Le Basketbawl

Joe Johnson led all players with 31 points Monday night as the Atlanta Hawks defeated the Milwaukke Bucks by a final of 104-96. John Salmons was the high scorer for the Bucks with 28 points while rookie Brandon Jennings added 21 in the loss for Milwaukee. The Hawks pulled out to  a big lead in the first and they were never really threatened after that. The loss sends the Bucks to sixth place in the NBA Eastern Conference Playoff chase as they now trail the Miami Heat with one game left in their season.

Johnson was the difference maker in this contest as he sparked the Atlanta offense in the first half. The Hawks would grab a big advantage in the first and led 30-21 a the end of the period. Milwaukee was able to chip two points off their deficit in the second quarter but Atlanta would be on top as the game reached halftime with the score 55-48.

Things did not get any brighter for the Bucks in the third quarter as they would trail entering the final 12 minutes of the contest 78-70. Milwaukee would get no closer than four points down in the fourth quarter and the Hawks held on for the victory.

Joe Johnson scored a game high 31 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists while Marvin Williams knocked down 18 points, 2 assists, 2 blocks, 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Al Horford put 13 points on the scoreboard while grabbing 12 rebounds off the backboard, 2 assists and 2 blocks while Mike Bibby also had 13 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Josh Smith added 11 points, 8 rebounds, 6 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist while Zaza Pachulia came off the bench with 10 points.

John Salmons was the leading scorer for the Bucks with 28 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists while Brandon Jennings put up 21 points, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 2 steals. Jerry Stackhouse had 13 points, 1 assist and 1 rebound while Carlos Delfino scored 12 points, 4 assists, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block. Luke Ridnour added 10 points, 5 assists, 2 rebounds and 1 steal. Atlanta now has a record of 52-29 and will host the Cleveland Cavaliers Wednesday while Milwaukee now falls to 45-36 and will play in Boston Wednesday against the Celtics.

New York Vinnie is anywhere from 10-20 years older than most NBA players and I totally understand that times change and things change with time. However New York Vinnie is absolutely Frickin Stupefied at the Twitter Addiction of many of today’s NBA stars. The “Associated Press” reported that Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings was fined $7,500 from the NBA League Office for texting a tweet before NBA rules allowed him to do it.

The rookie was naturally excited last weekend when the Bucks defeated the Portland Trail Blazers in double-overtime. However instead of celebrating with “His Boys” in the locker room Jennings decided to share the news with the Planet courtesy of Twitter when he came off the floor after the game. Jennings’ Tweet read “Back to 500. Yess!!! “500″ means where doing good. Way to Play Hard Guys.”

Okay Brandon New York Vinnie understands your excitement; however are you a Man or a teenage girl just getting home from the Frickin mall? You are that Frickin addicted to gossip that you could not wait until after you left arena to tweet? The NBA instituted rules this summer stating that players can not be on any social networking sites during games. That means starting 45 minutes  before tip-off and until your team is done talking with the media after the game you have to leave your Frickin toy alone.

Now you may remember Jennings is not the first  NBA Player to be fined for this. Last month Phoenix Suns big man Amare Stoudemire and Charlotte Bobcats  big man Tyson Chandler were both fined $7,500 by the NBA Front office for tweets that they sent out during their games.  So now we have three Frickin half-wits who can not control their Frickin addictions.

Okay first of all  did these three Frickin imbeciles think that the Frickin NBA would not notice this? Are they that “Frickin Stupid” that they did not think anybody from the NBA was monitoring these sites? Did they really Frickin think they would get away with this?

Secondly; what is the Frickin deal with these three Frickin Morons and Twitter?Are Amare Stoudemire, Brandon Jennings and Tyson Chandler grown men or are they really teenage girls trapped in the bodies of NBA players like some Disney fantasy movie? Because that is what it sounds like to New York Vinnie; three big strapping NBA players with the souls of teen-aged girls trapped inside them who can’t wait to get back from the Frickin Mall to share gossip with their friends! Can’t you already picture it with Miley Cyrus starring?

Yo guys, New York Vinnie does not know if there is a support group or a Frickin 12 step program for dealing with Twitter addiction; but face it you three are Frickin Junkies! You are even doing it at the job! Go and get some Frickin help and straighten out your lives before it is too Frickin late!

Going to college is not meant for everybody. It was not meant for Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings as his grades in high school would have made it highly unlikely he could have gone to a top Division 1-A so he could showcase his talents for a year before being eligible for the NBA Draft. Instead he became a trend-setter spending last year in Europe and playing ball for Italian powerhouse Lottomatica Virtus Roma in the Euro-league.

Jennings did not particularly like being in a foreign country thousands of miles away from family and friends and living in a much different culture than he was used to. However he stayed focused, stuck it out and so far it seems to be paying off for him in the NBA.

