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I’ve known for a while that the NBA was coming to Europe in its off-season.

In October, the New Jersey Nets are facing up to the Miami Heat in a game at the O2 Arena.

After last night’s draft, with the Heat acquiring number two pick Michael Beasley, I had a look at how much tickets to this event would cost. Bare in mind that this is only a pre-season game with no baring on the league standings at all. With that being said, the stars of the show like Dwayne Wade and Vince Carter will probably see minimal minutes in a bid to use them in games that actually matter.

Tickets to this showpiece cost anywhere between £30 in the very worst seats to £250 courtside.

£30 isn’t so bad, but when there is an “additional note” that says “seats located on Level 4 (Upper Tier, Upper Bowl) are not recommended for those who have a fear of heights” I’m thinking fuck that. Probably won’t be able to see the ball from those dizzying heights.

Lower tier seats ranged from £70-90 - but if I’m picking up two tickets that’s a massive hole in my pocket. Especially for a pre-season game.

Atleast the NFL, which is visiting Wembley again later this year, deploys an exhibition game which has an actual knock-on effect on the league. I’m gutted I didn’t go down and catch the Giants v the Dolphins last year, and I don’t know enough about the Colts and whoever else is playing at Wembley this year. Certainly not enough to shell out near £100 for those tickets too.

To put this in perspective, you can pick up a New York Knicks season ticket for as little as $250. And that’s 44 home games. For just over £120. So, I could pick up two Knicks season tickets, albeit not the greatest seats, in Madison Square Garden for as much as a single courtside seat at the O2 Arena (infact probably not even courtside because courtside will probably be sold off privately to sports stars/celebrities).

Doing the maths, that’s like £3 a game in the Garden.

Jesus.

Even in football, a ticket at Manchester United, Chelsea or Arsenal can cost well over £50 - whereas I think the cheapest season ticket available at Inter Milan last time I checked (so a standard just as good) was less than £90. Why is everything so fucking expensive in England?

I guess it goes without saying that I won’t be attending the Nets/Heat game in October. Which is a shame, but fuck it, I’ll catch some NBA games when I can eventually afford to get out to the States.

Boston Celtics 131-92 L.A. Lakers

Not a bad way to win their first NBA title since 1986 is it?

The TD Banknorth Garden in Boston was the setting for the Celtics to record a 4-2 series victory of the Lakers last night.

I hastily admit that I haven’t caught any of the playoff games in full this year. Finishing my degree has been far too testing, and staying up until 4am or later every night to catch the NBA has been a luxury I can’t afford.

However, I’ve been following the NBA all season, as my beloved New York Knicks struggled to record 20 wins in the regular season, the Celtics boasted an astonishing record of 66 wins to 16 defeats. 35-6 at home, and perhaps more impressively, 31-10 on their travels. If they hadn’t gone on to win the playoffs and the championship I would have been a little bit disappointed to be honest.

There was talk in the close-season that Garnett was leaving the Timberwolves. Some said the Knicks, and I was excited, but it turned out to be the Celtics. And it was a hell of a team that they put together in the 2007-08 season. Ray Allen, an 11-year veteran, and Paul Pierce, the finals MVP and 9 year veteran, would form a trio with Garnett that would dominate the NBA in every way.

The Lakers were good, sure they were. But it’s always been said that in the playoffs the teams made up of one sole superstar will always be caught out. This was true last year when the Cavs rode LeBron’s back all the way to the final only to get mauled by the Spurs. And although the Lakers boast a couple of other good players, like Gasol, it can’t be argued that Kobe is the man in that particular team.

The same can’t be said for Boston. That’s the reason Garnett hasn’t received MVP mentions this year - because the whole team has been shining, not just the one player.

It’s astonishing that the Celtics, who finished 24-58 last season, could make such a transformation and hit the ground running in 07-08. But everybody knows the three players that are to thank.

And of course, there’s the coach too, Doc Rivers, who made all the right moves after a disastrous 2006-07 campaign, and continued to make excellent coaching decisions up until and even throughout the finals of 2008.

It’s Rivers’ ninth season as an NBA head coach, and his first ever NBA title - but he wasn’t the only one who waited so long. It was Garnett’s first NBA title in his 13th season, Ray Allen’s first in his 12th season and Paul Pierce’s first in his 10th NBA season.

