Atlanta Hawks owner Bruce Levenson to sell team

Tuesday 9 September 2014

Bruce Levenson, owner of the Atlanta Hawks has decided to sell his team before matters get ugly like in the case of Donald Sterling, former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers whose racially offensive statements in a conversation with his wife became public. NBA Commissioner made the made the annoucnement on Sunday.

The issue

In July, Levenson reported an email he had sent to team general manager Danny Ferry in August 2012 which he calls “offensive and inappropriate”.The league office launched an independent investigation after being made aware of the email.

In a statement, he mentions that the offensive comments came about as he worked on trying to bridge the racial divide among fans in Atlanta and increase the attendance numbers for Hawks games.

"In trying to address those issues, I wrote an e-mail two years ago that was inappropriate and offensive," he said. "I trivialized our fans by making clichéd assumptions about their interests (i.e. hip hop vs. country, white vs. black cheerleaders, etc.) and by stereotyping their perceptions of one another (i.e. white fans might be afraid of black fans). By focusing on race, I also sent the unintentional and hurtful message that our white fans are more valuable than our black fans."

"If you're angry about what I wrote, you should be," Levenson continued in the statement. "I'm angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense. We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them."

The E-mail

The email contains Levenson’s observations of the fan experience during the games.

"My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base,'' Levenson said in the email released Sunday by the Hawks.

"Please don't get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arena back then. I never felt uncomfortable, but I think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority.''

The full email can be read here.

The consequences

A full statement of Commissioner Adam Silver announcement can be seen here.

According to  Chris Vivlamore of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, general manager Danny Ferry could also see some serious action coming his way. After Levenson made his intentions clear to Silver to sell the team, the sale will mean the Hawks are the third team to go out into the market during this year after the Milwaukee Bucks and the Clippers.

While the league office looks after the sale of the team, Hawks’ CEO Steve Koonin will oversee all team operations. 

Levenson came out quite harshly against Sterling when his remarks were made public and now that he is the same condition it would be wise of him to cooperate with the league during the team’s sale however he himself mentioning the email to the league office does make it look like this matter would be far less messy than the one in Los Angeles.

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2014 FIBA World Cup: Brazil beat Argentina to reach the quarterfinals

Madrid, Sep 8 (IANS) Brazil beat South American rivals Argentina 85-65 to book their place in the last eight of the FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Argentina had started strongly thanks to point guard Pablo Prigioni, who quickly netted 15 points, but after the first quarter the Brazilians took control as shooting guard Raulzinho Nieto began to exert his authority on the game hitting nine out of 10 attempts at field goals Sunday.

Meanwhile, Tiago Splitter and Anderson Varejao took control under the hoop, limiting the effectiveness of Luis Scola, who for once was off the mark, scoring just two out of 10 field goal attempts. Brazil scored 52 points in the last two quarters, while Argentina were only able to score 29.

Brazil will now face Serbia in the quarters.

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Why Ray Allen must sign with NBA defending champions San Antonio Spurs

Current Scenario

Almost every player who entered the summer in the list of the top 20 free agents in the NBA market is either not valuable anymore or is officially signed by a team expect Future Hall of Famer who currently holds the record for most three point field goals made in the history of the league-Ray Allen.

Mind you, even amongst the people keeping a track of the off-season player movement in the NBA, no one predicted Allen becoming the hot property that he has currently become. After a disastrous NBA finals series both for his team and himself, Allen mentioned that he was considering retirment but was not sure on his decision yet. 

Two months after the free agency began Allen is now the most wanted free agent in the league, with close to five teams showing interest in signing the two-times NBA champion. In increasing order of interest, here are the five franchises whose names have been mentioned so far- Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Clippers, San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Although the Mavericks have been among the teams interested, they stand no real chance in landing Allen especially with the competitiors they are up against. The Heat have two years of a successful and fruitful partnership to attract him and the Clippers have their head coach Doc Rivers who shared 6 years with him for the Boston Celtics to use as a magnet.

