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Tag Archive - NBA Outsourcing

NBA Outsourcing – Week 7

November 24, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from bug_girl_mi via Flickr

Plenty has happened in Israeli ball this week, but because this is my series, we’ll start with my team.

Hapoel Jerusalem have a somewhat problematic build. Instead of employing an actual point guard, the keys to the car were given to homegrown product Yuval Naimi, who I would affectionately describe as a moodier Eddie House who knows how to dribble but is even worse defensively. Let that sink in. I’ll wait.

Very often, Hapoel need to overcome a lack of playmaking as Naimi sulks in the corner (his backup, Guni Israeli, is a good guy overall, but is an atrociously slow decision maker). However, as you would expect from a moodier version of Eddie House, when Yuval Naimi wakes up on the right foot, it’s a marvelous thing to see.

Yuval Naimi woke up on the right foot Sunday, as he overcame a typically frustrating first half to torch an exhausted Maccabi Tel-Aviv for 23 points en route to a 78-64 win. With Maccabi Tel-Aviv playing in three different competitions this year – the Israeli League, the Adriatic League, and Euroleague – It was only a matter of time until fatigue took them down, and playing their third game in 4 nights, with Hapoel playing their best game of the year, and Yogev Ohayon serving as the team’s only point guard without an injured Jordan Farmar and a peculiarly benched Theo Papaloukas, they didn’t really have a chance.

The first quarter was a monstrosity – Sofoklis Schortsanitis had some early points, but 9 other players mostly alternated missed shots and turnovers. In fact, the highlight of the quarter was when Sofo, off a drive to the basket, continued running, hit the stanchion and broke it. Yup, broke it. I wish I had a video of this, but you’ll just have to believe me.

The second quarter, though, saw dominant defensive performance from Hapoel in the second. Brian Randle (16 and 8) and Jarvis Varnado (9 and 3, but the kind of activity that doesn’t show up in the box score) were virtually everywhere, shading guards off pick and rolls (mostly Randle) and showing up out of nowhere to block shots (mostly Varnado, who had 4 on the night) while Naimi drained shot after shot. The furious run continued to start the third, which Hapoel ended up 10, as some good minutes from Richard Hendrix (15 on 9 shots) weren’t enough for Maccabi to come back in a fourth quarter that was mostly a game of keep-away.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxtxuIIaaaw]

Hapoel’s strong week continued Tuesday with an 89-73 route against a grossly overmatched Cibona Zagreb team. Randle (16) and Varnado (13 and 7) were once against the driving forces behind a suffocating defense, and were aided by a hot Naimi and the delightfully intelligent play of Dan Grunfeld, who had 11 points and 0 mistakes. Hapoel managed these two solid wins despite getting two very poor performances from D.J. Strawberry, by far their best player so far this year, which has to be encouraging for their long term prospects – assuming they don’t spontaneously combust soon, which they probably will.

Maccabi, meanwhile, recovered from the loss to defeat Armani Milano, 85-76 tonight. Maccabi got a dominant first half from Sofo, who scored 22 points on a variety of layups, hook shots and free throws. Sofo got tired in the second half, but Farmar, returning from injury, picked up the slack, finished with 21 points after a monstrosity of a first half. This wasn’t the best Farmar showing this week, though, as he showed up to Saturday’s Adriatic League game in a get-up that would make David Stern throw up.

Jordan Farmar just got out of bed. Ya know, time zones.

Danilo Gallinari scored 24 for Armani Milano, but his Rooster awesomeness just wasn’t enough against Maccabi’s energetic blast.

The big NBA related news comes, once again, from Bnei HaSharon/Herzelia. After getting a combined 1 game out of their first two NBA signings, Trevor Booker and J.J. Hickson, Bnei HaSharon have decided to once again dip their toes in the locked-out pool, bringing over Golden State’s Ekpe Udoh. Udoh is a perfect center for European ball – he’s tall enough to play in the middle overseas, has overwhelming athleticism, and is a fantastic defender for a team that desperately needs some kind of interior presence. Then again, he is exactly the type of raw, inexperienced player who could flame out quickly in a vastly different basketball world. Stay tuned.

