web analytics
<
Tag Archive - Craig Brackins

NBA Outsourcing – Craig Brackins Is Done In Israel

November 19, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from byron.manley via Flickr

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming to inform you that the Craig Brackins-Maccabi Ashdod marriage is over.

Various outlets (both links in Hebrew) throughout Israeli media are reporting that the forward is done playing in Israel, after 4 league games in which he totaled 55 points and 21 boards. Apparently, Brackins was subsequently offered to Israeli clubs Bnei HaSharon/Herzelia (who have twice seen NBA players get away, struck once by Trevor Booker’s injury and once by J.J. Hickson’s attitude) and Barak Netanya (currently winless in league play), but both teams declined to bring in the Iowa State product. Brackins has reportedly drawn interest from some teams in Spain, but it is unclear whether he will indeed pick up a second home country on his international tour.

The official position from the team is that Brackins’s initial contract has expired, and with former Xavier big man Josh Duncan (whom Brackins originally replaced) returning from a 2 month injury, Brackins was no longer needed. A roughly translated version of the original press release goes:

“Ashdod thanks its player Craig Brackins who came to help the team during the injury period of its player [Josh] Duncan, who is now healthy and ready to play. The team thanks Brackins for his service, on the court and off of it, and wishes him luck in the future”.

Assuming there were no behind-the-scenes issues with Brackins’s behavior (always possible, though I doubt it), this says very little about Brackins and much more about the system in which he played.

Brackins was tied with Josh Carter in second place on the team scoring list with 13.8 a night, but his shooting was wildly inconsistent. He shot 44.7% from the field and 35.7% from three, and only shot 6 free throws in all 4 games combined, for a harsh true shooting percentage of 50.3%. Hardly the  sort of production that one expects to get from an NBA player whose best skill is supposedly at his best shooting the ball. Furthermore, Duncan has already played for Ashdod last year and was very effective in the paint – an area where Brackins, despite his athleticism, has never excelled at.

Israeli league rules dictate that teams can only register 4 non-Israeli players every game. With dynamic Kentucky product Ramel Bradley serving as the team’s best player so far, Alex Tyus in the midst of converting to Judaism which could eventually give him an Israeli passport, Duncan returning and Josh Carter player very well, passing over a player whose long term prospects are in a different league is an understandable move.

In his short Israeli tenure, Brackins was solid, but he wasn’t spectacular – despite the marketing he brings as an NBA name, that sort of return just doesn’t vindicate the effort involved. It’s the same dilemma we’ve seen world round, with the likes of DeJuan Blair, Alonzo Gee, and DaJuan Summers leaving their European foster clubs, and it’s a dilemma we’ll continue to see – alongside imported successes such as Deron Williams, Andrei Kirilenko, Nicolas Batum, and whoever chooses to join them – as long as this lockout still lives.

NBA Outsourcing – Week 6

November 17, 2011 in by with 2 Comments

Photo from Moyan_Brenn via Flickr

First off, an apology. I was mostly detached from the world of basketball this week, and the only game I actually caught live was Hapoel Jerusalem vs. Maccabi Ashdod. However, we won’t tip off with that one, because it’s impossible to go anywhere Israeli basketball without mentioning that Sylven Landesberg is hotter than anti-NBA litigation.

After scoring a combined 61 points in the past two weeks, Landesberg one-upped himself in Maccabi Haifa’s 104-94 win over Barak Netanya. The game was supposed to be notable for being the Haifa debut of former NBAer Qyntel Woods, but the forward who struggled to find any sort of rhythm, finishing with 2 points on 1-5 shooting (though his one made shot was a banked mid-ranger while being fouled after a beautifully executed spin move) and 5 boards in 18 rather passive minutes.

Instead, it was all Sylven, as the swingman went off for 35 and threw in 8 boards for good measure. Landesberg  scored everywhere and in every way – behind the arc (3 for 5), getting to the line (perfect on 10 attempts), and just generally wreaking havoc. Landesberg continues to display major scoring abilities with every passing week, and if this continues, the Israeli national team won’t be the only one who will be very hot after his services.