In his return home to Cleveland, LeBron James has been successful in attracting two of his former Heat teammates in James Jones and Mike Miller. Many many Ohio state natives hope that he can also talk Allen into signing with the franchise as well. Despite the pros and cons that every team has, Allen signing with coach Gregg Popovich’s Spurs stands to help both parties substantially from a business and basketball point of view.

Reasons why Allen should sign with San Antonio Spurs

Spurs can offer him what no other franchise can.

The league has seen many successful on-court partenerships take the turn for the worse due to trouble between front office and player off the court. Sometimes it is due to contracts or money in the contract or trade requests and so on. Here is where the Spurs biggest advantage over the rest of the teams arises.

Money

The rest of the teams interested in Allen have all run out of cap space and can only offer him a veteran’s minimum contract which would give the sharpshooter 1.4 million dollars for the single season. On the flip side the Spurs still have 5.3 million dollars of non-taxable mid-level exception remaining in their cap room which allows them to offer Allen as much as he wants from the mid level exception.

‘Fits the ‘system’

San Antonio Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich and Ray Allen

An inspection and study of the Spurs style of play especially in the Finals will reveal that it is nothing but every player acting as a ball handler, penetrating into the defense and looking for the extra pass or throwing up shots confidently when given the space to. That’s it, that’s all that the Spurs did to humble the Heat in 5 games during the Finals.

Allen is a reputed long range shooter and he is someone who will not back down from a chance to launch the orange. He is also a highly under-rated player when it comes to drives to the basket and making the extra pass or dropping a floater. These basic aspects have been the bread and butter of Allen’s play throughout his career.

From a purely basketball standpoint, the playing styles of the Spurs and Allen point towards a perfect match.

Team rotation

While a majority of teams (almost all) depend on certain players to pull them through the clutch, Spurs on the other hand redefine team work. Popovich and his coaching staff had done such a good job of keeping their squad fit for the post-season that they had the best record during the 82-game season without even a single player on their roster averaging more than 30 minutes a game.

In addition Popovich does makes it a point during the regular season to keep his core rotation of players fit for the playoffs, which means the stress levels for 39 year old Allen will be something his body can cope with.

Although there is the third point guard Corey Joseph, Popovich could certainly use an extra shooting guard who can put the ball on the floor with highly productive secondary point guard Patty Mills missing the first four months of the season.

The chance to end his career on a high

The career that he has had, there are high chances of Allen being a first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. However, the drive from within that has kept him going for 18 seasons would not want his career to end with the way the previous season ending. 

As a veteran, Allen is not desperate for a title having already won 2 championships (Celtics in 2008 and Heat in 2013), but the desire to leave the game on a high would surely tempt him to another year of proffesional basketball in the world’s top league.

Signing with the San Antonio would take the veterans count in the team to four but rather than hampering their chaces to repeat it only makes their chances more realistic. Whether or not Spurs sign Allen, they are still the team many would put their money on to win a second consecutive NBA title. 

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Tracy McGrady works out with Kobe Bryant to test fitness for NBA comeback

A year after announcing his retirement from playing basketball, Tracy McGrady worked out and trained with a once again fit Kobe Bryant, in an attempt to check his fitness level. Mcgrady was training with Bryant for three days a week for most of August in a South California gym, before he makes the decision to return to the NBA. 

“Yes, I was working out with K.B. to get in shape and see how my body feels,” McGrady told Yahoo Sports in an email.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports also reports that two NBA teams were in contact over possibly signing McGrady to a contract but none of them wished to further explore their options along that route. 

Seven All-Star appearances, two scoring titles, five selections to the All-NBA first and second team have been the highlights of McGrady’s career, which was cut short due to multiple injuries. His last encounter in the NBA was as a member of the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the 2013 NBA Finals against Miami Heat, which the Spurs lost. During that series, McGrady played no meaningful minutes through all seven games and the announcement of his retirement followed.

McGrady was signed by the Spurs on the last day of the 2012-13 NBA regular season after playing his lone season in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) having failed to land a guaranteed deal in the NBA.

Baseball then came knocking for McGrady as he joined a minor league team as a pitcher. However, that career didn’t last too long either. 

“It was fun. Baseball has always been a love of mine. I got to fill that dream. I’m glad that I was young enough to go out there and experience that. You know, it’s over now and it’s on to the next one,” Mcgrady said about his time in baseball.