I should hate the Celtics being a Knicks fan, but they’ve simply been far too good this year, and I’m chuffed for Garnett, Pierce and Allen, who have waited a long time and deserve to be NBA Champs.

And to be honest, unless some of the other teams in the league make big trades, I expect them to be there again next season.

It’s about time that “the smiling assassin” left the Garden.

News broke yesterday that, after tieing the franchise record of 59 losses in a single season, Isiah Thomas will no longer be head coach of the Knicks next season.

The news was hardly unexpected. Knicks fans have questionned this mans integrity for years. Unhappy with every trade he made, unhappy with treatment of players, the sexual harassment trial wasn’t exactly helpful… we could go on and on. Infact the only thing Isiah was really good at was picking a good suit.

When New Yorker Donnie Walsh was brought in as President of Basketball Operations at the start of April, everybody saw this as the end of Isiah. Walsh didn’t comment about Thomas’ position, or whether Thomas would remain at Madison Square Garden, and even now it seems that Isiah could stick around in some kind of invisible position behind the scenes.

Why should he though? This is a guy who, in the following seasons, has brought the Knicks records of 23-59, 33-49, 23-59 and 33-49. Why does he deserve to stick around? He’s had his time, and despite claims that he can bring Championships to New York the only evidence around Isiah is that he can bring bad players to the Knicks franchise.

Now I don’t know Donnie Walsh too well, but the Knicks fans for the most part seem happy with his appointment. He’s been voted NBA Executive of the Year before, and is apparently one of the leading directers in the NBA. In his last 17 years with the Pacers they reached the playoffs 16 times. A remarkable record. Now while Walsh isn’t directly responsible for results as a coach, he has a say on trades and draft picks and apparently (I say this because my knowledge of the past NBA generations isn’t astounding) is rather good.

So Knicks fans shouldn’t be expecting miracles, but they should be expecting better than Isiah.

It will be interesting to see how the draft turns out. The Knicks have a 7% chance of getting one of the top two picks in the draft lottery, and you would expect that could really set them up for a good season.

Likewise, expect plenty of trades this off-season. Knicks fans hope for it every year - get some of the ’stars’ out, get the wage cap down, and bring in some players that can defend. At the moment our two big men, Randolph and Curry in particular, aren’t winning any games on defence even if they are putting up good numbers on the opposite end of the court. Marbury as well, do the Knicks really need him? Are they ever going to win a championship with Marbury as point guard? I doubt it. The only problem is which NBA franchise would be dumb enough to take him on his salary?

Who knows. I’ll enjoy the playoffs and look forward to seeing what Walsh does before the 08/09 season starts.

The NBA regular season drew to a close last night. The Knicks, my team of choice, finished in a dismal tie for 5th worst team in the league, but as always I’m looking forward to the playoffs now in the knowledge that I will atleast be guaranteed some good b-ball.

Boston blitzed the Eastern conference this year, after acquiring Kevin Garnett in a trade last summer, whilst the Lakers cruised to victory in the Western conference with Kobe Bryant drawing all of the plaudits (and probably an MVP award too).

Here’s how the stage is set for the playoffs:

Eastern Conference:
Boston (#1) v Atlanta (#8)
Detroit (#2) v Philadelphia (#7)
Orlando (#3) v Toronto (#6)
Cleveland (#4) v Washington (#5)

Western Conference:
L.A. Lakers (#1) v Denver (#8)
New Orleans (#2) v Dallas (#7)
San Antonio (#3) v Phoenix (#6)
Utah (#4) v Houston (#5)

No playoff places for New York, New Jersey, Miami (surprisingly), Seattle or the Chicago Bulls.