Meanwhile, Sylven Landesberg had an off night by his standards, scoring a measly 24 points on 16 shots in an 86-85 overtime thriller against Maccabi Ashdod. Slacker. Ashdod got a fantastic game from Josh Duncan, going off for 21 and 12 playing his first game of the season in place for the recently departed Craig Brackins. He was joined in the frontcourt by yet another dominant performance from Alex Tyus, who threw in a ho-hum 16 and 11, and continues to jump higher than I thought was humanly possible.

But the Ashdod big men were matched by an utterly fantastic performance from Sean Williams, who scored 20 points on just 6 shots (!!!), going 12 of 16 from the line, to go with 14 boards and 3 blocks. The final block was the most special, though – after veteran Meir Tapiro knocked down a ballsy three to put Ashdod up 85-83, and Avi Ben Shimol answered with a triple of his own to put Haifa up 1, Ashdod ran a final play so bad that even Jay Triano would be proud, that somehow ended in Josh Duncan taking a semi-open fadeaway 3. Williams flew in, and swatted the shot away, virtually ensuring the win. Josh Carter caught the ricochet and banked in an amazing shot, but by the time the ball left his hands, the buzzer had already sounded, sending Ashdod home disappointed.

Qyntel Woods continued to disappoint for Haifa, as he played 21 inefficient minutes, scored just 2 points, and looked both out of shape and out of interest. I’m still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, since he hasn’t played for 7 months, but Haifa’s staff may not be so patient. An interesting quote came from former NBAer Jermaine Jackson, though, who played for Haifa last season, left, and returned to debut against Ashdod, who said after the game “People call me Bob the Builder, I come and fix things”.

Yet another tight game took place in Asheklon, where the local team beat Maccabi Rishon LeZion 81-79 off a Marco Killingsworth 3 with 1.4 seconds left, which gave him 25 points on the night. For those of you who don’t know, this was Marco’s first 3 in 2 years, quite the accomplishment for a player mostly known for his interior game. Some confusion ensued after the shot, as Ashkelon’s bench and fans poured onto the court even though there was still time left, but the officials somehow didn’t find this to be faulty, and Rishon couldn’t get a shot off among the ruckus. Ashkelon now surprisingly lead the Israeli league at 5-1.

On the other end of the spectrum, Barak Netanya remain winless, after being crushed 98-73 by Hapoel Holon. Holon raced to an early double digit lead, and every time Adrian Banks (16 on 11 shots) made a crazy shot to try and create some momentum, Ron Lewis responded with a vicious dagger. Lewis made everything everywhere, finishing with 27 points on 19 shots. Lewis was once again aided by a dominant Bryant Dunston, who finished with 16-7 against an overmatched Netanya frontcourt. Netanya will search for their first win elsewhere, but with the team so heavily dependent on Banks and fellow diminutive scorer Jerome Randle (who was awful, scoring just 6 points and going 2 of 12 from the field with 4 turnovers), they will be hard to come by.

In sadder news, Hapoel Galil/Gilboa beat M.K. Ha’Bika 75-67, in what was an emotional game after star forward Courtney Fells left the team following his brother’s death in a car accident. Our sincerest condolences and best wishes go to Fells and his family. Galil’s fans had a touching gesture, bringing a gigantic sign that read “Courtney we are with you all the way”. Fells has already said that he loves the club and will return when he’s done grieving.

Meanwhile, Ha’Bika released their own star swingman, Danilo Pinnock. Allegedly, Pinnock held a party at his house, after which police – called to the scene after complaints from neighbors – found marijuana at his home. Worse, Pinnock apparently didn’t inform the team of the incident. Pinnock has told the media that this sture is not  true, saying that the team released him out of spite after he insisted on flying home to see his family, and blaming them for trashing his reputation. Regardless, he won’t play for the team anymore.