Landesberg was hardly the only player to score big, though, as the entire game featured very little defense, with the two teams shooting a combined 53% from the field, to go with 70 (!) combined free throw attempts. It was the sort of high-octane business that leads to turbulent scores, and indeed, after an even first half, Netanya ran to a quick double digit lead early in the 3rd behind the hot scoring of Christian Burns (28 on 15 shots, 11 for 11 from the line), Adrian Banks (22 on 12 shots), and Miami product Brian Asbury (21 on 10 shots).

However, behind the trio of Landesberg, Carlos Powell (23 on 7-15 shooting, as well as 5 boards and 5 assists, albeit 6 turnovers) and Sean Williams (who was as Sean Williamsy as always with 16 points on 6-6 shooting, 10 boards, 4 blocks, and – of course – 5 fouls) raced to a dominant 34-19 fourth. Netanya, 4 games into league play, are still winless.

Hapoel Jerusalem hosted Craig Brackins and Maccabi Ashdod on Saturday night, and overcame yet another anemic first half to bang out an 84-73 win. Brackins struggled with his shot, going 5 for 13 from the field for a needed-if-inefficient 15 points, but was flanked by even more inefficiency from Ramel Bradley (21 points, but 5-15 from the field) the insane athleticism of Alex Tyus. I’ve already mentioned that I don’t believe Tyus has much basketball skill beyond jumping, but he jumped like crazy Saturday night, dominating the boards and the air around them all night long. Tyus finished with 16 points and a matching 16 rebounds, with his only forays after the paint manifesting in 2 clanged jumpers. Seriously – 8 made shots, none of them more than 2 feet away.

Hapoel, on the other hand, witnessed the unexpected revival of Luke Jackson. The Oregon product has struggled with a combination of a bad fitting team (it’s hard to be an off-ball shooting threat for a team that is allergic to running plays) and general apathy, but he got open shots and converted, scoring 18 points on 9 shots (5-7 from three). The awkwardly effective small forwards didn’t end there, though, as Dan Grunfeld regained his touch with a solid all-around performance of 14 points, 6 rebounds, and the sort of floor-spacing, defensive positioning, and general smartitude that doesn’t come up in the box score.
D.J. Strawberry had 15 of his own, making 3 of 6 threes, which really makes me wonder how his jumper was so bad that it literally kicked him out of the NBA (though he struggled elsewhere, going 2-6 for 2 point shots and only 2-4 from the line to bring him to a disappointing 67% for the season), and Yuval Naimi did his “bad-first-half-inefficiently-effective-second-half-offense” routine with 11.

Hapoel then started off their Eurocup campaign on the wrong foot, losing 80-71 to Ukranian squad B.C. Donetsk. This game wasn’t broadcasted anywhere, so I couldn’t watch it and this made me very sad. Strawberry was once again the main offensive option, going for 22 on 15 shots, and Naimi added 17 on 13 shots, but apparently, nobody else was much help at all. Randomness alert: Donetsk got 9 points and 7 boards from Darnell Jackson. Hilarious.

Please note that Jarvis Varnado was disturbingly absent from both of these game summaries – though I feel like he’s a very good fit with Brian Randle in the frontcourt, both of them displaying great passing skills down low and elite shot-blocking ability, he totaled only 25 minutes in both games combined. Box scores don’t really tell the story with players of Varnado’s ilk, and I feel like the team’s defense is clearly much better with him, but as long as he continues to get the ball in the post and be expected to create, coach Oded Katash will continue to have an artificial reason to be displeased with him. This, too, makes me sad.

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Jordan Farmar had their bye week in the Israeli league, but they hardly looked rested in a 69-59 win against Belgacom Spirou which was quite disgusting. Farmar struggled after 2 straight elite weeks, making only 2 of 7 shots and registering 5 turnovers. The affair was so horrible that Lior Eliyahu (15) and David Blu (12) were the only two Maccabi players to score in double figures. But the bigger Maccabi news comes from Omri Casspi, who, after months of rumors, finally agreed to re-join his home club if the entire NBA season is canceled. Casspi won’t join the team now, but if (when? WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO US OWNERS) David Stern bangs his gavel one final time, Omri will return home around January. From the Belgian side, it seems Jiri Welsch is terrible no matter where he goes, scoring a whopping 5 points in 30 minutes and still being near-invisible levels pale.

