Jackson Called To Enter Elite Shack

SPRINGFIELD - It was longtime Spanish coach and 2007 enshrinee Pedro Ferrandiz who offered an eloquent description of where he had started and where he was yesterday, in the Basketball Hall of Fame. "When a coach starts his career, he dreams of something impossible," Ferrandiz said.

What else can one expect from someone from the land of Cervantes?

That one word - impossible - pretty much sums up Phil Jackson's situation as well, despite the lengthy list of achievements that made him a no-brainer for the Class of 2007. Getting inducted into the Hall of Fame was Jackson's own impossible dream when he entered coaching, taking over a minor league team in Albany, N.Y., commuting from a farm in Woodstock (of course!). The team was the Patroons, the venue was an old armory, and the job was all-encompassing in more ways than one.

"When I first saw the armory, I said, 'Is this where we play basketball? Could this possibly be the place?' " Jackson said yesterday, hours before he was inducted into the Hall of Fame, escorted by former Knicks teammate Bill Bradley. "But it was where basketball was in those days. Those are places people went to watch the game, 3,000, 4,000, maybe in an oval or with a running track above. It represented something.

"Where we played, it was not heated," he went on. "We had to keep the basketballs warm in the ticket office. We had to sweep the floors ourselves as a coaching staff, Charley Rosen and myself, and drive the van and do these trips of over 450 miles. We had to do the work to get the roster together, get the players to try and play together on teams that were nine men at home and eight men on the road. It was strange."

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source : boston.com

NBA Star Kobe Bryant Shows Stunt On Hong Kong Visit

NBA star Kobe Bryant entertained Hong Kong basketball fans on Friday with a brilliant show full of slam dunks.

The top scorer of Los Angeles Lakers, currently on the third leg of his Asia "supernatural tour", picked several teenagers from the zealous fans on local street-corner courts and taught them to play in a basketball camp event.

He once jumped high to do a swing before slamming the ball in the basket amid yells from some 2,000 audience for slam dunks, against the backdrop of posts featuring a winged Bryant, dubbed "supernatural" by some of his fans.

Bryant will also visit Shanghai and Beijing on his Asia tour, event organizer Nike said.

source : english.people.com.cn

Home Improvement - Rockets Planning To Unveil New Court Design This Season

OLD FLOOR

NEW FLOOR

Nearly four years after opening the doors to Toyota Center, the Rockets have mapped out plans to redesign the court's canvas with a sleek, two-tone wood style look.

The new floor design, which is currently being redone and is scheduled to be completed later this month, will have lighter wood inside the three-point arcs with the rest of the floor being flushed by a darker shade of wood.

The major renovation is being made to give the floor a more sleek and vibrant appearance for fans, whether they're watching the Rockets in the stands or on television."We're always trying to update the facility and put something out there that the fans will really enjoy," Rockets CEO Tad Brown said.

"We have looked at courts from across the NBA and this type of look in other facilities really lends itself to a more vibrant and clean presentation during the game."

The organization started exploring its redesign options this summer because the team felt the floor's red paint flushed out the action and absorbed the arena's lighting. After creating about 10 different possible designs, the team chose the two-tone wood style look because it creates a stage-like appearance.

Unlike the previous floor design, the only red paint on the floor is in logos and stripes. The floor's border and the traditional painted area below the free throw line will be wooded areas.

"The best part of this design is the court is really going to stand out because the lighting isn't going to get saturated into the red," said Rockets creative services manager Jose Lopez, who designed the court. "Since we have red seats, it will be a great contrast.

"In addition to the two-wood style approach, center court will simply have the Rockets' R logo in red and each baseline will read "Houston Rockets" in red lettering.

The new design is being redone by Jones Flooring.

"It's going to be extremely clean," Brown said. "We think this is going to be a beautiful court and really enhance the experience for our fans."

source : NBA.com

Phil Jackson's Going In ... And On Way Out?

Into the Hall, down to the crossroads . . .

Ten days from his 62nd birthday, with nine NBA titles, still walking with a cane after hip replacement surgery, Phil Jackson is entering the Basketball Hall of Fame. If you're wondering what's left for him with the Lakers, so is he.