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 4

November 3, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from Scott_Calleja via Flickr

Despite the star of last week’s NBA Outsourcing, Craig Brackins, resting with his Maccabi Ashdod teammates during their week off (the odd result of an 11 team league), there was plenty of action in Israeli basketball this week.

Hapoel Jerusalem lost their second straight game, 95-93 at home to Ironi Ashkelon, in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the score indicates. Ashkelon was carried early on by the hot shooting of ex-Hapoel guard Amit Simhon (14, all in the first half) to go up 9 at half time, and the rest of the second half was conducted in the 7 to 12 range for most of the game, but a furious rally in the last 4 minutes gave them a shot at the W. Alas, veteran forward and notorious sharpshooter Moshe Mizrahi missed an off balance 3 with the buzzer.

I’m sorry, did I say furious rally? I meant comedy of errors. Ashkelon did everything in their power to give the game away in the final stretch – from an unforced out-of-bounds, to D.J. Strawberry drawing a charge from Raviv Limonad with the ball yet to enter play, to a 3 on 0 fast break that was blown by a travel, to Marco Killingsworth – who completely and utterly abused Jarvis Varnado in the post with his bulk and his quickness en route to 16 points – fouling out. Hapoel replied with some utterly insane 3 pointers by mercurial guard Yuval Naimi, including one to cut the lead to 94-93 with 18 seconds left that had such an arc that it scraped the rafters, but was left one bullet too short.

Prior to the final stretch, Jerusalem continued their campaign for exclusive rights over isolations, with coach Oded Katash seemingly refusing to call any offensive play, sans the occasional feeble high screen. Jerusalem looked like an absolute mess, and their offense from breaking down only by random flashes of individual brilliance from Strawberry (who continues to be both unstoppable going to the rim and a far better jump shooter than he was in his NBA days, going for 24-5-5 and drawing 9 fouls), Naimi (non-existent in the first half, on fire in the second, 20 points and 11 shots overall), and – at long last – Boston Celtics guard Avery Bradley.

I won’t lie to you – Bradley wasn’t perfect. His outside shot was way off, shooting only 2 for 6 from three (and while I don’t have the stats to back it up, he was probably even worse on long twos), with 2 of those misses not even connecting with the rim. Bradley also displayed too much of a tendency to go one on one – though again, I blame coaching for that more than poor Avery, since the entire team was predicated on nothing but boneheaded selfishness.

However, Bradley was a force going to the rim, finishing in traffic again and again en route to 21 points, including some of the games best highlights – a beautiful, if clumsy, 2 on 1 fast break with Strawberry that ended in a dunk and a foul, and an alley-oop of a half court pass from Naimi.

[flash http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pddISZ5e4I&feature=youtu.be]

Bradley was also solid defensively, putting pressure on ball handlers and even recording a sick block, though he seemed quite incapable of understanding how backdoor cuts work, getting beat quite a bit off the ball. All in all, a solid showing from Bradley, who is even more athletic than I remembered.

However, it seems like Bradley’s tenure in Jerusalem is coming to an end despite his improved second game. Bradley originally signed a contract for only 2 months, and will reportedly exercise his option to return stateside after Monday’s game against Barak Netanya. Though I am very sad about this turn of events, Hapoel probably won’t hurt too much, as Strawberry has a very strong hold over the shooting guard spot and Bradley isn’t really a natural point.

Back to the game, Dwayne Mitchell had 18 points, 12 boards and 6 assists for the winners in an impressive display all-around display of strength and smarts for Ashkelon, who also got 16 from former Spartan Raymar Morgan. Luke Jackson had 0 points and 5 fouls in 19 minutes and is absolutely awful.

My Dad has started calling Luke Jackson "Fluke Jackson" on a full time basis. Yeah, he's not working out for Hapoel.
October 31, 2011 11:52 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite
@noamschiller
Noam Schiller

Elsewhere, Sacramento forward (or is it still Cleveland forward? Did the lockout freeze time or not?) J.J. Hickson had his Israeli League debut for Bnei HaSharon/Herzelia against Hapoel Holon, and did so in classic J.J. Hickson fashion. As expected, Hickson was far too athletic to be stopped offensively, as he powered his way towards 20 points on 8 of 12 shooting, 8 rebounds, and 5 assists that should come as quite a surprise to astute NBA watchers. Of course, this is J.J. Hickson we’re talking about, so these stats came in an astonishing 39 point loss.

