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Didnt expect any different. Hes killed his whole life. And actually he was front page after SCA went undefeated 3 summers ago.
The Brandon Jennings Thread (Will Be Updated Regularly)
- Thread in 'Sports & Training' Thread starter Started by DCAllAfrican,
- Start date
Didnt expect any different. Hes killed his whole life. And actually he was front page after SCA went undefeated 3 summers ago.
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Jennings for R.O.Y.!
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NT knew BJ was lurking in here since 07 or b4. Yo Bassy2quick give a shout out to NT Sports and Training when you on NBA TV
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Anywhere I could pick up those white/red UA's?
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[h3]Sonny Vaccaro: Brandon Jennings broke the mold, part one[/h3]
November, 19, 2009
Nov 19
1:15
PM ET
Email Share
By Henry Abbott
Archive
Gary Dineen/Getty ImagesThe Bucks took a chance on Brandon Jennings. And Sonny Vaccaro is "eternally grateful" to them.
Sonny Vaccaro is very proud of the fact that he has played a major role -- for instance, by promoting young players and gettingshoe companies to sponsor coaches -- in building up NCAA basketball to be the massive business that it is today.
But that doesn't mean he loves everything about it. And in recent years, he has become one of college basketball's harshest critics.
He has special ire for what he calls "David Stern's stupid rule" banning high-schoolers from coming directly to the NBA, which has the effect ofstrongly encouraging, if not effectively forcing, American players to play in the NCAA.
In no small part to undermine that rule (which he expects will disappear in the next collective bargaining agreement), Vaccaro played an instrumental role inBrandon Jennings' career. Jennings famously skipped college basketball entirely, waiting out the NBA's age limit with a highly paid year in Europe,instead of playing at Arizona where he was academically ineligible.
Now, Jennings has demonstrated that he is a top-shelf NBA rookie,and Vaccaro is thrilled for him.
He's also bitter that Jennings has faced so many obstacles along the way.
Earlier this week, M. Haubs of The Painted Areawrote an exceptional blog post detailing all those who had nothing nice to say about Jennings before the draft, including NBA GMs and others. Vaccarosuggests that Jennings has been punished for rocking the boat. He tells the story of draft night, when he said his stomach was in knots because he was certainthe basketball establishment would punish Jennings by drafting him far lower than he deserved.
This is the first in a series of conversations with Vaccaro, about Jennings, that'll be on TrueHoop in the days to come:
What's your initial reaction?
If he had gone to Arizona, under the flawed pretense of that university and that situation out there ... if he had gone there, there's no doubt in my mindhe might have gone third or fourth in the draft.
Only Scott Skiles and John Hammond had guts enough to do it.
Henry, I saw you that night at the draft. I was a nervous wreck. I was like a child that night, [Vaccaro's wife] Pam and I. I'm not lying to you. Itwould have been sinful.
On the day of the draft I called around. I did. I'm not trying to make these people lose their jobs, but my belly was crazy. I was having a volcano insideof me. My wife was a nervous wreck. I kept telling her: They're going to punish him. They're going to punish him. That's why, in my mind, I willforever be eternally grateful for what Milwaukee did. They did what they felt was the right thing to do.
There's no question in my mind he's already as good as anybody. I'm not going to say he's better than the other rookies -- the point guardsituation in this draft is very good. But to hear the pontificates stand up there and analyzing ... there's no history. If they want to tell me about thesegreat [college] coaches coaching these Hall of Fame guys. How many of those players never make it? What they'll never do is tell you how many of theplayers from those great programs never make it.
They pick and choose who to lionize. They ordain guys. It's ridiculous. And then no one calls them down on it. And so I call them down and I'm thebastard.
The nice thing is that there's a free market, right? And now there's a way for someone like Brandon Jennings to find his way to the NBA withoutthe NCAA. And while it may be unfair to judge the whole thing on one player, the fact is there is one player in the pipeline now, and so far so good.
He went through all the name-calling and everything. I can remember this ... one of the worst days of my life. Pam and I communicated with Alice. Alice Knox ishis mom, she has been unbelievable. I communicated with Brandon five days a week while he was in Italy. No one knows that. 'Cause he'd had somemissteps. He'd said some silly things. Which happens with athletes every day.