Whilst those teams concentrate on the close-season, the rest of the teams are already looking towards the draft… and here’s how the current draft positions stand…

#1 Miami (25% chance of getting the 1st pick in the lottery)
#2 Seattle (19.9% chance)
#3 Minnesota (15.6% chance)
#4 Memphis (11.9% chance)
#5 (tie) New York
#5 (tie) Los Angeles Clippers (each will have at least a 7.5% chance, with a random drawing determining which one will have a 7.6% chance, and a random drawing to determine which one will be in the official #5 position - meaning #8 would be the worst they could pick, and which one will be in the official #6 position - meaning #9 would be the worst they could pick)
#7 Milwaukee (4.3% chance)
#8 Charlotte (2.8% chance)
#9 Chicago (1.7% chance)
#10 New Jersey (1.1% chance)
#11 Indiana (0.8% chance)
#12 Sacramento (0.7% chance)
#13 Portland (0.6% chance)
#14 Golden State (0.5% chance)

Don’t even get me started on why New York have started to pick their form up when they could have opted to carry on as normal and slide down the league for a top draft pick…

Looking at the playoffs… in the East; Boston and Detroit will walk over Atalanta and Philly respectively. I fancy Orlando to beat Toronto, but that could go either way, and the Cleveland/Washington tie is too close to call. I hope Cleveland will be the team that advance, purely so I can see more of LeBron, but Baron Davis is another favourite player of mine so I won’t be hugely disappointed if they qualify for the next round.

In the West; the Lakers will walk Denver. Despite finishing in 7th place, Dallas will most likely give New Orleans a run for their money. The same for San Antonio and Phoenix. Since acquring Shaq the Suns have owned the Spurs in their division. Suns/Spurs ties are always a pleasure to watch so I’ll be catching as many of these as I can. My tip to go through? Probably the Suns actually, despite finishing in lowly sixth place. After that Houston (#5) to beat Utazh (#4) me thinks.

No doubt I’ll be proved wrong on a number of those when the playoffs roll around!

In terms of the race for MVP, there are three names on everybody’s lips - Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul and Kevin Garnett. Garnett is going to receive a fair few votes for MVP, but I think it’s unlikely that he’ll get it because he’s missed a lot of games and the Celtics team is actually littered with good players so when Garnett has been absent the team have still managed to cope.

Chris Paul has had an exceptional season, almost resurrecting a franchise and a devastated city. He leads the league in both assists and steals, and is tipped by a lot of people to be voted in at numero uno, although I would question whether that is distain for Kobe Bryant or genuine belief that Paul has been the BEST player in the league this year.

Kobe, though, will most likely snatch MVP. Why? Well he has led his team to the no.1 spot in the Western conference, which we must not forget is a hell of a competitive conference. He played a full 82 games (not for the first time either) and for me, it’s about time Kobe won one of these. I’m just surprised he’s never won it before. Especially when he scored 81 in a game two years back. Bryant is the most talented player in the league and he’s proved it, he’s earnt it and after 12 years of service to the NBA it seems like its about time we see him win it.

Most people are quick to point out that MVP awards are handed out on a season-by-season basis, not on merit for previous years, and on that note it’s probably too hard to call between Chris Paul and Bryant.

As the All Star weekend comes to a close, Knicks fans will have enjoyed seeing the best players from the league battle it out with enterprising basketball. This is something that, for the last five years, they have not seen in their home of Madison Square Garden. Why is the league’ssupposed marquee franchise statistically one of the worst teams in the league? There’s only one man to blame: Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas.

During his 13-year playing career Thomas was renowned for defying the odds. Although only 5’ 10”, despite what his official bio claims, in a game where big men dominate Isiah was a point guard that could control the court. He brought two NBA Championships to Detroit and is widelyregarded as one of the best players of all time. He is the Detroit Pistons’ all time leader in points, steals, games played and assists. He ranks fourth in NBA history in assists (9,061) and ranks ninth in NBA history for steals (1,861). So good was Isiah that he was inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame in 2000, the same year that he was eligible.

But the New York Knicks head coach, nicknamed The Smiling Assassin in his playing days, has been with New York two years now and given the franchise nothing to smile about.

The team is currently 16-37 in the 2007-08 season, which is the fifth worst in the league but perhaps more embarrassingly is the fact that they are bottom of the Atlantic Division without a realistic hope of reaching any of their near rivals as the season draws to a close. In fact, it is only Miami’s self-destruction that saves New York from being ranked as the worst team in the whole Eastern Conference this season.

