En Espanol
Feedback

FanHouse

FanHouse

Resources

Email our editors with your tips, corrections, complaints, inquiries, suggestions, etc.

Blog Roll

Kobe's Chinese Reality Show

Tom ZillerPosted Aug 27th 2008 10:24AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, NBA Fans, NBA Videos

The New York Times, in a larger story on the ability of American athletes to market themselves in China, mentions some must-see television for Chinese sports fans, starring Kobe Bryant:
This year, Nike even produced a reality television program, "Kobe's Disciples," that was broadcast on China's biggest television network. It featured 24 Chinese youths living and training in the United States and getting tips from Mr. Bryant.

"The reason Kobe is as big as he is here is not an accident," Charlie Denson, Nike's brand president, said in an interview in Beijing. "Kobe realized some years ago that the China market is a great place to be. And he's been here consistently, every year, for five or six years."
Here's an apparent montage of clips from the show, an advert of some sort. It gets real hot at the 2:45 mark.



Neat stuff, though I'm not sure it can be as compelling as the last NBA-related reality show (Mark Cuban's The Benefactor). Although honestly, what could be as compelling as The Benefactor?

Will NBA Stars Follow the 'Euro' Brick Road?

EliePosted Aug 26th 2008 11:10AM by Elie (author feed)
Filed under: Hawks, Lakers, NBA Videos

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

In this video, we talk to Hawks assistant coach Larry Drew, as well as Lakers stars Vladi Radmanovic and Luke Walton, about what they think of NBA players heading overseas while still in their primes. Also, at the 1:40 mark, we talk to one of the leading high school players in the country, 15-year-old Landon Drew, who might be a pro player already ... if he lived in Europe.


AOL Video link. Youtube link.

Mean Machine: Lakers Star Makes Reporter Do 200 Push-Ups

EliePosted Aug 25th 2008 11:30AM by Elie (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, NBA Videos

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

How much of a trick-shot specialist is the Lakers' Sasha Vujacic? FanHouse correspondent Elie Seckbach finds out first-hand through a series of friendly (if not painful) wagers. Proving he's worthy of the nickname "The Machine," Vujacic shows off his impressive marksmanship, and also talks about what he'd be doing if he wasn't a pro hoopster.


Youtube link.

Charles Barkley Believes the NBA's Exodus Has Been Greatly Exagerrated

Matt WatsonPosted Aug 21st 2008 2:40PM by Matt Watson (author feed)
Filed under: Cavaliers, Lakers, Euroleague, NBA Fans, NBA Rumors

Charles BarkleyA lot has been made this summer about players turning down NBA contracts to play in Europe. A bit too much, if you ask Charles Barkley. Despite stars like Kobe Bryant and LeBron James admitting they'd seriously consider an overseas offer, Barkley doesn't think anything will come of it. From USA Today:
"I'm reading all this B.S. that there's going to be an exodus - the NBA's not going to lose any great players," said TNT analyst Charles Barkley.

[...] "First of all, I think Kobe and LeBron have too much time on their hands," Barkley said. "These guys want to be the best players in the world. I've been on TNT for years and no one's ever asked me, 'Who won the championship in Greece last year?' "
Maybe not, but you better believe people will start asking the moment a player of Kobe or LeBron's caliber jumps ship. I know what some people are thinking: isn't it impossible to see a Euroleague game on TV? The Knicks won't make a single appearance on national TV, either -- you don't think that'll change once they land a superstar? The moment a bona fide star makes the jump to Europe is the moment that executives from ESPN and Fox Sports start bidding for the rights to televise those games.

Exclusive Video: Jordan Farmar On A Mission In Jerusalem

EliePosted Aug 20th 2008 10:30AM by Elie (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, NBA Videos

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

In this exclusive video we fly out to Jerusalem, Israel to catch up with NBA star Jordan Farmar. While touring the Holy Land the LA Lakers star used his basketball skills and leadership to build bridges between young Jews and Arabs in a region that has known bloodshed for thousands of years, the results of his efforts may surprise you.


AOL Video link. Youtube link.

NBA Essentials: One Nation, Under LeBron

Tom ZillerPosted Aug 19th 2008 8:25AM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Clippers, Knicks, Lakers, USA Basketball

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. Free Darko. Joey Litman of Straight Bangin' offers a guest sermon on NBA citizenship and allegiance to the league.

2. Lakers Blog. Kobe thinks "Redeem Team" is a "cheesy" moniker. Communist! (A communist! who makes a salient point, at least.)

3. And One. Looking at a 1893 New York Times intro to "basket ball."

4. Clips Nation. It's hard to keep up with the Clippers front office. (That's actually a good thing this summer.)

5. L.A. Times, via FD. Team USA gets a gold medal in smiling, too.

6. Deadspin. Elect Isiah! No one will ever deserve it more.

Is Kobe's Pinkie Finally A Problem?

Matt MoorePosted Aug 17th 2008 7:39PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Western, NBA Injuries, USA Basketball

It's easy to take the fact that Kobe Bryant has done everything he has over the last 6 months with a torn ligament on his right pinkie. He's not wearing a significant brace, he doesn't clutch it in pain, he's not talking about it in interviews.