But I can never forget, I'll never forget, ever, the day they ran a crawl quoting Brandon Jennings making a statement. He said a lot of things about he wastired, they didn't pay him. It ran all day on ESPN. One year later, almost to the date, and I'll never forget it: "Rookie Brandon Jennings scores55 points, third-highest total for a rookie in NBA history." It ran all day. One day they killed him, and buried him, and put the dirt on top of him anddidn't even put a marker on his grave. The next time they knighted him.
It's ironic how things are, and we're talking about a 19-year-old child while they were doing that.
I don't think Brandon's going to be able to keep doing everything he has done, but we do know one thing, don't we? Whatever the future holds, itlooks like he's going to be a pretty damn good player. We do know the kid can play professional basketball. A lot of his success will be dictated by teams,teammates, winning and losing ... you know that. But we do know it had nothing to do with someone teaching him. Brandon Jennings taught himself how to beprepared to be this kid.
What I can't stand is that 90% of these commentators don't have a clue. They don't know who can play. They read the press clippings. I mean just golook at what they've said. They read some article, and you can see how that led to what he said is just like the article. I hear it very night.
Very few people watch Euroleague or European basketball.
I agree with you.
I know three who have watched a lot -- Chad Ford of ESPN, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, and M. Haubs of the Painted Area who wrote that article Isent you -- and they were all very high on Brandon Jennings heading into this draft.
Isn't it interesting. You could name all kinds of top writers who had the same opportunities to see Jennings that these guys had. But no one took the time.
To hear some of these general managers say what they said, I mean what the hell did they base it on? They base it on a 19-year-old kid living 10,000 miles fromhome, going through a rough time. But what they never took into consideration is that he didn't quit. He didn't buckle. He didn't come home. Hedidn't throw a chair at somebody. He didn't yell.
You know how painful it was for that kid last year? And his mother? Do you know how strong the family had to be?
What did you tell him, when you talked?
Every day I'd tell him we're one day closer. Basically, I always used, "OneDay More" out of Les Miserables. I mean, seriously, I got the album. And I'd say god bless you, now go practice. Go practice.
No one knows that when we first got there -- Pam and I went with him for the press conference -- we flew there 13 hours or whatever from L.A. And he wentstraight to the gym. He is a gym rat. He loves this game. And that's got to be worth something.
Why did Kobe make it and the other guy didn't? Well, I know why. Because I know what Kobe did and what the other guy did before he even got to be makingit. I know his drive. I saw Jordan when we traveled Europe -- and what Michael did to prepare for exhibition games! In sports, you have to drive yourself. Youdrive yourself to success, or you drive yourself to the club after the game. That's the choice. You drive yourself personally, or you drive yourself to anightclub. The guys that drive themselves personally are usually the ones that make it to the top. ...
Yet a lot of teams passed on him. There are about three or four teams that don't have a chance. But there's a chance to be exciting. There's achance to be a better basketball team.
That could have been a lot of other teams, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Minnesota, New York, Golden State, Toronto.
I agree it could have been.
It wasn't not picking him that upset me. It was not picking him because they had bias.
When we started this talk, I had in my mind that scouting him was tougher. Maybe people are lazy and were used to an old way of doing things and sodidn't investigate him as well. But you say teams punished him. Like they knew he was good but passed to try to prove his European model wrong?
Well just go read that article you sent me.They basically say that in so many words. How do you not even bring him in? OK, so Blake Griffin will be the top pick, but after that, how do you not bring himin to work out?
I think he didn't work out for some of the top teams, but that's not the point. They brought in some kids who were role models as college players. Andthey can all play. None of these kids are bad. But to not allow this one the chance to show he's better? He was right there on the draft board.
That was the mistake.
The interesting contrast was Ricky Rubio. Wonderful player! The funniest thing was that the media that was against Brandon was for Ricky. And a team that couldhave picked Brandon picked Rubio. And he didn't come!
Brandon was mystified. We had our people, Americans, vote for their kid, Rubio, against our kid, Brandon. That hurt. Nothing against Rubio. Nothing.