"This could well be my last year of coaching," Jackson said before flying to Springfield, Mass., for tonight's induction. "I'm not saying it is but it could be.

"I think I have an outstanding offer to sign up again, but I have held that back because of my recovery. . . .

"Then there's the basis of how well the team does. . . . If this team doesn't move forward quickly, and that's, I think, the second round of the playoffs, then I think we have to reconsider."

Jackson, who had a second hip replacement in June, didn't come back to rebuild, any more than owner Jerry Buss hired him back at $10 million a year to make the first round of the playoffs.

Looming above everything is the possibility that this will be Kobe Bryant's last season here too, assuming that last season wasn't his last here

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source : latimes.com

NBA Players Give Back Through Sweat Equity

Johannesberg - Sep. 7: The South African construction rally cry of “Dagga!!” could be heard streets away as the NBA players, coaches, and guests learned a lesson in “sweat equity” as they pitched in to help build two homes in Katlehong in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and sponsored by the Pagliuca family.

“Sweat equity” is the idea that one must give what they wish to receive. The players witnessed this first hand as they joined the future homeowners in creating two solid and safe homes for them to live in.

Proving some might have a future in masonry, the players scaled scaffolding and began laying bricks one-by-one. Others stayed on solid ground mixing mortar and passing bricks.
Brother and sister team Stephanie and Joe Pagliuca represented their family and put in some hard work of their own. “It’s been a great experience to come down here and have a chance to help where it is really needed most,” said Stephanie.

Habitat for Humanity South Africa has built 33 houses in Katlehong since 2005, building simple, decent, affordable housing in partnership with more than 170 people who once lived in shacks. The recipients of the two new houses were chosen by their peers in Katlehong based on immediate need.

The day closed with a symbolic door-raising, and the players left knowing they were going to be putting in their own sweat equity over the next three days as they impart their knowledge on possible future stars of the NBA.

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source : NBA.com

Suns' Nash Fired Up To Start

Steve Nash has reveled in the chance to play half-court games during the past week with new teammate Grant Hill at US Airways Center.

Nash welcomes the infusion of talent and personality, but maybe Hill, familiar with the concept of doubters, can help split up the questions on age and health. Nash, 33, has missed 16 games (some as precautions or rest) in the three seasons since his return to Phoenix but still was dogged this summer by questions of whether his window for a championship is closing.

Nash said he thinks the queries began as soon as Dallas owner Mark Cuban justified letting him go to the Suns by saying he "had fears in terms of his durability."

Two Most Valuable Player awards and a runner-up finish later and Nash is showing up earlier than ever for voluntary workouts and again is fit from a summer of soccer.

"What can I say, I feel great," Nash said. "There's a sense of urgency every year. What's the point of playing if you don't have a sense of urgency? . . . The last three years, we've had pretty unfortunate bounces. At the same time, I think we've got some improving to do. We can look at those years and put blame there."

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source : azcentral.com

Suns Broadcaster Al McCoy Receives Media Award

When night falls across the Arizona desert, there is a vastness, an openness, an eerie quiet that seems to descend on the cactus plants and weather worn rocks. But if you listen closely you can hear a sound, a voice actually, emanating from a radio, that is as familiar to the inhabitants of the Grand Canyon State as the sweltering daytime temperatures.

For over 35 years and over 3,400 games, that voice, the voice of Al McCoy, has been telling the tale of the Phoenix Suns as the team’s radio broadcaster from his courtside perch, and if you were to ask anyone who follows the team, they couldn’t think of listening to anyone else describe the action.

How else could one explain the countless awards that have been bestowed on McCoy during his distinguished career behind the microphone, from being named the best play-by-play announcer by Phoenix Magazine for eight straight years (for the record, every year the distinction has been made by the magazine), to having the media center named after him at U.S. Airways Center (to be unveiled for the 2007-08 season), to being the first play-by-play announcer to be inducted into the Arizona Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame.

Most recently, McCoy has been honored yet again as the electronic recipient of the Curt Gowdy Media Award at this year’s Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame enshrinement, the grandest stage of all for a man who has made a name for himself calling the action of the NBA.

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source : NBA.com