It’s hard to articulate just how bad Bnei HaSharon were defensively, and Hickson was a huge part of the downfall. The team gave up 62 points in the first half, and were down 98-60 after three quarters – and this is a 40 minute game. Hickson, on his part, was dominated down low by Bryant Dunston (29 and 14), and seemed completely clueless as to guarding the pick and roll. In a certain notable 3rd quarter stretch, two consecutive Holon pick and rolls ended in two consecutive dunks by Hickson’s man, the second of which seeing Hickson standing helplessly at the upper left elbow. For more Hickson, check out what I hope becomes a weekly feature over at Cowbell Kingdom.

Dunston was hardly the only Holon player to dominate offensively. Ron Lewis was incapable of missing jumpers (27, 5 of 6 from long range), and Patrick Stewart and Tasmin Mitchell threw in 19 and 18, respectively. But the mastermind behind the show was point guard Moran Roth, who recorded a career high 15 assists to go with his 12 points.

Maccabi Haifa finally got their first win of the season, handily beating Hapoel Gilboa/Galil 90-77 behind a dominant 32 points from Sylven Landesberg. I only caught the final few seconds of this match, as I was in the midst of returning home from a very distraught Malcha (Jerusalem’s home arena), but it seems Sean Williams finally had his A game on as well, playing an incredible 36 minutes without fouling out, and posting an impressive statline of 21 points (on 10 shots, though for some reason he attempted two threes), 7 boards, 2 assists, 3 steals and 5 blocks. Carlos Powell scored 20 of his own, Courtney Fells was pretty much left on an island for the losing squad with 22.

Finally, Jordan Farmar had another inconsistent week. In Saturday’s 78-67 win over Partizan Belgrade, the second such win in 3 days over Nikola Pekovic (23 points) and co., Farmar had a solid game, scoring 14 points on 8 shots and puppeteering the offense with 7 assists. Farmar proceeded to have an awful game in a too-close-for-comfort 87-85 squeaker over Barak Netanya, scoring only 6 points on 1-5 shooting (as well as 3-8 from the line) and fouling out in 24 minutes. Luckily for Jordan, 20 points apiece from Sofoklis Schortsanitis and Guy Pnini was enough for Maccabi to overcome an excellent game from Christian Burns.

All was forgiven, though, as Farmar produced at the highest possible level against a stacked Real Madrid squad, in a game that ended just minutes ago. Farmar was aggressive from the get go, getting to the rim for layups 3 times in the first 150 seconds of the game, which set the tone early for a 88-82 victury that felt more like an onslaught. Real stayed close thanks to some hot 3 point shooting, mostly from former Utah State guard Jaycee Carroll (4 of 5 from 3, 18 points), but the Spanish offense seemed out of sync all game, as Rudy Fernandez (13 points, 4-12 shooting) led what seemed like a team effort of taking hard shots over working for good ones.

Serge Ibaka, in his Real debut, was mostly frozen out of the offense, getting his 9 points off free throws and offensive rebounds between off ball screens. Former Warriors draft pick Richard Hendrix did a good job of frustrating Ibaka when he did get involved, as the OKC forward let quite a few loose balls slip between his fingers, and Sofo (16 points in 21 minutes) gave him a handful on defense as well.

But above all stood Farmar. Getting to the rim again and again, the Nets guard seemingly refused to accept a result that wasn’t a made basket or a drawn foul, often going for both. Farmar finished with 27 points on 10-12 shooting, drew 8 fouls, and threw in 4 boards, 5 assists, and the game clinching steal, up 5 points with 25 seconds left. A magnificent all around performance, by far his best since his defection to Europe.