But it's interesting. He made a franchise look like a fool. He made the NBA look like a bigger fool. And we wasted a fortune traveling back and forth, heembarrassed us by not coming. I'm not picking on Minnesota -- they all wanted him. That's the irony.
And Brandon suffered the consequences.
But Brandon didn't create this situation! If he had the same opportunity Ricky did, to come here as an 18-year-old, you wouldn't be writing this story.He was denied that opportunity. He was denied it, Mr. Abbott.
That's my fight.
November, 19, 2009
Nov 19
1:15
PM ET
Email Share
By Henry Abbott
Archive
Sonny Vaccaro is very proud of the fact that he has played a major role -- for instance, by promoting young players and gettingshoe companies to sponsor coaches -- in building up NCAA basketball to be the massive business that it is today.
But that doesn't mean he loves everything about it. And in recent years, he has become one of college basketball's harshest critics.
He has special ire for what he calls "David Stern's stupid rule" banning high-schoolers from coming directly to the NBA, which has the effect ofstrongly encouraging, if not effectively forcing, American players to play in the NCAA.
In no small part to undermine that rule (which he expects will disappear in the next collective bargaining agreement), Vaccaro played an instrumental role inBrandon Jennings' career. Jennings famously skipped college basketball entirely, waiting out the NBA's age limit with a highly paid year in Europe,instead of playing at Arizona where he was academically ineligible.
Now, Jennings has demonstrated that he is a top-shelf NBA rookie,and Vaccaro is thrilled for him.
He's also bitter that Jennings has faced so many obstacles along the way.
Earlier this week, M. Haubs of The Painted Areawrote an exceptional blog post detailing all those who had nothing nice to say about Jennings before the draft, including NBA GMs and others. Vaccarosuggests that Jennings has been punished for rocking the boat. He tells the story of draft night, when he said his stomach was in knots because he was certainthe basketball establishment would punish Jennings by drafting him far lower than he deserved.
This is the first in a series of conversations with Vaccaro, about Jennings, that'll be on TrueHoop in the days to come:
What's your initial reaction?
If he had gone to Arizona, under the flawed pretense of that university and that situation out there ... if he had gone there, there's no doubt in my mindhe might have gone third or fourth in the draft.
Only Scott Skiles and John Hammond had guts enough to do it.
Henry, I saw you that night at the draft. I was a nervous wreck. I was like a child that night, [Vaccaro's wife] Pam and I. I'm not lying to you. Itwould have been sinful.
On the day of the draft I called around. I did. I'm not trying to make these people lose their jobs, but my belly was crazy. I was having a volcano insideof me. My wife was a nervous wreck. I kept telling her: They're going to punish him. They're going to punish him. That's why, in my mind, I willforever be eternally grateful for what Milwaukee did. They did what they felt was the right thing to do.
There's no question in my mind he's already as good as anybody. I'm not going to say he's better than the other rookies -- the point guardsituation in this draft is very good. But to hear the pontificates stand up there and analyzing ... there's no history. If they want to tell me about thesegreat [college] coaches coaching these Hall of Fame guys. How many of those players never make it? What they'll never do is tell you how many of theplayers from those great programs never make it.
They pick and choose who to lionize. They ordain guys. It's ridiculous. And then no one calls them down on it. And so I call them down and I'm thebastard.
The nice thing is that there's a free market, right? And now there's a way for someone like Brandon Jennings to find his way to the NBA withoutthe NCAA. And while it may be unfair to judge the whole thing on one player, the fact is there is one player in the pipeline now, and so far so good.
He went through all the name-calling and everything. I can remember this ... one of the worst days of my life. Pam and I communicated with Alice. Alice Knox ishis mom, she has been unbelievable. I communicated with Brandon five days a week while he was in Italy. No one knows that. 'Cause he'd had somemissteps. He'd said some silly things. Which happens with athletes every day.
But I can never forget, I'll never forget, ever, the day they ran a crawl quoting Brandon Jennings making a statement. He said a lot of things about he wastired, they didn't pay him. It ran all day on ESPN. One year later, almost to the date, and I'll never forget it: "Rookie Brandon Jennings scores55 points, third-highest total for a rookie in NBA history." It ran all day. One day they killed him, and buried him, and put the dirt on top of him anddidn't even put a marker on his grave. The next time they knighted him.
