Houston, we have a solution.

It was a sad day when I heard that one of my favourite players in the world of Basketball, Yao Ming, would be missing the entire 2009/10 season, and potentially the rest of his career due to continuous injury.

First things first, I love Yao and I now know (much like I suspect the Rockets do) that his body is just not made to carry the beatings he puts it through, all with the weight of a billion plus Chinese on his shoulders.

I’ll never forget seeing him play just metres in front of my eyes, something I’ll cherish even more now that his road back to playing again will be as long as his family tree.


My final word on Yao –

Who is just the biggest person I have ever, ever seen? Yao Ming, hands down... Funny moment prior to the China v Italy game (pictured above) as he was announced and ran out, an Italian fan screamed out an almighty, "Mamma Mia!"... Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The last thing I expected was to hear that his replacement of sorts at the Houston Rockets was to be Victorian, Australian Boomer and former Wollongong Hawk, David Andersen.

After such a crappy run of luck for Aussies in the league, it seems we have reached the tipping point as it were, and Andersen is set to live his dream of playing significant minutes in the NBA for a definite Western Conference contender.

The struggles of Boomers Andrew Bogut, Mills, Ingles, Jawai, Newley and co have dampened the prospects of consistent Australian NBA recognition and visibility in the best league in the world.

But with the news of David Andersen, finally being recognised for his winning legacy in Europe, things are once again looking up.


The big news is documented here…

Andersen Arrives in Houston to Sign Contract
By MARK BERMAN

and here...

Rockets eye new import at center
By JONATHAN FEIGEN

Rockets GM, Daryl Morey explained the acquisition of Andersen to the Houston Media, in this statement below.

What does new addition, David Andersen, bring to your team? Are you concerned with his age and the fact he’s never played in the NBA?

“We feel like he’s at a good age actually. People are focusing I think on how old he is, but he’s 29, we’re gonna sign him to probably a 3-year deal with some options for the Rockets at the end of it. We feel like he’s just a good player, he’s a good player at a good price; we’re gonna have to win with $40 million sitting on the sidelines for much of the year this year. So, we’re having to be value players and we think David can give us a lot of quality minutes this year, and then Yao Ming comes back next year, we think of him as a very good backup at the five and at the four. And, I think he’s gonna be another guy the fans love - he plays hard, he’s a winner, he’s won seven straight championships with his seven straight teams in Europe. We scouted the globe, we didn’t like our options at a center among the US free agents, so that’s why we were pretty aggressive with Atlanta to get his rights.”

Taking Shots

This is the first time I have posted for a long time. The Olympics is almost over. But here is a quick comment on the Exit of the Boomers, at the hands of the conquering USA Redeem Team last night in the Quarter Finals.

I looked through the pics of the game last night, and decided I liked this one the best. Glenn Saville had just drilled a 3 in Wade's face the play before, so next time he comes down again Wade gives him one in the nuts, as Sav nails the three again. And 1.

I have heard first hand some of the great sprays the boy from Bendigo can dish out on the NBL court, bit of a 'Gordon Ramsay' fan you might say. I would give anything to know what he said to Wade afterwards, he sprayed him during and well after the bonus free throw. That was nice.

In a night of overall disapointment, you can at least say most of the Boomers never backed down, and with Channel 7 choosing to show womens softball (last Olympics ever, thank goodness) instead of the first half of the bball game, this was a true highlight for me.

And you know the Aussies never back down...

Mobs

I hope Goorjian knows what he's doing.

By Ryan Mobilia

Brian knows what to expect. There is a lot of pressure on some of his selections to perform. Losing this series is almost the worst thing that could happen to Basketball in Australia. He says he's not scared. That's good.
I agree with the thoughts of Phil Smyth and Boti Nagy. Perhaps it is more important to have players in the squad that know Goorjians system, than a more talented bunch that don't know work as well together. This isn't necessarily a chemistry problem that cannot be overcome, but I think that Brian and perhaps much of BA were thinking that the NZ squad is know each other well, after essentially playing together for the TalLBlacks for years.


But I strongly disagree with leaving out Luke Schensher over, say, Russell Hinder. NBA experience is NBA experience. Rusty may see quite a few minutes in this 3 game series but, whatever our next stop is, Olympics or another Qualifying tournament, I would much rather have seen how Schensher meshed with the rest of the Boomers now. Hinder will not make the Olympic team period. Schensher has a chance. Considering Hinder is expected to have a miminal impact as probably the 11th or 12th guy on the current team, it would have been much more beneficial to the program to have him involved. Especially now that we know he is not injured. Hopefully we don't lose him from the national squad now for good.

I agree with Shane Heal that talent wise, Luke Kendall is a down grade on exciting youngster Joe Ingles. But this team desperatly needs point guard experience, and with CJ out, and this being Darnell and Patrick first real international experience. I understand why he went with Kendall. If CJ was available I could see Luke being left out.


Issues of favouritism arrive due to the fact that so many Syndey Kings players made this team. This has been happening for the past few years, and I don't blame the players, and now I can see where the coach is coming from is his selections too. He is desperate. If we lose this series, there is every chance we miss out on the Olympics and a great chance at a medal, with a 100% available list. It's just that players who are less than NBL allstar's appear to be able to make the Australian Squad if they play for the Sydney Kings.

It happened in 2005 with an unknown Mark Worthington. It happened in 2006 in Japan with Jason Smith, Russell Hinder, Luke Kendall, Mark Worthington, Dave Barlow, CJ Bruton (all players from Goorjians system). And it is happening again now, with 5 Kings selected in the 12. Only two of which have any real chance of making our Olympic squad (Saville and Worthington).

I suppose time will tell, and in a fortnights time we will know if the gamble of choosing in effect, a champion team over a team of champions!

Go Boomers!

What has become of our Boomers...

Can he be a star?...

With Brian Goorjian taking the reins of the national team, and seemingly throwing in every Sydney Kings player available to his squad, it shouldn't really come as a surprise to see that he has included his newest off season recruit Russell "9 & 9" Hinder, in the final team of 12 for the upcoming World Champs. In one sense his inclusion makes sense given the enormous amount of injury and other such things, forcing out the cream of the Aussie basketball crop. And of course no one is claiming that his "game MVP like Steve Nash!" But what is it? He has never been a stand out player, even on his own team - which invariably have been among the poorest in the competition for years, colminating with his last season with the 'Pirates'. Below is a thoery floating around that helps to explain, just how far behind the eight ball he is...

It is known as the...





The Jeremy Piven Phenomenon

When you're acting in the same movie with this many non-actors, the Jeremy Piven Phenomenon takes hold. You know how everyone keeps saying how brilliant Piven is on "Entourage?" Well, he's sharing screen time with the likes of Adrian Grenier and the bully from "Rocky V" -- he's good, but he's not that good. Those guys make him look like a young Pacino.

Hopefully you can see how this relates to our man Turtle... er Russell, and demonstrates just how far behind he is...




Now, if he can't even stand out amongst his teammates (or Entourage), which are consistently below playoff standard, HOW DOES HE MAKE THE SQUAD you may ask? Nothing against the guy personally, but clearly Goorj has just a bit too much power. I wonder what happens after the W.C...

Japan, here I come!