NBA Outsourcing – Week 3

October 28, 2011 in by with 0 Comments

Photo from Wilgar via Flickr

It’s been a bad week for us here at NBA Outsourcing, with our beloved Hapoel Jerusalem falling apart in every which way against Hapoel Galil/Gilboa on Sunday. Lax defense combined with selfish offense to create an 89-68 drubbing, and really, it wasn’t all that close. Jerusalem ran absolutely no plays on offense – a typical possession saw a poorly executed high screen and then a bad shot – which I can’t help but blame on the coach.

Not that the players were any better. D.J. Strawberry was the only member of the squad who was somewhat functional, scoring 16, but the outside shot wasn’t falling for him (o for 4 from three) and he had 4 turnovers. The real disappointment, though, was Avery Bradley. After sitting out the first two weeks as the team wanted to slowly integrate him into the mix, the young Celtics guard started Sunday’s match, and did virtually everything wrong, forcing bad jumpers and bad passes alike. In the first half he at least showed some tenacity on the defensive end, pressuring the ball, one time even producing a clean strip of former N.C. State forward Courtney Fells en route to two successful free throws, but as the game carried on Bradley’s energy dropped. A miserable performance outright, with 7 points on 2-8 shooting, 0 assists to 4 turnovers, and a whole lot of frustration in 25 minutes.

An NBA player who did have a very strong showing was Craig Brackins, who lit up Barak Netanya for 24 points in a 90-86 Maccabi Ashdod win. Brackins was hitting from virtually everywhere, connecting especially well on pick and pops with veteran guard Meir Tapiro (12 assists). Craig threw in 6 rebounds for good measure, but it was all about the scoring for him. We mentioned this in Week 1, but the European game gives Brackins an edge that he just can’t get in the NBA – instead of being too small for the 4 and too slow for the 3, Brackins become a full blown power forward who can cope with opponents in size and blow by them with speed.

Brackins hardly did this alone – former Kentucky guard Ramel Bradley followed his 31 point opening night show with 24 of his own, and is generally a beast. Josh Carter helped out with a much needed 18 on 13 shots, and Alex Tyus continued to outjump less athletic adversaries to the tune of 11 and 10. Explosive guard Adrian Banks - wearing a pair of bright, pink shoes that have become his trademark in Israel over the past year – led Netanya with 24 points, and Jerome Randle threw in 19 for the losing side.

In other NBA-oriented news, Trevor Booker has left Israel, returning stateside for treatment on what I can only assume is something related to the thigh contusion that bugged him for the past few weeks. I couldn’t gather if Booker is leaving Bnei HaSharon for good or not – the team said that it hopes he can recover before the lockout ends, thus enabling a return. I’m skeptical, though, because the team has already signed J.J. Hickson as Booker’s replacement, and I sincerely doubt the team can afford two NBA caliber guys. Hickson should begin play next week, and we eagerly anticipate the sight of him coasting along on mere athleticism.

Meanwhile, the team managed to squeak out an 84-82 victory over struggling Maccabi Haifa. Once again, Bnei HaSharon led a very top-heavy attack – only 7 players even saw the court Sunday (two of them 15 minutes or less), and only 4 scored more than 2 points. Those four were once again Tweety Carter (22 on 13 shots, 7 assists), LaceDarius Dunn (21, 14 of 16 from the charity stripe), Delroy James (21, to go with 8 boards and 11 drawn fouls), and Kenny Lawson (16 on just 7 shots, to go with 8 boards of his own). This foursome seems to have developed good chemistry, and seeing how Israeli League rules dictate that teams may only register 4 non-Israelis each game, it will be interesting to see how Hickson fits in.

On the losing side, Haifa continues to struggle despite an impressive roster on paper. Haifa got a strong showing from former Summer League star Tyler Wilkerson (19 points on 8-10 shooting), Sean Williams did virtually as much good as Sean Williams can with 11 points, 8 boards, 4 dimes and 4 blocks, and Sylven Landesberg threw in a solid if only middling efficiency 15. But the team as a whole struggled from beyond the arc (4 for 18), couldn’t pull off the crunch time turnaround.