It's ironic how things are, and we're talking about a 19-year-old child while they were doing that.
I don't think Brandon's going to be able to keep doing everything he has done, but we do know one thing, don't we? Whatever the future holds, itlooks like he's going to be a pretty damn good player. We do know the kid can play professional basketball. A lot of his success will be dictated by teams,teammates, winning and losing ... you know that. But we do know it had nothing to do with someone teaching him. Brandon Jennings taught himself how to beprepared to be this kid.
What I can't stand is that 90% of these commentators don't have a clue. They don't know who can play. They read the press clippings. I mean just golook at what they've said. They read some article, and you can see how that led to what he said is just like the article. I hear it very night.
Very few people watch Euroleague or European basketball.
I agree with you.
I know three who have watched a lot -- Chad Ford of ESPN, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, and M. Haubs of the Painted Area who wrote that article Isent you -- and they were all very high on Brandon Jennings heading into this draft.
Isn't it interesting. You could name all kinds of top writers who had the same opportunities to see Jennings that these guys had. But no one took the time.
To hear some of these general managers say what they said, I mean what the hell did they base it on? They base it on a 19-year-old kid living 10,000 miles fromhome, going through a rough time. But what they never took into consideration is that he didn't quit. He didn't buckle. He didn't come home. Hedidn't throw a chair at somebody. He didn't yell.
You know how painful it was for that kid last year? And his mother? Do you know how strong the family had to be?
What did you tell him, when you talked?
Every day I'd tell him we're one day closer. Basically, I always used, "OneDay More" out of Les Miserables. I mean, seriously, I got the album. And I'd say god bless you, now go practice. Go practice.
No one knows that when we first got there -- Pam and I went with him for the press conference -- we flew there 13 hours or whatever from L.A. And he wentstraight to the gym. He is a gym rat. He loves this game. And that's got to be worth something.
Why did Kobe make it and the other guy didn't? Well, I know why. Because I know what Kobe did and what the other guy did before he even got to be makingit. I know his drive. I saw Jordan when we traveled Europe -- and what Michael did to prepare for exhibition games! In sports, you have to drive yourself. Youdrive yourself to success, or you drive yourself to the club after the game. That's the choice. You drive yourself personally, or you drive yourself to anightclub. The guys that drive themselves personally are usually the ones that make it to the top. ...
Yet a lot of teams passed on him. There are about three or four teams that don't have a chance. But there's a chance to be exciting. There's achance to be a better basketball team.
That could have been a lot of other teams, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Minnesota, New York, Golden State, Toronto.
I agree it could have been.
It wasn't not picking him that upset me. It was not picking him because they had bias.
When we started this talk, I had in my mind that scouting him was tougher. Maybe people are lazy and were used to an old way of doing things and sodidn't investigate him as well. But you say teams punished him. Like they knew he was good but passed to try to prove his European model wrong?
Well just go read that article you sent me.They basically say that in so many words. How do you not even bring him in? OK, so Blake Griffin will be the top pick, but after that, how do you not bring himin to work out?
I think he didn't work out for some of the top teams, but that's not the point. They brought in some kids who were role models as college players. Andthey can all play. None of these kids are bad. But to not allow this one the chance to show he's better? He was right there on the draft board.
That was the mistake.
The interesting contrast was Ricky Rubio. Wonderful player! The funniest thing was that the media that was against Brandon was for Ricky. And a team that couldhave picked Brandon picked Rubio. And he didn't come!
Brandon was mystified. We had our people, Americans, vote for their kid, Rubio, against our kid, Brandon. That hurt. Nothing against Rubio. Nothing.
But it's interesting. He made a franchise look like a fool. He made the NBA look like a bigger fool. And we wasted a fortune traveling back and forth, heembarrassed us by not coming. I'm not picking on Minnesota -- they all wanted him. That's the irony.
And Brandon suffered the consequences.