But with his performance in the Olympics being described somewhere between "disappointing" and "borderline-sucking," you have to wonder if that injury is starting to finally catch up with him. Bryant's started to improve over the last couple of games, but his shot still doesn't look s silky smooth as it has. To be fair, Kobe's still shooting 42% and averaging 12.5 points per game. But even the staunchest Kobe supporters will admit that he hasn't looked like the Mamba we're used to seeing, even if he's more than made up for it with leadership and defense.

Bryant had several weeks for the finger to stiffen when he was in-between the Finals and Team USA practice. He's played more basketball than anyone in the last year, and the injury's required surgery from the get-go. That Bryant has continued to play is a testament to his commitment both to the Lakers and Team USA, but considering the marked differential in his play, it's at least reasonable to wonder if the pinkie is causing an issue, rather than just an extended "slump" (in Kobe-terms. If half the players played like he does in a slump it would be a breakout.) And the discussion of it reminds us of just how incredible he was last season, all with a bum pinkie.

Kobe, General Manager That He Is, Thinks the Lakers Could Have Kept Marc Gasol

Matt MoorePosted Aug 17th 2008 3:50PM by Matt Moore (author feed)
Filed under: Grizzlies, Lakers, Western

Marc Gasol hasn't been dominant in Beijing, but it's pretty clear the Grizzlies may have gotten themselves a valuable asset in Pau Gasol's little brother. The younger Gasol is bigger, meatier, and shows a very un-Pau-like penchant for diving after loose balls and playing physical basketball, while displaying a very Pau-like touch offensively. So much so that the Memphis Commercial Appeal points out that he's getting praise from all sorts of members of Team USA.

The most interesting may have come from Kobe Bryant, though. In the article, Kobe drops this delicious little insight into the mind of a superstar with the authority to have impact on personnel decisions:

"In hindsight, we probably didn't have to give him up to get Pau," Bryant said. "We should have kept Marc, too."

Okay, Kobes. Didn't realize you had so much experience in negotiating trades. I kid, I kid. Kobe's obviously just trying to complement the guy. But if we were to take a closer look at it, there are two ways you can take the statement from Mamba. It's either A. an admission that the Lakers may not have ripped off the Grizzlies quite as bad as initially thought (a paradigm that's becoming more and more popular with each Grizzlies move), or B. the exact opposite, an even further condemnation of how little the Grizzlies' front office are to be thought of. As in, they probably didn't have to give up Marc to get Pau, since the Grizzlies will let pretty much anything go.
Continue Reading Kobe, General Manager That He Is, Thinks the Lakers Could Have Kept Marc Gasol

Spanish Team Should Be Prepared to Get Called Into the Principal's Office

Tom ZillerPosted Aug 11th 2008 1:27PM by Tom Ziller (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, Raptors, FIBA



Humorous team photos are nothing new to the basketball world: one striking pose (self-link) by the 2002 Sacramento Kings has been passed around like a virus the past year. But there's a space between humorous and offensive, the Valley of the Blatantly Stupid. The Spanish men's national basketball team visited it last month.

The Guardian reports (via Deadspin) the Spanish team recently took out a full-page ad in Marca featuring the above photo -- the 15-man squad all mocking the eyes of their Olympic hosts. It's a shock upon our camraderian sensibilities, for sure, but hardly the worst thing Spanish athletes have done.
In November 2004 black English footballers were subjected to relentless racial barracking from home supporters in a match in Spain. Before the World Cup there were calls for Luis Aragones, then Spain's football coach, to be sacked after he called Thierry Henry a "black s---". And last year Lewis Hamilton suffered racist abuse during testing for the Spanish grand prix near Barcelona.
Still, it's grandly stupid and rather offensive. The Spanish will pay their penance, I imagine: Jose Calderon (back row, fourth from left) plays in a city with a substantial Chinese population. Pau Gasol (back, third from right) has a new flippin' Chinese teammate! And oh, this seems important: Spain plays China tomorrow at 4:45 p.m. Beijing time. If fans there can get through the internet censors to see the crush of blog coverage this will receive today, I imagine Yao will have a bit more audience-powered wind at his sail.

Kobe Bryant's Olympic Security Detail Could Use Some Beefing Up or Some Existence

Will BrinsonPosted Aug 10th 2008 10:10AM by Will Brinson (author feed)
Filed under: Lakers, FIBA, NBA Fans

As Awful Announcing points out, the U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team (USMOBT, for brevity's sake) has been treated like more than mortals for most of their time in China. So, turn our (second?) biggest superstar loose in a crowd of young Chinese, walking his way to the court, and there's bound to be a little poking and prodding of Kobe Bryant.



I'm sure there's a hefty amount of Kobe Beef - cow prod jokes available here, but I'm not readily willing to use them ... yet. At least until Kobe takes me up on my offer to promote the MambaBurger (a hamburger made entirely of Kobe beef, naturally). Seriously though, where the hell is Kobe's security? Not that I think he's in any real danger but I want gold, people.
ADVERTISEMENT
Play Fantasy Football
ADVERTISEMENT