Moving to our final NBA representative, Jordan Farmar rested in Maccabi’s Saturday (84-60 over KK Å iroki in the Adriatic League) and Monday (87-83 over Ironi Ashkelon in the Israeli League) wins. I also couldn’t catch any of those two games except for the first quarter of the Å iroki game (in which I was excited to see Boris Barac, who starred on Croatia’s U19 team this summer), so I won’t pretend to know what went on. Farmar returned Thursday against Nikola Pekovic, Acie Law and Partizan Belgrade. Farmar had a solid all around game with 11, 6 and 6, getting to the rim and running the offense with much better fluidity than last week, as Maccabi raced out to a large lead that they eventually almost lost. The final score was 70-66, but really, it wasn’t nearly that close. Also, I have to say, watching this game really did remind me how awful Acie Law is, even though he finished with a respectable 12 and 4. He’s just… yeah.

Finally, some Omri Casspi news. Nobody actually knows what the hell is going on with the Israeli forward, but from what I gather, the current direction is joining Maccabi Tel Aviv in January if and only if the entire NBA season is canceled. This way, Maccabi protect themselves from a dual Farmar-Casspi midseason defection. However, other reports in Israel site Casspi’s intention to join Israeli coach Sharon Drucker, who is currently managing Italian squad Montegranaro. Even further reports say that Casspi could join Montegranaro for two months, and then, if the NBA season is canceled, move to Maccabi. So basically, nobody knows. Personally, we at NBA Outsourcing hope to see Omri take the court for the Cavaliers in a renewed NBA, but we’re funky like that.

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.

NBA Outsourcing – Week 1

October 13, 2011 in by with 4 Comments

Photo from zyphbear via Flickr

More than anything else, the NBA lockout has denied fans their fix of top notch basketball from the world’s best basketball players. With those players being denied a chance to play against each other, some have chosen to take to other basketball leagues outside of the United States, where the competition may not be as fierce, but it is at least existent.

Well, it just so happens that this blogger lives in one of these “other” basketball countries, thus enabling him the chance to witness NBA players in the flesh for the first time since he was in MSG as this happened. So until the lockout is over, I will provide a (hopefully) weekly update about the adventures of the 4 NBA players who have taken their talents to Israel until the lockout ends – and other fringe NBA prospects, if they are interesting enough.

Officially, this was the first week of Israeli basketball. But while “games” are already taking place, these aren’t actual league games, but a (completely pointless) “tournament” called the Chance Cup. Essentially a shortened preseason, the Chance Cup is a knockout tournament which has no bearing whatsoever on anything. However, after an entire summer of no basketball, and until official Israeli League games tip off next Sunday, we take what we can get.

On to our NBA delegates.

Avery Bradley, Hapoel Jerusalem

Sadly, we have yet to see Bradley take Israeli courts by storm. The Celtics guard landed in Israel on Sunday, missing Hapoel’s game against Maccabi Ashdod, and was yet to be in uniform for their Tuesday matchup against bitter rival Maccabi Tel Aviv. Hope to see you soon, Avery.

Trevor Booker, Bnei HaSharon/Herzeliya

Booker didn’t take part in Bnei HaSharon’s Sunday loss to Maccabi Rishon Lezion due to an injury that will hopefully subside soon. We await his return/arrival.

Craig Brackins, Maccabi Ashdod

Finally, a dude who actually played this week. And boy, did he play. Brackins suited up for Ashdod against Jerusalem on Sunday, and though his team lost 75-64, Brackins had the jumper working all night long. The box score lists him at 17 points with 8 of 17 shooting (1 three), but most of these shots were incredibly difficult fadeaways with the shot clock winding down, and several went in anyway. No matter where on the court or who was defending, Brackins just rainbowed it in.

Brackins offered very little other than scoring, though, with just 3 rebounds in 29 minutes, only 2 free throws (both misses) and a +/- of -6. Though this is very, very, ridiculously early in Brackins’s European career, it was a perfect microcosm of why he’s problematic as an NBA player: the dude is first and foremost a scoring tweener forward. In Europe, where that tweener label goes off and he’s a full blown 4, he’s incredibly good.