Elsewhere, Bnei HaSharon continues to sink, losing 76-74 to Maccabi HaBik’a. LaceDarius Dunn was typically brilliant, scoring 29 on 15 shots, and Tweety Carter was once again helpful with 21, but with nothing else going on, small forward/everybody’s best friend Danilo Pinnock (19, 8 and 7) sealed the game with a last second floater in the lane. Rashaun Freeman added 19 of his own, on a dominant 9 of 11 shooting. Finally, red-hot Ironi Ashkelon beat Hapoel Holon 91-87, in yet another game that I wish I had actually watched. Stupid lack of league pass for things that aren’t the NBA. Come back, NBA. Come back.

NBA Outsourcing – Week 5

November 10, 2011 in by with 1 Comment

Photo from zackzen via Flickr

The ranks of Israeli-based NBA players took a massive hit this week, with the departure of two of our beloved NBAers.

Bnei HaSharon/Herzelia’s J.J. Hickson got kicked out/left voluntarily this weekend. Hickson played only one game with the team, a 39 point loss which saw J.J. put up good raw numbers to go with a +/- of -44. The following week, Hickson was reportedly late to two straight practices – with some outlets saying that Hickson intentionally skipped out because he wanted to return to the states. Regardless, he was granted his wish. Now it just remains to be seen if Bnei HaSharon can manage to bring back Trevor Booker once he comes back from injury, or if the NBA player thing just isn’t going to work out.

In Hickson’s absence, Bnei HaSharon were once again blown out, 82-59 to Maccabi Rishon LeZion. 23 point losses instead of 39 point losses are progress, and if the NBA lockout has taught us anything, it’s that progress is good.

Hapoel Jerusalem’s Avery Bradley also seems on his way back home. We already mentioned that Bradley was expected to leave last week, a notion which probably wasn’t helped by a tussle of his own in Saturday’s practice, in which he reportedly refused to return to the court after an accidental hit from Dan Grunfeld left him with a bloody lip. Bradley eventually apologized and took place in Jerusalem’s 85-79 win over Barak Netanya, before boarding a plane back to the states. Following the game, Hapoel coach Oded Katash expressed his hope that Bradley would still return, but there have been no concrete indications that it was indeed expected to happen.

In the game itself, Bradley was once again a mixed bag. When he made a concerted effort to get to the rim, Bradley was effective, as his athleticism was virtually unmatched. However, he insisted on taking jumpers that he often missed badly, and he forced the issue quite often, finishing with a distressing 5 turnovers versus just one assist. Bradley finished with 13 points, shooting only 1 of 5 from three but 5 of 7 from two point range, as well as 5 rebounds and 4 fouls.

The true hero for Jerusalem was former Illinois forward Brian Randle, who made his season debut after being out with injury for the first month. Randle scored 21 points on 12 shots off a variety of drives, and more importantly, anchored a Jerusalem defense that was virtually non-existent to start the year. Grunfeld debuted as well, sporting a very rusty jumper but the smarts and tenacity that you would expect from a Stanford grad, and D.J. Strawberry overcame a bad first half to score 13 points, several in crunch time.

Netanya almost stole the game off sheer lunacy, with Adrian Banks (25 points, 4 steals) and Jerome Randle (22 and 6 assists, but 5 turnovers) seemingly competing to see who can make more ill-advised threes. Eventually, though, too little help and not enough crazy luck did them in.