But Brandon didn't create this situation! If he had the same opportunity Ricky did, to come here as an 18-year-old, you wouldn't be writing this story.He was denied that opportunity. He was denied it, Mr. Abbott.
That's my fight.
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Very few people watch Euroleague or European basketball.
I agree with you.
I know three who have watched a lot -- Chad Ford of ESPN, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress, and M. Haubs of the Painted Area who wrote that article I sent you -- and they were all very high on Brandon Jennings heading into this draft.
Isn't it interesting. You could name all kinds of top writers who had the same opportunities to see Jennings that these guys had. But no one took the time.
To hear some of these general managers say what they said, I mean what the hell did they base it on? They base it on a 19-year-old kid living 10,000 miles from home, going through a rough time. But what they never took into consideration is that he didn't quit. He didn't buckle. He didn't come home. He didn't throw a chair at somebody. He didn't yell.
You know how painful it was for that kid last year? And his mother? Do you know how strong the family had to be?
That could have been a lot of other teams, Memphis, Oklahoma City, Sacramento, Minnesota, New York, Golden State, Toronto.
I agree it could have been.
It wasn't not picking him that upset me. It was not picking him because they had bias.
When we started this talk, I had in my mind that scouting him was tougher. Maybe people are lazy and were used to an old way of doing things and so didn't investigate him as well. But you say teams punished him. Like they knew he was good but passed to try to prove his European model wrong?
Well just go read that article you sent me. They basically say that in so many words. How do you not even bring him in? OK, so Blake Griffin will be the top pick, but after that, how do you not bring him in to work out?
I think he didn't work out for some of the top teams, but that's not the point. They brought in some kids who were role models as college players. And they can all play. None of these kids are bad. But to not allow this one the chance to show he's better? He was right there on the draft board.
That was the mistake.
The interesting contrast was Ricky Rubio. Wonderful player! The funniest thing was that the media that was against Brandon was for Ricky. And a team that could have picked Brandon picked Rubio. And he didn't come!
Brandon was mystified. We had our people, Americans, vote for their kid, Rubio, against our kid, Brandon. That hurt. Nothing against Rubio. Nothing.
But it's interesting. He made a franchise look like a fool. He made the NBA look like a bigger fool. And we wasted a fortune traveling back and forth, he embarrassed us by not coming. I'm not picking on Minnesota -- they all wanted him. That's the irony.
And Brandon suffered the consequences.
Sonny is going IN.
gabe gotti
Banned
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Damn. The suction that is going on.
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What I said previously said bares out to be true, ANYBODY with ANY semblance of information about European ball and Brandon's actual performance would haveseen this coming. I'm convinced till this day that GM's simply didn't do the work to actually get a look at him.
The Painted Area article is awesome...http://thepaintedarea.blo...gs-is-laughing-last.html
If I'm the kings im taking him at four but I guess they didn't need a point gaurd when they got Tyreke.
The Painted Area article is awesome...http://thepaintedarea.blo...gs-is-laughing-last.html
If I'm the kings im taking him at four but I guess they didn't need a point gaurd when they got Tyreke.
Why didn't Knicks president of basketball operations Donnie Walsh select Jennings?:
"I didn't have a good feel for his game. I went to Europe, Treviso, to see him at a draft camp and he didn't show. We brought him in here and the situation is not running up and down, 5 on 5. So going into the draft, I didn't get a good feeling."
Ah, of course, that makes sense, Donnie. You weren't able to see him play 5-on-5 in person, and geez, you've only been in basketball for 50 years, so we can't expect that you'd be able to evaluate him just by watching every minute he played on video, can we?
Walsh has also passed the buck (no pun intended!) by saying that his scouts should have argued for Jennings harder
.
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�Where were people demanding he be picked top 5 back in june
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Damn LeBron and BJ3 would have been a SERIOUS problem..
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umm, weren't you all about Ricky Rubio?
oh wait here's your top 5 list from june..
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Sonny Vaccaro is a #%!+*%* clown tho
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Either way, there are a ton of people that didn't have the foresight, among us and NBA people
be it not seeing him enough, having preconceived notions or simply not thinking he'd make the transistion to the nba well..
right now, I was wrong, donnie walsh was wrong, etc ,etc..
