This article has been submitted by Trevor Smith

TSmith here, way too early to mention, with live coverage of USA-Greece. This will be the first true test for the Redeem Team. So far, the Americans look terrific, but not unbeatable. They have gone 13-0 in international play since they lost to these same Greeks in the World Championship Semis back in 2006. In that game, Greece ran nearly 800 pick-and-roll plays and Team USA has had its sights focused on this game this the Olympic schedule was first announced.

It’s the first test for Dream Team II. Can they exact revenge? Can they stay perfect? Will anyone else be awake to read this? Follow along with the ODC’s live coverage to find out.

8:04am

1:25 into the game and JKidd has 3 fouls. Surely he is done for the first half…and my coffee hasn’t even finished brewing.

8:05am

Kobe is called for perhaps the strangest intentional foul I’ve seen all tournament. Mamba/The Doberman cannot be happy

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Last week, I posted a link to Hoops Addict’s Floor Burn Tournament, a tournament appreciating under-heralded players from around the league. Trev Smith and I both participated, and while my selection of Damien Wilkins for Oklahoma City has not moved on to round two, I thought I should post a link anyways. Ya…Damien Wilkins…OKC…what were my chances?

Anyways, here it is.

And to cap our week off, T-Smith threw down yet another Stats 101 article over at Hoops Addict. This time he examines defensive stats, from opponent FG% to defensive efficiency.

Holler at it!

Ryan from Hoops Addict hatched an idea that fits in really well with what we do here at The ODC - appreciating the otherwise underappreciated. With that in mind, Ryan created the Hoops Addict Floor Burn Tournament, where bloggers representing every team in the NBA (via team-specific blogs, usually) nominate a ‘hustle/energy/Gary Roberts Wednesday’ player to participate in a tournament to crown the Floor Burn Champion. Obviously, I took part (representing Oklahoma City…for whatever reason). Trev Smith also participated (representing Golden State instead of his beloved Lakers, though he got a Lakers plug in nonetheless).

Anyways, check it out and vote for your favorite in each match up by August 11, when the next round will begin.

Trev was back at it defending his boy Kobe Bean after Paul Pierce claimed to a Spanish basketball reporter that he, not Kobe or LeBron or anyone else, was the best baller on the planet. The Truth no more, I say.

Check it out!

This article has been submitted by Trevor Smith

To: Management Group, Atlanta Hawks

Thank you.
Thank you for being the biggest joke in NBA. Thank you for operating a professional team that makes the Clippers look perceptive and organized by comparison. Thank you for staring relevance and notability in the face and somehow still managing to bring forth embarrassment, misfortune and humiliation instead. In other words, thanks for being you

In allowing us to sign Josh Childress to a three-year, $20 million contract, you have showed once again why your organization is annually in the running for the title of “Worst Governed Franchise in American Sports”. This is the NBA. Talented players are not supposed to leave during the prime of their career to play in Europe, no matter how strong the Euro is. This is the best league in the world. One would leave only when a team such as yourselves show them complete lack of respect and interest during the negotiation process under the belief that their status as a ‘restricted free agent’ means the player does not have options. Evidently, they do. Ask Delfino, Brezec, or Navarro. Perhaps even The Machine will be leaving Stateside if the Lakers do not give him more cash. But the difference is that those players are not starters, much less stars, and the majority of them are not young. They are either from Europe or have played their already, and for them being the star on a European roster outranks being a 9th man in the NBA. But Childress was a 6th man, and sometimes starter, and is an American. His leaving sends a deafening message (as might Delonte West’s in Cleveland): That your organization’s in-house issues are such that you can’t even keep a young Yankee around is fantastically pathetic.

Even in the NHL, players only decamp from the league for Russia if they are at the end of their career (Jagr) or have zero market value (Emery). Meanwhile, you somehow have managed to send packing a 25-year old player whose as a sixth man had a 17.84 PER ranking (we Greeks love Hollinger).

Only you could turn a surprising playoff push and a memorable duel with the eventual-champion Celtics into drivel and crap months later. Only you could hate your fanbase, lowly that is it, that much. So my hat is off to you gentlemen. You have set a new low.

I leave you to wallow in your own crap-ulence.

Signed,
Socratis Kokkalis
President, Olympiacos B.C.

This article has been submitted by Trevor Smith.

Last time on BKAF, we took a look at Kaka and thus delved the world of AC Milan, my adopted team. My year abroad saw me frequent the San Siro on numerous occasions, most notably for their upset of Manchester United en route to a European title. How long ago that success now seems: not only were the Rossoneri eliminated in the First Knockout Round of the Champions League by Arsenal, but the team finished a lowly fifth in Serie A and thus lost its place to compete for next year’s European Cup (instead they will try for the inferior UEFA Cup).

So, why mention the club again if they are in such disarray? The answer lies in a certain attacking midfielder from Porto Alegre, Brazil: the esteemed Ronaldinho. Thanks to the deep pockets of billionaire Silvio Berlusconi, the former FIFA World Player of the Year will be joining Milan this fall (following his transfer from Barcelona for $34 million CDN). It is not every day that one’s favorite club acquires a player with other-worldly touch and 126 career club goals, so indulge me in profiling Milan’s latest savior via comparison to a star back from that other football…LaDainian Tomlinson.
More after the jump!

This article has been submitted by Trevor Smith.

“You’ve changed things… forever. There’s no going back. See, to them, you’re just a freak.” – The Joker

It comes as no great surprise to those that know me that I have a small number of things for which my enthusiasm is borderline obsessive. Chief among these compulsions are basketball and comic books. My preoccupation with both started at a young age and resonates to this day. Interestingly enough, there is a central figure in each domain that drives the engine of my fixation. For roundball, it is Kobe Bryant. For literary devotion, it is the Batman. Call it what you will: man-crushes, fan-boy drive, or just someone in need of a new girlfriend. Regardless, this faithfulness has served me well. With The Dark Knight arriving in theatres today, it seemed appropriate that I finally put forth a contention I have reserved in private for some time: that when scrutinized and studied, Kobe Bryant’s narrative can be bracketed with that of Gotham’s protector.
More after the jump!

Last week, Trev looked at shooting percentage, effective shooting percentage, and true shooting percentage in the frame of team basketball. This time, he breaks down these ABPRmetric stats in terms of individual players.

Check it out!

Trev took a page from my book and went with the numbers game for his latest Hoops Addict piece, a look at the difference between shooting %, effective shooting %, and true shooting %. I’m a big TS% fan, so I enjoyed it.

Check it out!