Maccabi Tel Aviv and Maccabi Ashdod should have been a matchup between the two remaining Israeli-based NBAers. However, regardless of how you feel about Jordan Farmar and Craig Brackins individually, the rest of the respective rosters are completely incomparable, as Tel Aviv went on a 104-73 rampage. Inefficient performances by Ramel Bradley (18 points on 16 field goals and 8 free throws) and Meir Tapiro (12 points on 11 shots) were the only double figure performances Ashdod got, while Tel Aviv had 6. Brackins struggled en route to 9 points on 4 of 12 shooting and 4 boards, while Farmar had 10, but the true star on Maccabi’s side was Lior Eliyahu (rights owned by Houston), who went for 22 on 10 shots.

Farmar’s more consequential game was tonight against Sasha Vujacic, Ersan Ilyasova and Anadolu Efes. Farmar was a steady influence throughout, displaying a mature balance between scoring and setting up his teammates that far exceeded anything he has shown in the NBA (makes sense, given the competition). Farmar ended with 18, 5 and 6, with 4 of these points coming in the form of clutch free throws, of which he didn’t miss.

Eliyahu was again efficient finishing shots, scoring 12 on 6 shots, and David Blu‘s scorching hot shooting form continued (15 on 7 shots), but more than anything, Maccabi just wouldn’t let Efes score. With Ilyasova battling illness and managing only 17 rather anemic minutes (9 points on 10 shots, 6 rebounds, striking passiveness on offense), the brunt of the offense fell on Vujacic’s shoulders. As NBA fans would attest, this is rarely a good thing. Sasha scored 21 points, but was a downright frightening 4 of 13 from 3 point range, including a ridiculously foolish PUJIT down four, in the final minute, in a “fast break” that saw him alone surrounded by three defenders. The hilariously named Stanko Barac served as the actually efficient offensive option, scoring 17 on 9 shots and generally being a nuisance inside.

Back to the Israeli league – Hapoel Galil/Gilboa destroyed Hapoel Holon 81-59 in a game that I couldn’t watch, so I won’t drag on about it. In a more interesting Maccabi Haifa-Ironi Ashkelon game, though, Sylven Landesberg continued to be en fuego, following his 32 pointer last week with 29. Not only was Landesberg 9 for 13 from the field, he also got to the line 14 times, making 10, and grabbed 8 boards. Crazy efficiency all around for the Dukie.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough, as Ashkelon rode Marco Killingsworth‘s 22 (10 of 16) and 8 and Raymar Morgan‘s 14 (6 of 10), 8 and 5 to tie the game at 77 apiece and the ball in Haifa’s hands with 6 seconds to go. At which point, Tony Skinn somehow did this (video courtesy of our own James Herbert).

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KOhmPbYx9c&feature=youtu.be]

Yeah. I know.

Sean Williams continued to be the epitome of Sean Williams with 8 points, 8 boards, 3 blocks – and, of course, 5 fouls – in 31 minutes. Carlos Powell continued his solid play with 19.

The biggest news from Haifa, though, is the signing of mercurial forward Qyntel Woods. Woods has long been a trouble maker, from his Jail Blazer days to his drug suspensions in Europe as he joins a problematic yet potential-laden Haifa group. Here’s hoping to some exciting  Qyntel matches to go with a lockout that is no more.

NBA Outsourcing – Week 2

October 20, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from Vineus via Flickr

NBA Outsourcing – Week 2

It’s been somewhat of a dull week as far as Israeli based NBA players – but the basketball itself was great, which allows us to take our minds off the continued farce that is the lockout.

Avery Bradley has yet to debut for Hapoel Jerusalem, as the team is trying to integrate the young guard into the European game with utmost caution. Bnei HaSharon/Washington’s Trevor Booker hasn’t played in an official game either, as he is still suffering from a thigh contusion. Booker should return to the US shortly for treatment with the hope that he will return to action as soon as possible. However, with the two sidelined players (and yours truly) in attendance, Hapoel and Bnei HaSharon produced a 99-96 overtime thriller, with the home team from Jerusalem prevailing.

Bnei HaSharon raced to a 30-15 first quarter, behind the elite gunmanship of former Baylor teammates, the awesomely named LaceDarius Dunn (who finished the game with 15 points and 9 boards) and the even more awesomely named Tweety Carter (24, 6 assists). However, after a passive quarter, D.J. Strawberry finally realized that he is absolutely unstoppable going to the rim. With nobody even remotely capable of matching his athleticism, Strawberry got to the rim again and again, either scoring or connecting with assists to power forward Elishai Kadir (17 and 8).

