International Love.

I live in Europe. I am constantly surrounded by Eurpean basketball players, all of whom tell me how great the European game is. And I must admit, it is great, it's more physical, more skillful and just a generally cleaner game. One of the people always telling me how great European basketball is, is my roomate, the Itialian. Since day 1 he has been telling me how GREAT Andrea Bargnani is, and at first I laughed. He would tell me how he was going to win rookie of the year, and again I would laugh. But then I began to watch and look at the kids stats, and how every game he was getting better, I then stopped laughing began to think... this guy is a stud. He is going to be special. Living in Europe and playing here, I get to watch a lot of games I generally wouldn't get to see. I get to see guys who are already on the NBA radar play live, and it's great. I get to watch 21 year old Tiago Splitter play (6'11'' 250), a potential lottery pick. I also get to watch people like "the best player not in the NBA" Louis Scola of Argentina, this cat is the real freak'n deal, a four man with range and pure strength, and by the way if he ever decides to come to the NBA (he won't) the Spurs own his rights. Players like Marc Gasol (FC Barcelona), Juan Carlos Navvaro (FC Barcelona), Splitter (TAU Vitoria), Bellinielli (Bologna) are all already drawing MAJOR NBA waves, within this year or the next. And that's only a few of them, there are tons of players in Europe generating major buzz. Pay attention to the next few months, as the Euroleague playoffs and playoffs in general begin. As all of you know, this is a great time to rise and fall in the eyes of the NBA executives. It should be a fun and interesting time of year!

Death of a Legend

As you all will find out soon enough, I am a die hard Celtics fan. Always have been. Always will be. And as all of you SHOULD know, the great Dennis "dj" Johnson suddenly passed away. To the casual fan, or to someone born a little late, they might not remember DJ and how good he truly was. DJ was, in the words of the great Larry Bird, " the best player I ever played with," Larry Bird said that! Many have said that DJ was the best PG defender of all time, ask Magic Johnson how he feels? He was, without a doubt, the most under-rated player of all time. He won three NBA Titles, was a constant on the All-NBA defensive teams, and NBA All-star teams. When he retired after the 89-90 season, he was only the 11th player with 15,000 points and 5,000 assists. I grew up watching the powerful celtic teams of the 80's, and DJ was the floor general, the PG on a team with 3 of the greatest players of all time, and I admired him. All I can say is I hope the hall of fame agree's, he should already be there, but soon enough he will.

Trouble In South Beach

The Most Important two words in the Morbid Eastern Conferemce are: Six Weeks. That's how long the "defending" Champs Miami Heat will be with out SuperStar Dwayne Wade. As all know, the heat have been battling injuries all season long, but none with the same magnitude as this. Yes, they lost Shaq for some 40 games, but that would only be bad if this was 1998, but it's not. Six weeks! So much can happen in that much time, teams can move into better playoff posistions or worse, and the heat right now are sitting in 9th. Shaquille O'neal said today that he is going to start "demanding" the ball more and Toine and everyone is going to have to step up and start playing. Let me ask you this, not counting his days in Beantown, when was the last time 'Tione stepped up in anything on the court other than 3 point ATTEMPTS? The heat are in trouble, serious trouble.