Compare this to New York’s bitter rivals Boston, who last season finished below the Knicks. They are currently 41-10 and leading the way in the East because they acquired 11 time All Star Kevin Garnett. In pre-season there were murmurings around Madison Square Garden that Isiah Thomas might master a trade that would see either “The Big Ticket” Kevin Garnett, or even Kobe Bryant, arrive in the Big Apple. However, the reality is that the Knicks franchise is far from attractive and players like Garnett and Bryant are chasing NBA Championships – something Isiah Thomas cannot deliver.

Knicks fans should be used to disappointment in Isiah’s transfer activity, as he has a history of mystifying decisions. Since Thomas took over Larry Brown’s coaching role in 2006 he has traded away multiple lottery first round picks, including a first rounder in the 2006 NBA Draft, which he forfeited to the Chicago Bulls in a deal to bring Eddy Curry to New York. While Curry is one of the few All-Star candidates at New York, he is also considered to be one of the players holding the team back. More disappointing still is that Thomas traded away their first round pick that year in a draft that was widely regarded as being filled with promising talent. As part of the trade, the Bulls’ received New York’s #9 pick, and Isiah Thomas’ Knicks? Well, they received Chicago’s #23 pick in the draft. Not a wise coaching move for a man who has been vocal about the importance of bringing in youth.

If that wasn’t enough, how about his decision on draft day 2007 to bring in Zach Randolph from the Portland Trail Blazers at the cost of Steve Francis and Channing Frye. The Knicks also received Fred Jones and Dan Dickau in that trade, but only Randolph has been a first team regular at the Garden. Just as he did with the Bulls in 2006, Isiah also traded away a number of draft picks that day, so despite being the fifth worst team in the NBA, the Knicks would have entered the draft lottery with a great chance to acquire the next LeBron James or Kobe Bryant – instead they have to forfeit that pick as they did the previous year.

Isiah Thomas has also brought a fair share of embarrassment and ridicule to New York too. Despite already being a laughing stock of the NBA for having the highest wage bill, some $20-30 million over the salary cap, and one of the worst teams in the league, it seems Isiah couldn’t do the franchise any more damage. Wrong. In 2006 Thomas was sued for sexual harassment, which resulted in a $11.6 million fine for Knicks’ owner Terry Dolan, one of the largest in sexual harassment judgements in history.

Thomas has also been accused of making racist remarks too. In his sexual harassment trial Anucha Browne-Sanders testified that Thomas had told her, he did not care about these “****ing white people” or these “****ing season ticket holders.”

Before joining the Knicks, Thomas seemed a fairly promising coach, he took Indianapolis to the playoffs every year between 2000 and 2003, losing in the first round each time, and he gained a reputation for being able to spot promising talent. Each season he led Indianapolis to 40+ wins, and never did they lose more games than they won.

If only that were the case for the Knicks.

In his first season as Knicks coach Isiah had a return of 33-49, which almost secured them a playoff place. This season, they sit at the foot of the Eastern Conference with a measly 16-37 scratching their heads without a clue what to do next.

The Knicks are supposed to be the league’s marquee franchise; instead they are footing a bill for an All Star team but playing some of the worst basketball in the whole competition.

The New York Knicks have not won the NBA Championship since 1973, and that statistic doesn’t look like it is going to change any time soon. The nightly chants of “Fire Isiah” are not a new phenomenon; in fact people have been asking when Isiah will leave rather than if he will leave for quite some time. This Knicks fan wonders why Terry Dolan persists with a guy who was clearly one of the greatest players of all time but far from a great coach? The franchise is going nowhere with Thomas – his team can’t win and his trades have prevented the team from acquiring any talented young players. It is all the more confusing because living in Britain we are used to the managerial merry-go-round of the Premiership, yet despite running this franchise into the ground Thomas just can’t seem to lose his job.

Why?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the NBA’s highest scoring player of all time and six time MVP, has joined the ‘blogosphere’.

And it’s a very well written, clever corner of the internet from a guy who is so much more than an NBA great.

Kareem is also a bestselling author as well as a basketball coach and actor nowadays.

Check out his blog over at the LA Times.