After an incredibly ballsy Kenny Lawson (22 and 9) three tied the game at 85 with 13 seconds left, Yuval Naimi had a chance to seal the game, but missed a wide open layup at the buzzer. Hapoel raced to 91-86 to start overtime, Bnei HaSharon flipped it to 93-91, but after two free throws from former NBA fringe center John Thomas (15 and 8), Strawberry knocked down a step back jumper to put Hapoel up 95-93, blocked a Tweety 3 point attempt, and the game was over a few free throws later. Other players of note were Luke Jackson, who was anemic on occasion but still hit some big shots to finish with 17 for Hapoel, and Delroy James had 18 and 8 for Bnei HaSharon.

Another tight game saw Sean Williams, Sylven Landesberg and Maccabi Haifa fall in overtime to M.C. HaBika. Deon Dowell hit the eventual game winner, and Jeremy Wise missed an awkward hook shot that could have given the game to Haifa. Landesberg had 21, 6 boards and 5 assists – including a pass to a wide open Sean Williams dunk to tie the game at the end of regulation – but he also had 9 (!) turnovers, including a few costly ones down the stretch. Williams had the most Sean Williams game ever, fouling out with 11 points, 5 boards, 3 blocks, and a billion bites at pump fakes.

Hapoel Holon also started their season off on a good note, beating Maccabi Rishon LeZion 87-83. Rishon led the game most of its first 3 quarters, behind an insane shooting display from former Georgetown forward Brandon Bowman (30 points on 11 (!!!!) shots, including 5 of 5 from 3) and the Wizards’ Jordan Crawford’s older brother, Joe Crawford (28 points on 15 shots). The two were on absolute fire – stepbacks, contested 28 footers, banked floaters, the whole repertoire.

However, former Buckeye Ron Lewis wouldn’t let Holon lose. After starting the game with a 7 point quarter, Lewis went completely cold from the outside, so he started driving instead. Lewis got to the line with a vengeance, finishing a perfect 10 for 10 en route to 25 points. Lewis was assisted by the inside presence of Bryant Dunston and Patrick Sullivan, who combined for 26 points and, more importantly, 10 offensive boards. Young Israeli guard Shlomi Harush was a pleasant surprise as well, who threw in 6 steals and extreme amounts of hustle.

The two NBA players who did play this week were Craig Brackins and Jordan Farmar. Maccabi Ashdod and Brackins’s game wasn’t broadcast though, so I have very little observations to offer. Ashdod lost 89-79 to Ironi Ashkelon, and Brackins apparently had a tough time scoring the ball, finishing with 7 points on 3-8 shooting. He also threw in 6 boards and 4 assists for good measure.

But the true star for the losing squad was former Kentucky guard Ramel Bradley, who went off for 31. The winning squad was led by Israeli guard Raviv Limonad, returning to Israel after playing in Spain last year – Limonad had a remarkable stat-line of 24 points (11-12 shooting), 8 boards, 7 assists and 8 steals.

Farmar had a rough Sunday as well, pulling his groin only 6 minutes into Maccabi’s blowout win over Hapoel Galil/Gilboa. Farmar returned to action tonight in Maccabi’s Euroleague opener against Armani Milano – but he probably wishes he didn’t. Farmar had only 6 points on 9 shots in 30 minutes and looked generally terrible. Milano ran away towards an 89-82 win behind a strong third quarter showing from former Spur Malik Hairston, whose jumpers just couldn’t seem to miss. Milano also got a strong showing from everybody’s friend Danilo Gallinari, who displayed the dominant foul drawing capacities that Knicks and Nuggets fans were so happy to see him developing over the past year – Gallo had 23 points, 13 of them from the line (on 16 attempts). Lior Eliyahu led Maccabi’s ranks with 23.

The lockout may try to devour our souls, but (inferior) basketball lives on. How u.