the best team? Or the one player whose absence in the team would make the biggest difference on the team's success?

My own definition of "valuable" in this sense is the one player whose absense would make the biggest difference in the entire standing of the league.

But here is the twist in the tale: the MVP award is given only for a player's performance during the course of the regular season, not the playoffs, and of course, not the Finals. That means, in today's NBA, the most valuable player over a maximum of the 82 regular season games that each team plays. Playoff/Championship success be damned.

Let's take a look at the list of NBA MVPs over 10 years, from the 1999-2000 to the 2008-2009 season. I've added the names of their team in brackets - next to the names are the names of the teams that actually won the NBA title that year.

1999–00 MVP: Shaquille O'Neal (Los Angeles Lakers) Champion: Los Angeles Lakers
2000–01: MVP: Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers) Champion: Los Angeles Lakers
2001–02: MVP: Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) Champion: Los Angeles Lakers
2002–03: MVP: Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs) Champion: San Antonio Spurs
2003–04: MVP: Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves) Champion: Detroit Pistons
2004–05: MVP: Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns) Champion: San Antonio Spurs
2005–06: MVP: Steve Nash (Phoenix Suns) Champion: Miami Heat
2006–07: MVP: Dirk Nowitzki (Dallas Mavericks) Champion: San Antonio Spurs
2007–08: MVP: Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers) Champion: Boston Celtics
2009-09: MVP: LeBron James (Cleveland Cavaliers) Champion: Los Angeles Lakers

Look at that list again - only in two seasons has the NBA MVP also lifted the Championship trophy - Shaq in 2000 and Duncan and 2003 - and the feat hasn't been repeated in the past six seasons. Now, there are two honourable mentions here, since Allen Iverson (2001) and Kobe Bryant (2008) led their respective squads all the way to the NBA Finals before losing it. Kobe did redeem himself and win a ring the following year. Most of the other MVPs didn't perform too shabbily (with the exception of Nowitzki and the Mavericks epic first round fail in 2007), but you get the picture - for some reason, in the 2000s, the MVPs of the year have rarely been champions.

Compare it to a decade before, where five of the 10 MVPs became champion, although four of those credits go to this guy called Michael Jordan (you may have heard of him!), who played six full seasons in the 90s, won MVP in four of them, and was NBA champion in all six.

So, is there a recent curse associated with the MVP award? LeBron James, deservedly, was voted almost unanimously as this year's Most Valuable Player, repeating last season's feat. But he also seems to be repeating last season's postseason failure. The Cavs were beaten by the Magic in last season's Conference Finals, and have been thoroughly dominated by the Celtics in the 2nd round so far this year. The Celtics have a 3-2 advantage, after winning Game 5 by a whopping 32 points, and holding LeBron to what was one of his worst games ever.

I think of the regular season and the playoffs as two different stages of the same game. Kind of like Super Mario Bros., where Mario can jump around in Level 1-1, easily squashing mushrooms and collecting coins, but has to step up his game when he has to battle Bowser at the end of World 8. And Princess Peach is the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Okay, okay, so I got sidetracked by a decade of childhood gloriously wasted on Nintendo. But anyways, you get the point. The playoffs are tougher, more gruesome, more physically challenging, and our hero faces more evil guys more often. MVPs like Iverson, Nash, Nowitzki, and LeBron who haven't won a championship, still have to conquer these demons to see the bright championship light, thus conquering their trophy/princess.

The Cavs have been the best team in the league the last two seasons, and LeBron has been their best player. He has pretty much been the best statistical player in the league for this period, too, and the one with the highest trade value, and the best team player, the one whose absense would have the most drastic affect on his team and the entire league.

And yet, here are the Cavs and their King, barely surviving against the dominant Celts. I read an amazing article on LeBron today, written by Adrian Wojnarowski, who complained that he has spent too much of his energy and motivation promoting himself as a basketball icon than a basketball winner. The regular season disagrees with this statement, but the championship counter doesn't lie.

LeBron has two more games to win to get past the Celtic stage, and then two more series to win to get to his Princess Peach. Can he survive the MVP curse?

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Playoffs 2nd Round: On to the next one...

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The first round of the NBA Playoffs is over, and not without its share of surprises. When the dust settled, six of the eight teams that I predicted to make it through have done so - we had to wait till the Hawks beat off the Bucks in Game 7 a few hours ago to officially get all the matchups, and even though a few second round games have already been played, it's not too late for a preview...