The Milwaukee Bucks rookie point guard was named NBA Player Of The Week for the week of November 9-15 after he would have a night that forced people to sit up and take notice. He became the youngest player in the history of the NBA to score 50 points in a game when he dropped 55 on the Golden State Warriors last Saturday night pushing the Bucks to a 129-125 victory.

The 20 year old native of Compton, California expected to go a lot higher in the NBA Draft than he did this past June sliding all the way to the number ten slot. Jennings has taken a liking to the city of Milwaukee as it reminds him of a European city. The rookie told the “Associated Press” that everything has worked out for the best playing for the Bucks. Jennings said “Everything that happened to the draft, not going to those teams that I thought were going to pick me up, I think I’m in a great situation right now.The city of Milwaukee is laid back, and that’s what I need right now.”

The relationship seems to be working out for both sides as the Bucks are off to their best start in quite a while currently in second place in the NBA Central Division with a record of 6-3. Jennings through nine games has averaged 24.8 points, 5.8 assists and 4.7 rebounds per game and has become a name that is being bandied about in the early stages of the season as a possible NBA Rookie Of The Year candidate.

The young man seems to have his priorities in order and his head on straight despite all the hoopla that goes with his new life. The rookie was asked by reporters what he wanted to accomplish in his first year in the NBA? Jennings responded “My main goal is coming out here, making the playoffs, getting my teammates involved and trying to bring the winning back to Milwaukee. We have to win. I’m going to do my part and I’m going to try and make sure the team does their part.”

Brandon My Man; you keep playing the way you have been and keep that attitude then Your Old Pal New York Vinnie believes you will have a long and prosperous career in the NBA.

Last summer NBA fans were intrigued with Brandon Jennings; this summer he seems to have flown under the radar of NBA fans. You most likely remember Jennings as the young man who last year signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Arizona. However he was not sure if he would have the academic requirements to attend the school. Instead he signed a three year contract with Italian power house Lottomatica Virtus Roma during the summer. He opted out of his contract at the end of last season and was selected with the tenth pick in the 2009 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks.

“ESPN.com” is reporting that so far Bucks General Manager John Hammond is impressed with the young point guard. The Milwaukee G.M. said the team liked what they saw from Jennings during his time in this summer’s Las Vegas League tournament. Hammond said “We saw a pass-first point guard, a guy who wants to win and a pleaser; a guy who wants to please his teammates and his coach. I don’t think people thought of him that way, based on his reputation.”

New York Vinnie  is very interested to see how Jenninngs stacks up against other NBA rookie who spent at least one year playing NCAA ball as opposed to the Euro-Leagues. Will Jennings be more mature because of the experience or did he become a loose cannon over in Italy? We will soon find out as NBA training camp gets underway in less than a month.

We are going through a time of great change on our planet as we reach the end of the first decade since the new millennium. Here in the USA we have crossed a great threshold as we now have the first African-American President in our history.

The entire world is shuddering collectively as we face the worst economic situation in most of of our lifetimes. We have nations coming apart at the seams in some places and in others we have seen some of the first signs of stability. For good or for bad we are at a point in the history of humanity that change is happening even as I write this column. 

Way down on the totem pole of life we are also seeing a revolutionary change occurring in the sports world. One situation that is just starting to garner some attention has the potential to radically alter the game of basketball. The situation at hand would effect high schools, colleges as well as the NBA. And once again for good or for bad this evolution is taking place even as you read this.

Jeremy Tyler is a name you are most likely to become very familiar with over the next few months and years. If you do not recognize the name young Jeremy was a junior at San Diego High School. Notice I wrote the word was, the reason being is he no longer attends classes there. Jeremy is a 6′11″ basketball player; and no he did not leave San Diego High to go to another high school program. That sort of stuff has been going on for years, this is on a far grander scale.

Young Mr. Tyler will be home schooled  next year as he moves over to Europe to play Professional Basketball. “USA Today“ has reported that the athlete has been advised by long time former shoe rep Sonny Vaccaro to skip his senior year of high school and to play the next two years in the Euro-leagues. Tyler would then declare for the NBA Draft in 2011.

Vaccaro is a guy that has a lot of connections and has been around the game for a lot of years. He was an executive with some of the biggest shoe companies on the planet, but he is now on his own as an adviser to young athletes.

Sonny is not a big fan of the current NCAA system; he has called it “purgatory” and referred to it as “servitude” for the players. Vacacaro believes that more and more basketball players will choose to go to Europe rather than going the traditional route and heading to college. He envisions at least one or two players per year will eschew college for Europe.