Meanwhile, Bryant who recovered fully from a knee injury which he suffered last December, enters his 18th season in the league and still has two years left in his contract with the Los Angeles Lakers. 

When training camp begins in early October, McGrady is commited by contract to make an appearance in a profitable Asian basketball tour so he would be unable to catch up with a team during that time. Whether he makes a comeback or not will be seen in another month. But one thing is for sure, McGrady made the right decision to square off against the Black Mamba to test his fitness.  

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2014 Asian Games: Recent win over China is a morale booster ahead of Incheon challenge

Indian men, who recently competed at the 5th FIBA Asia Cup Basketball tournament in July, finished 7th in the tournament, but not before completing a historic 65-58 win over world number 12 China. It was the nation’s first ever triumph over China in the normal 5 on 5 format. This win should serve as a confidence booster for India’s upcoming 17th Incheon Asian Games campaign.

India has been placed in the same group (Group B) as Palestine, Saudi Arabiaand Kazakhstan in the preliminary phase of the competition.The  team, ranked 11th in Asia will open their campaign against Palestine on September 20th followed by Saudi Arabia on 21st and Kazakhstan on 22nd.

India has never won a medal at the Asian Games and had a miserable run at the last event in Guangzhou in 2010, losing five straight games after a win over minnows Afghanistan in the preliminary round.

The following is the probable list of players part of the squad:

1.Vishesh Bhriguvanshi (Forward)
Current Team Leader in Points Per Game (PPG), Assists Per Game (APG) and No.2 in Rebounds Per Game (RPG).

2.Narender Kumar Grewal (Guard)
Current No.2 in PPG and No.3 in APG

3.Akilan Pari (Point Guard)

4.Amjyot Singh (Forward)
  Current Team Leader in RPG and No.3 in PPG

5.Joginder Singh (Point Guard)
   Current No.4 in PPG and No.2 in APG

6.Yadwinder Singh (Forward)
  No.4 in RPG and No.5 in APG

7.Prasanna Sivakumar (Forward)

8.Pratham Singh (Forward)

9.Prakash Mishra (Guard)

10.Amritpal Singh (Centre)

11.Palpreet Singh Brar (Forward/Centre)

12.Rikin Shantilal Pethani (Centre)

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The greatest ritual in world sport performed at the basketball world cup

The New Zealand basketball team had something special in store for the Spanish crowd at the FIBA basketball world cup. Prior to their match against USA, the entire team performed the ‘Haka Dance’. The Haka is a traditional Maori dance from New Zealand and the version which the sports teams, most notably the rugby team, perform is the Ka Mate version. 

Here is the Haka dance video from the New Zealand vs USA game.

In case you were wondering, what exactly are they saying in the dance, below are the ‘lyrics’ along with the actions performed in the dance. 

"Ka Mate"

Leader:	Ringa pakia!		Slap the hands against the thighs!
	Uma tiraha!		Puff out the chest.
	Turi whatia!		Bend the knees!
	Hope whai ake!		Let the hips follow!
	Waewae takahia kia kino!		Stomp the feet as hard as you can!
Leader:	Ka mate, ka mate		I die, I die,
Team:	Ka ora' Ka ora'		I live, I live
Leader:	Ka mate, ka mate		I die, I die,
Team:	Ka ora Ka ora "		I live, I live,
All:	Tēnei te tangata pūhuruhuru		This is the hairy man
	Nāna i tiki mai whakawhiti te rā		...Who caused the sun to shine again for me
	A Upane! Ka Upane!		Up the ladder, Up the ladder
	Upane Kaupane"		Up to the top
	Whiti te rā,!		The sun shines!
	Hī!		Rise!

So why exactly do the teams perform the Haka dance? The war-cry of the New Zealand team is often believed to intidimate the opponents. Although, the basketball team could not replicate the performance on the court, the dance received a standing ovation from the crowd as well as the American players. 

The dance was started a rugby tradition back in 1900 and has been since performed just prior to the start of the rugby match. The rugby team’s Haka dance is a sight to behold!

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