People are saying a lot about this trade, and rightly so, after all it’s a trade that sees 14-time All Star Shaq swap places with 4-time All Star Shawn Marion. Personally I don’t get it - the Suns play good basketball and Shawn Marion is a part of that. They’re a run-and-gun team and Shaq is an old man whose body is fading fast. He can’t race up the court like the rest of the team. The only advantage I see from this trade is that the Suns will have a little more presence against the big men (Tim Duncan anyone?) when the playoffs roll around.

Here’s what the experts are saying…

“The Suns want Shaq because they need defense. More specifically, they need defense in the likely event they run across the man who’s been kryptonite for them in the postseason: Tim Duncan.” - Austin Burton, Dime Magazine.

“His 325-pound plus body is suffering the consequences of his 16-year career with hip, knee and ankle problems that have rendered him just a shadow of his former self – although it is that very large shadow that still makes him attractive to the Suns to take a big rip at the wide open 2008 title. Obviously the feeling is if they can prop him up for minor minutes until late in the season, he could be the deciding factor in the playoffs.” - Mike Kahn, FOX Sports.

“In a recent phone call to Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal assured the Phoenix Suns’ All-Star point guard, “I won’t let you down.” If O’Neal passes his physical, which should take place sometime around 4 p.m. ET this afternoon, he will get the chance to prove that is true.” - Jack McCallum, Sports Illustrated.

“As long as the Phoenix Suns linger as that championship-free franchise in the desert, they will continue to regret making a trade for a broken-down Shaquille O’Neal. Between going for it, and sheer desperation, there is the finest line. What happened to believing in Mike D’Antoni’s system? What happened to believing speed and finesse could deliver a championship?” - Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports.

“Say what you want about Pat Riley handling two high-end jobs. But in his role as Heat president, he has made more money disappear than Enron. Suddenly, $50 million for 2 1/2 seasons of Shaquille O’Neal seems like market value, a contract fitting of the championship productivity delivered. Riley is like that annoying uncle who, when you’re eight, rips up that dollar bill and makes the pieces vanish into thin air. Does anybody in the NBA make money disappear better?” - Ira Winderman, Miami Sun-Sentinal.

“So is this really why Amare Stoudemire changed his number from 32 to 1? That’s some foresight. And that’s some set of, um, nerves that your first-year Suns general manager is showing.” - Paul Coro, Arizona Republic.

“It’s a go-for-broke gamble for the Suns, who have enjoyed enormous success with an unorthodox, fast-paced style of play that nonetheless has left them exposed in the more halfcourt-oriented postseason and thus without a championship for their trouble. GM Steve Kerr and coach Mike D’Antoni are betting that even a vastly diminished Shaq – who is struggling with a hip injury and declining physical abilities – can provide a post-up presence against the likes of Yao Ming, Tim Duncan, Tyson Chandler, and Andrew Bynum (when he returns from a knee injury).” - Ken Berger, New York Newsday.

“The Suns had bad chemistry in the locker room before today and something needed to be done. Shaquille O’Neal is not the answer.” - Doug Smith, Toronto Star.

General consensus is that Shaq is an old man with an old body - but he gives the Suns another dimension - albeit nowhere near as effective as it used to be! And for Miami, well they free up a tonne of cap space and can start to build a new team because lets face it their season has been incredibly shitty. So… can Shaq help bring the NBA Championship to Pheonix? What do you think?

My NBA education continues; last night I took in my first NBA draft. I stayed up and watched all the build up of the draft, as well as the opening hour before switching channels to watch Argentina v USA in the Copa America. I’ve been following the Oden/Durant media circus for a while now. Oden looks like the real deal, and I’ll be watching him eagerly at Portland, whereas Durant seems an equally good pick. The whole concept of the draft is so exciting – especially compared to other sports like football where you’re lucky if you get 60 decent transfers in a pre-season, never mind in one night.

I wasn’t so keen on all the interviews with mothers, and the tedious questions they asked the draftees. I thought it was pretty harsh them asking Durant why he should be the #2 pick if he can’t bench press a certain weight – when most others in the draft pool could (surely if he does his thing on the court it doesn’t matter what he can bench press?). All the players answered politely and graciously. For a football fan it was a strange, but welcome, change from the bickering and sly digs between players/clubs that come to light when transfer speculation arises.