Despite all this, I think he can definitely contribute in the NBA down the road. Getting major minutes as the focal point of a team will go a long way towards getting him there.

Jordan Farmar, Maccabi Tel Aviv

The biggest name Israeli basketball has had in a long time was also the best NBA player of the week. The numbers are nice, if not huge – 14 and 5 in 20 minutes against Barak Netanya during a ridiculous 51 point win, 13 and 4 on 3 for 9 shooting against Hapoel Jerusalem, and a total of 36 points and 14 assists in 3 games in the Adriatic League, in which Maccabi is a participant. But Jordan doesn’t need to be spectacular for Maccabi, whose main competition is top-notch European squads that they have yet to meet in these early stages. Though he brings the star power, all Maccabi needs Farmar to do is to run the show for an incredibly deep team with their biggest concerns manifesting in backcourt depth.

And so far, he’s done a fantastic job. Maccabi has destroyed everybody in their path, and the offense has run smoothly. Elite three point shooters such as former Duke guard Jon Scheyer, former USC Trojan and nationalized Israeli David Blu, and Guy Pnini have been getting one open three after another, the bigs led by Greek giant Sofoklis Schortsanitis and forward Lior Eliyahu (second round pick in 2006, Rockets hold rights) have been engaged throughout, and the entire machine is humming. Nobody has had a bigger part in this than Farmar, though it really has been a concerted team effort. It’s important to remember that Farmar was brought in partially for the glamour, partially with the hope that he’ll remain for Euroleague’s final moments later this season, but as far as actual basketball goes, he’s looking good so far.

Other interesting guys

Former Phoenix Sun D.J. Strawberry has looked great for Hapoel so far. D.J. has been extremely active everywhere on the court, bringing both athleticism and hustle, and even stroking the outside shot that prevented him from making it in the NBA. D.J. went off for 28 against Maccabi on Tuesday and is exciting the crap out of me.

Hapoel teammate and 2009 second round pick (Miami) Jarvis Varnado has left a similarly strong first impression. The NCAA’s all-time leading shot blocker is already swatting everything in sight, managed to completely take Sofo out of his game on Tuesday, and is also displaying a very nice passing game out of the post. Sadly, he can’t do much scoring and/or dribbling without losing the ball while there, but he can help (or, at the very least, not hurt) a team offensively while acting as a defensive savant. I think this guy has NBA potential as a defensive center who can set picks and make strong cuts on offense, though he definitely needs to add a lot of weight if he doesn’t want NBA big men to destroy him down low.

Final Hapoel player update (my Hapoel bias showing off incredibly early in this series) – Luke Jackson scored 20 points on 10 shots to go with 5 boards and 4 steals during a dominant performance on Sunday. He proceeded to be completely anemic on Tuesday (though he finished with 12), disappearing for long stretches and losing the ball time and time again when Hapoel inexplicably counted on him for ball handling. Don’t count on Luke Jackson for ball handling, folks.

Former Florida Gator and recent Jewish convert Alex Tyus played well next to Brackins in the first official game of his professional career. Tyus can’t score unless he’s dunking or laying it in – occasionally he even missing the latter – which, combined with his size, probably kills off any NBA chances. However, he is extremely athletic and active offensively, scoring off put backs and cuts. He looks like a potentially good defender as well, with his size being less of a weakness in the European game. He should be able to carve out a nice career in Europe. Perhaps even more importantly, the shape of his head and the speed at which he’s balding create a look that is eerily similar to Karl Malone, which is always good.

Not really close to being even a fringe NBA guy at this point in his career, but former Virginia Cavalier Devin Smith is shooting lights out for Maccabi so far this season.

Couldn’t catch Sylven Landesberg in action, but he scored 16 points in Maccabi Haifa’s 85-68 loss against Ironi Ashkelon. Landesberg remains incredibly awesome.