But first, a short recap of that crazy first round. Cavs did what they had to do against the Bulls, getting by them in five easy games. LeBron - your repeat MVP LeBron - was amazing as usual, making the victories and the strain on his elbow look easy. Speaking of LeBron's Elbow, I may have found the greatest twitter account to follow of all time... @LeBronsElbow.

Back to the first round. Magic slept their way through the Bobcats series. You know a team is dangerous when they barely perform and the biggest story is their star player's foul troubles and they STILL sweep a series.

Hawks-Bucks was surprisingly close and exciting. Congrats to the undermanned Bucks for making a series out of it, but the Hawks finally woke up in the last two games and got their shit together.

Celtics-Heat was a much closer 4-1 than it looked. Even an old, tired, and uninspired Celtic squad is too good for the Heat. No one but Wade showed up for Miami in the series and it was sad. After blowing the large Game 1 lead to lose the game, Heat were blown out in Game 2, daggered by Paul Pierce at the last second in Game 3, and handed a routine loss in Game 5. Only Wade's 46 point heroics saved the sweep. Celtics are an underrated fourth seed, and they finally played how we have been expecting them to play all season.

Aah... the poor Thunder... I read somewhere last week that it's impossible to hate the Thunder, unless you're from Seattle or currently, a Laker fan. The young team played well all season to make the playoffs and then be baptised by fire, by none other than the Champion Lakers. But it was an amazing series - LA took it in 6 games, but not before Durant, Westbrook, Green, Harden, and the rest gave Kobe/Gasol hell. Artest made things a little difficult for Durant, and Kobe had to step up defensively against Westbrook, and it made for a great series. Too bad it had to end in such a tragic way as it did, with Gasol hitting the game winner and killing Thunder dreams at the Game 6 buzzer. But this young team will be back, and they'll be more dangerous next season. After the series, Kobe actually hugged Durant and Westbrook and said: "You all are two bad mother[fathers] … . I’m glad I’m done with you."

How about those Spurs eh? Are they ever going to go away. Just when you think Tony Parker isn't good enough, they find a George Hill. Just when they lose their hustle edge, they get DeJuan Blair. You hate them because you can't stop them, and because they geniunely look too mechanically boring to be stopped. Like Robocop. And the Mavs, even after their best squad ever, continue to be chokers of mammoth proportions. Sorry, Dirk.

Suns-Blazers was another series more competitive than expected. Blazers won a game without their best player Brandon Roy, and then another one with him struggling with injury. Still, when the Suns won, they won huge, blowing out all four victories. And Nash didn't need to be super brilliant or Amar'''e super dominant either - this was really Jason Richardon's series. And of course, congrats to my main main Grant Hill, who has made it out of the first round for the first time in his troubled but awesome career.

Finally, the Jazz pulled an "upset" over the Nuggets which wasn't really one. Nuggs have been reeling ever since losing coach/players to injury, and this was just a bad match-up to them. Plus, Deron Williams is another bad motherfather.

The second round match-ups are now set. Here are my previews...

Cavaliers vs. Celtics: Cavs in 7 - This is going to be an epic, epic series. I know it. LeBron, LeBron's elbow, Shaq, Jamison, Mo Williams first dunk ever, going against the rejuvenated Big 3 of the Celtics, and the "biggest" one outside the three in Rajon Rondo. Ya I said it, Rondo is gonna be the biggest Celtic in this series. His matchup against Mo will be the pivotal one. The Cavs have already won Game 1 as of writing this, but the Celtics will be back. They always are. It will go to 7 and require superhuman efforts from the MVP for the Celts to move on to the conference finals.

Magic vs. Hawks: Magic in 5 - Magic is too good for the Hawks here. The challenge of Jamal Crawford/Joe Johnson will finally wake up Vince Carter and he'll help Dwight make mincemeat out of the Hawks in this series. Plus Dwight Howard will be dominant as usual.

Lakers vs. Jazz: Lakers in 6 - Jazz always play tough, and they'll continue it in this series. It took late game heroics from Kobe for Lakers to win Game 1, but I see this series going to 6. Gasol vs. Boozer is critical here - when Gasol gets 20 and 10, Lakers win.

Suns vs. Spurs: Suns in 7 - If the Spurs are like Robocop, then the Suns the Transformers. Yes, I feel that a Sun victory is finally going to happen. The Suns have figured out the right amount of defense to play so that it doesn't hinder their offensive flow. It's gonna be a long, brutal, tiring series. People will be ejected, suspended, refs blamed. Duncan will try and smile and then change his mind. Ginobili will flop and Amar'''e will not play D. But in the end, Steve Nash will go buck wild on his shooting spree and help Phoenix through...

On to the next one..!

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