If reading this is giving you an unexplained feeling of deja-vu it may be because you are remembering Brandon Jennings. Jennings last Summer decided that rather than go to college he would sign a three year contract with Italian power house Lottomatica Virtus Roma. He averaged 7.6 points per contest for the Italian team and is expected to be selected within the first 10 picks of the NBA Draft in June. Jennings had earlier signed a letter of intent to play for the University of Arizona. However he was not sure if he would have the academic requirements to attend the school.

NCAA President Myles Brand had hoped that Jennings would be a fluke; a one time situation that he would not have to deal with again. Brand told reporters last year “I don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of other people. But I would hope and expect that most would want to go to college, not just to play basketball but to get an education.”

President Brand was either being extremely naive, or just engaging in spin. The truth is that most collegiate players will never be paid for playing hoops. These young men are our future accountants, dentists, and leaders of industry. But the players that do have the skills to play professionally in most cases, are there for the exposure that playing in the NCAA will give them. If you are “one and done” in other words just going to college for the required one year, an education is not your priority.

The cynical side of me (which seems to come out more often the older I get) says Brand just does not want to see an end to the revenue that the NCAA gets from having future NBA stars even for just a year. College basketball is a huge revenue stream for the NCAA, they don’t want any changes from the status quo.

How did NBA Commissioner David Stern react to Jennings decision to play in Italy? Stern said “I actually think it’s a pretty cool thing for a kid to do what he’s doing! There’s a big world out there. If you want to play for Rome as opposed to Arizona, go ahead and do what you think is best. It’s a positive development for kids and for the NBA scouts.”

I am sure the NBA Commissioner’s statements did not make Brand feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The NCAA has always been the feeding pool for the NBA, now there is competition for those athletes. And that competitor basically has the Association’s seal of approval.

Stern was the driving force behind raising the age requirement to play in the Association. It turns out he has no qualms about high school players going directly to playing professionally. He just does not want them in the NBA. But he has no qualms what so ever about them cutting their teeth in the Euro-leagues.

Jennings who was raised in Compton, California when he announced his intentions said “I think it’s going to change the game a lot. If they don’t change the rule, I think you’re going to see more kids test the waters and try to make a name for themselves overseas.”

Jeremy Tyler has now taken Jennings’ example and went even further with it; deciding to be home schooled and skip his senior year of high school in the USA. How Tyler will come out of this experience remains to be seen. But if he succeeds the young man could end up being a trend setter by playing in the Euro-League.

The Association and the NBAPA in their last collective bargaining agreement stopped players from going directly from high school to the NBA. What has resulted in many cases, are players who just go to college for one year, and then go into the NBA Draft. Jennings and now Tyler are pioneers, the question now becomes how many other players will follow their lead starting this Summer or next year? Will the new rallying cry for basketball players be “Go East Young Man, Go East?”

Jennings could end up being a trend setter by playing in the Euro-League. The Association and the NBAPA in their last collective bargaining agreement stopped players from going directly from high school to the NBA. What has resulted in many cases, are players who just go to college for one year, and then go into the NBA Draft. Jennings with his unprecedented move is a pioneer, the question now becomes how many other players will follow his lead starting next year? Will the new rallying cry for basketball players be “Go East Young Man, Go East?”

NCAA President Myles Brand is hoping that what Jennings is doing will prove to be the exception, not the rule. Brand said “I don’t know what’s going to happen in terms of other people. But I would hope and expect that most would want to go to college, not just to play basketball but to get an education.”

President Brand is either extremely naive, or just engaging in spin. The truth is that most collegiate players will never be paid for playing hoops. These young men are our future accountants, dentists, and leaders of industry. But the players that do have the skills to play professionally in most cases, are there for the exposure that playing in the NCAA will give them. If you are “one and done” in other words just going to college for the required one year, an education is not your priority.

The cynical side of me (which seems to come out more often the older I get) says Brand just does not want to see an end to the revenue that the NCAA gets from having future NBA stars even for just a year. College basketball is a huge revenue stream for the NCAA, they don’t want any changes from the status quo.

Stern was the driving force behind raising the age requirement to play in the Association. It turns out he has no qualms about high school players going directly to playing professionally. He just does not want them in the NBA. Stern said “I actually think it’s a pretty cool thing for a kid to do what he’s doing! There’s a big world out there. If you want to play for Rome as opposed to Arizona, go ahead and do what you think is best. It’s a positive development for kids and for the NBA scouts.”

I am sure the NBA Commissioner’s statements did not make Brand feel all warm and fuzzy inside. The NCAA has always been the feeding pool for the NBA, now there is competition for those athletes. And now it basically has the Association’s seal of approval.

Jennings believes he is just the first of many young men from the USA that will make this choice. The Compton, California native said “I think it’s going to change the game a lot. If they don’t change the rule, I think you’re going to see more kids test the waters and try to make a name for themselves overseas.”