Apparently the kid has worked his tail off to become better. but i can't kill teams for not taking a 19 year old point guard that people had doubts about.And most people bashing those teams wouldn't have made that call, either.
be it not seeing him enough, having preconceived notions or simply not thinking he'd make the transistion to the nba well..
right now, I was wrong, donnie walsh was wrong, etc ,etc..
Apparently the kid has worked his tail off to become better. but i can't kill teams for not taking a 19 year old point guard that people had doubts about.And most people bashing those teams wouldn't have made that call, either.
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I had Jennings going to Sacramento when the initial order was announced. Then around the draft, I was thinking Golden State or New York. I didn't thinkMilwaukee would take him, he didn't seem like a player Skiles would like.
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i didnt either.
i was hoping he would slide further down so that the knicks could take him with their 29th pick
i was hoping he would slide further down so that the knicks could take him with their 29th pick
im not you
Banned
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Some dudes on here were convinced dude might slide to round 2 on here on draft night
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Sonny is a G, always has been.
The main reason people didn't take him is because of all the negativity around him, which had 0 to do with basketball.
The main reason people didn't take him is because of all the negativity around him, which had 0 to do with basketball.
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I didnt expect him to be this nice... i slept... but people are saying he's going to be better than iverson already... come on now!
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I can't wait for rubio to step it up and come to the nba. ill be sure to get tickets to see jennings cross him up.
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http://www.nba.com/2009/news/features/11/20/racetomvp.week3/index.html?ls=iref:nbahpt1
1. Steve Nash, Suns (10-3)
Last Week's Rank - 2
For the third consecutive week, The Race has a new frontrunner. While Kobe Bryant, last week's No. 1, lost consecutive games to Houston and Denver, Nash led his team on a trifecta of success, allowing the Suns to garner the second-best record in the NBA. Nash had 16 assists against Houston, bolstering his league-leading 11.8 figure, and 23 points against Toronto. Even in a loss to New Orleans Thursday night, Nash had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists.
2. Kobe Bryant, Lakers (9-3)
Last Week's Rank - 1
The Race found it rather humorous when Kobe was asked about his reaction to losing to Houston and he deadpanned, "Mortified." Who knew he had such a dry sense of humor? He probably feels the same mortification about slipping in these rankings. But what's The Race to do when Kobe goes only 5-for-20 from the field and scores just 18 in the loss to Trevor Ariza's new team? Having said that, he also became only the third player in NBA history to have triple-digit 40-point games in his career, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan. And speaking of Kareem, Kobe passed him as the Lakers' No. 2 all-time scorer and now has 24,182 career points.
3. Joe Johnson, Hawks (10-2)
Last Week's Rank - N/A
The good and the bad thing about The Race's early rankings are that players can jump in and out and up and down with alarming frequency and volatility. Such is the case for Johnson, who struggled two weeks ago to drop out of the rankings but came roaring back with stellar play and six consecutive victories that have everybody taking notice of what's happening in the A-T-L. In the week that the Hawks secured the best record in the league, Johnson averaged 28.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
4. Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets (8-3)
Last Week's Rank - 6
He brazenly said that no one defender can stop him, and sort of insinuated that no two defenders can stop him. The Toronto Raptors certainly couldn't. In a showdown with Chris Bosh -- who has been evicted from the rankings after three consecutive losses -- Carmelo hit 12 of 15 shots and scored 32 points. Please let's hope Nuggets coach George Karl is joking when he says he'd consider bringing back Allen Iverson.
5. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks (9-3)
Last Week's Rank - 10
Let's see, he hits the buzzer-beater against Milwaukee in overtime, then has a tip-in near the end of regulation against San Antonio that sends the game into overtime, then scores 11 points in overtime and a season-high 41 to avenge the loss to the Spurs a week earlier. He's at the top of his game right now. He says he sat around for four months this summer to rest his body; it looks like that regimen has worked.