I was quite disappointed that the Knicks had traded away their #9 first round pick in the Eddy Curry trade last year, as well as their second round pick to Portland, leaving them with a pretty average #23 first round pick. You can’t really make any waves with a pick that late in the draft – but Knicks GM Isiah Thomas made a few moves last night, all whilst I’d flicked over to watch Argentina (gutted! All the action for ‘my team’ came when I turned over!).

After drafting DePaul sophomore small forward Wilson Chandler at #23 in the first round, they traded Channing Frye and Steve Francis to Portland in return for power forward Zach Randolph as well as guards Fred Jones and Dan Dickau. But they weren’t finished there, the Knicks also managed to acquire the draft rights for Demetris Nichols (but surrendered their 2008 second round draft pick in doing so). What does this mean? Well the Knicks managed to bring in four players from Portland, in exchange for two, after already getting Wilson Chandler in the draft.

I’m not going to lie. I know almost jack shit about these players, I’ve only really been following the NBA for a few years now and Portland haven’t really been on my regular scouting list (although they may be now with Oden!). Much is being written about Randolph, many Knicks fans feel he may be the addition that makes us playoff contenders. His career high 23.6 points-per-game last season was ranked at 12th in the league (not bad) and at 25 he’s still got plenty of time to improve on that. I’ve read nothing but good things about his game on offense, much like Curry, but also similar to Curry there’s much written about a lack of defensive ability. But most are in agreement that Curry/Randolph is a good look. While still coming to terms with a lot of the terms and tactics of basketball, I’m simply left with a ‘wait and see’ attitude.

Dickau and Jones are both five year NBA vets, so their experience will be valued. I’m a little sceptical about what this means in terms of our guards – Dickau/Jones join Marburry, Crawford, Richardson and Nate Robinson as Knicks guards. Some might say 6 Guards for 2 spots isn’t cramped, but it just means Nate Robinson will see less of the court, and I love Nate Robinson. The little guy is so entertaining to watch. Although Nate averaged 20 mins-per-game last year, so I guess he’ll still get involved.

Can’t say I know much about Chandler. Watched a short youtube vid of a college game he was involved in, but couldn’t really draw much from it at all. He’s 20-years-old and averaged 14.6 points-per-game as a sophomore last season. Scouts describe him as having ‘exceptional leaping ability’ and he is known to be a good rebounder and defender (something the Knicks need). He’s 6ft 8 and 230lbs.

If I knew little about Chandler, I know NOTHING of Demetris Nichols. Having read up on him I now know Nichols, like Chandler, is a 6ft 8 forward. He’ll be 23 by the time the new season rolls around. Scouts describe him as “doing most of his damage from long range, but he’s improved as a mid-range shooter as a senior.” They also write that he’s a good athlete who’s quick off the floor, but needs to develop more of an ‘in-between game’. I’d be lying if I said I fully understood that. Like I said, some of the terms haven’t quite registered yet.

What I’ve drawn from this is that with Curry/Randolph the Knicks will basically look to pound the ball inside and outscore teams in the paint. Basically just two big, strong, aggressive dudes who are gonna be hard to deal with from a defensive perspective. The guards we got from Portland just seem to be squad players, fodder in the trade rather than part of the bigger picture, yet Chandler and Nichols have got very kind words from Isiah Thomas – so I guess Randolph, Chandler and Nichols could all bring something to New York for next season. Hopefully that something is a playoff spot.

All in all, it seems this was a pretty decent night for the Knicks. They went into tonight with one late pick in the first round. What they left with was a pair of draftees (including their original one), and they managed to shift some dead wood (Francis/Frye) to bring in three new players.

Read Isiah Thomas’ thoughts on draft night by clicking HERE.

Wasn’t expecting the 4-0 landslide victory that the Spurs managed in 2007’s NBA finals, even though a lot of other people were. I was hoping and expecting big performances from LeBron James, who I thought could win one or two games by himself - as he has in the previous rounds. But it was Tony Parker who took centre stage in this series, and it’s a refreshing change that he got Finals MVP because I was fully expecting Duncan to get it even though Parker was CLEARLY the best player in pretty much every game.

Well played to Parker and the Spurs. Now I really have run out of sports to watch until August/September… Surely Wimbledon’s not too far away?