6. LeBron James, Cavaliers (8-4)
Last Week's Rank - 4
A trusted confidante of The Race this week commented: "I just don't like that team. You've got Shaq in the middle. You've got Delonte West's issues. And LeBron just doesn't look comfortable to me." Granted, it would be rather nice to be "uncomfortable" and still average roughly 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds a game. But LeBron's barrage of poor play in the second half against Washington attests to the confidante's observation: Something seems a bit amiss in Cleveland. Having said that, being able to dunk left-handed like that is rather mesmerizing.
7. Dwyane Wade, Heat (7-4)
Last Week's Rank - 5
It's a difficult call with this Wade character. The Miami Heat have lost two of their past three games -- including at home to Oklahoma City -- and should have lost three in a row except for Wade's 3-pointer at the buzzer that kept New Jersey winless. Isn't that what an MVP does and is supposed to do? On the other hand, is there any way a Wade-led team should even be within two seconds of losing to the Nets? Plus, the Heat got thumped by Joe Johnson and Atlanta, a game in which Wade missed 12 of his 18 shots.
8. Paul Pierce, Celtics (9-3)
Last Week's Rank - 3
Pierce is admittedly the most confounding of players to rank because his numbers are never eye-popping, yet his team has one of the best records in the league. He averages only 18.4 points and 4.8 rebounds, yet he commands the most attention on the 9-3 Celtics. Having said that, Boston also lost twice last week, including a game to Indiana when Pierce scored only 15 points on 4 of 10 shooting.
9. Brandon Roy, Blazers (9-4)
Last Week's Rank - 8
No other player among The Race's Top 10 has been as topsy turvy as Roy. He scored 42 against Houston this year, but also had just two points in a win over Minnesota. How does a team's best player score just two points in 26 minutes in a blowout victory? Yet, his team recently went on a six-game win streak and he is the focal point of most defenses. He has a well-rounded game of 20.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Plus, he has the endorsement of Paul Allen, not an easy thing to get.
10. Brandon Jennings, Bucks (6-3)
Last Week's Rank - N/A
Who knows how long Jennings will be included among The Race's mainstays? But The Race voted for Kobe for MVP the year he scored 81, so some similar recognition must be devoted to Jennings' 55, which included 29 in a quarter. Can you say Sleepy Floyd? Incredibly, Jennings is 12th in the league in scoring, plus dishes five assists a game. We'll jump on the bandwagon for now but are careful not to go too crazy.
1. Steve Nash, Suns (10-3)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 13 | 33.3 | 16.8 | 2.6 | 11.8 | 0.2 | 0.2 | .506 | .440 | .929 |
For the third consecutive week, The Race has a new frontrunner. While Kobe Bryant, last week's No. 1, lost consecutive games to Houston and Denver, Nash led his team on a trifecta of success, allowing the Suns to garner the second-best record in the NBA. Nash had 16 assists against Houston, bolstering his league-leading 11.8 figure, and 23 points against Toronto. Even in a loss to New Orleans Thursday night, Nash had a double-double of 13 points and 10 assists.
2. Kobe Bryant, Lakers (9-3)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 12 | 38.1 | 30.2 | 5.2 | 3.3 | 2.1 | 0.2 | .474 | .192 | .861 |
The Race found it rather humorous when Kobe was asked about his reaction to losing to Houston and he deadpanned, "Mortified." Who knew he had such a dry sense of humor? He probably feels the same mortification about slipping in these rankings. But what's The Race to do when Kobe goes only 5-for-20 from the field and scores just 18 in the loss to Trevor Ariza's new team? Having said that, he also became only the third player in NBA history to have triple-digit 40-point games in his career, behind only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Jordan. And speaking of Kareem, Kobe passed him as the Lakers' No. 2 all-time scorer and now has 24,182 career points.
3. Joe Johnson, Hawks (10-2)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 12 | 37.9 | 23.6 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 0.8 | 0.1 | .464 | .345 | .870 |
The good and the bad thing about The Race's early rankings are that players can jump in and out and up and down with alarming frequency and volatility. Such is the case for Johnson, who struggled two weeks ago to drop out of the rankings but came roaring back with stellar play and six consecutive victories that have everybody taking notice of what's happening in the A-T-L. In the week that the Hawks secured the best record in the league, Johnson averaged 28.8 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.5 assists.
4. Carmelo Anthony, Nuggets (8-3)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 11 | 35.6 | 29.9 | 5.8 | 3.0 | 1.6 | 0.4 | .468 | .360 | .847 |
He brazenly said that no one defender can stop him, and sort of insinuated that no two defenders can stop him. The Toronto Raptors certainly couldn't. In a showdown with Chris Bosh -- who has been evicted from the rankings after three consecutive losses -- Carmelo hit 12 of 15 shots and scored 32 points. Please let's hope Nuggets coach George Karl is joking when he says he'd consider bringing back Allen Iverson.
5. Dirk Nowitzki, Mavericks (9-3)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 12 | 38.5 | 27.5 | 9.3 | 2.6 | 1.1 | 1.6 | .447 | .364 | .902 |
Let's see, he hits the buzzer-beater against Milwaukee in overtime, then has a tip-in near the end of regulation against San Antonio that sends the game into overtime, then scores 11 points in overtime and a season-high 41 to avenge the loss to the Spurs a week earlier. He's at the top of his game right now. He says he sat around for four months this summer to rest his body; it looks like that regimen has worked.
6. LeBron James, Cavaliers (8-4)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 12 | 37.8 | 28.3 | 6.6 | 8.1 | 1.7 | 0.8 | .516 | .364 | .774 |
A trusted confidante of The Race this week commented: "I just don't like that team. You've got Shaq in the middle. You've got Delonte West's issues. And LeBron just doesn't look comfortable to me." Granted, it would be rather nice to be "uncomfortable" and still average roughly 28 points, eight assists and six rebounds a game. But LeBron's barrage of poor play in the second half against Washington attests to the confidante's observation: Something seems a bit amiss in Cleveland. Having said that, being able to dunk left-handed like that is rather mesmerizing.
7. Dwyane Wade, Heat (7-4)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 11 | 38.6 | 27.6 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 2.1 | 1.2 | .431 | .267 | .772 |
It's a difficult call with this Wade character. The Miami Heat have lost two of their past three games -- including at home to Oklahoma City -- and should have lost three in a row except for Wade's 3-pointer at the buzzer that kept New Jersey winless. Isn't that what an MVP does and is supposed to do? On the other hand, is there any way a Wade-led team should even be within two seconds of losing to the Nets? Plus, the Heat got thumped by Joe Johnson and Atlanta, a game in which Wade missed 12 of his 18 shots.
8. Paul Pierce, Celtics (9-3)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 12 | 34.5 | 18.4 | 4.8 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 0.3 | .511 | .478 | .809 |
Pierce is admittedly the most confounding of players to rank because his numbers are never eye-popping, yet his team has one of the best records in the league. He averages only 18.4 points and 4.8 rebounds, yet he commands the most attention on the 9-3 Celtics. Having said that, Boston also lost twice last week, including a game to Indiana when Pierce scored only 15 points on 4 of 10 shooting.
9. Brandon Roy, Blazers (9-4)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 13 | 36.7 | 20.3 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 0.3 | 0.2 | .448 | .370 | .830 |
No other player among The Race's Top 10 has been as topsy turvy as Roy. He scored 42 against Houston this year, but also had just two points in a win over Minnesota. How does a team's best player score just two points in 26 minutes in a blowout victory? Yet, his team recently went on a six-game win streak and he is the focal point of most defenses. He has a well-rounded game of 20.4 points, 4.8 rebounds and 5.1 assists. Plus, he has the endorsement of Paul Allen, not an easy thing to get.
10. Brandon Jennings, Bucks (6-3)
| G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
| 9 | 34.8 | 24.8 | 5.8 | 4.7 | 1.1 | 0.2 | .477 | .558 | .786 |
Who knows how long Jennings will be included among The Race's mainstays? But The Race voted for Kobe for MVP the year he scored 81, so some similar recognition must be devoted to Jennings' 55, which included 29 in a quarter. Can you say Sleepy Floyd? Incredibly, Jennings is 12th in the league in scoring, plus dishes five assists a game. We'll jump on the bandwagon for now but are careful not to go too crazy.
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