Interbasket

Every Wednesday (almost cough cough) during the NBA season, interbasket takes a closer look at ten international NBA players that has caught our eye. (This week is for period 12/19/2007- 01/01/2008)

This week we see another European having troubles with Utah Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, Dirk receives another award, Yi Jianlian and Linas Kleiza finding their grooves, Hedo doing his thing in Orlando, Nash is passing, Yao is boarding, Manu’s probably not going to make the all-star game this year and a partridge in a pear tree.

Due to the holidays, I wasn’t able to post my international NBA player week in review, so for this week i’ll cover 12 International NBA players to help cover some ground we may have missed.

Interbasket’s 2007 International NBA Player of the Year
So with 2007 behind us, who was your NBA international player of the year for 2007? Considering only NBA accomplishments; there’s only really a couple real candidates in my mind: Dirk Nowitzki leading that group and Steve Nash behind him. Much like how the MVP voting went for last season in which Dirk won and Nash came in second. Tony Parker was finals MVP, and Manu Ginobili joined him in adding another NBA championship ring. Anybody behind those five are really only pretenders.  So with you reading my stream-of-consiousness train-of-thought, Interbasket’s International NBA Player of the Year is Dirk Nowitzki. Congrats Dirk.

Utah says Goodbye to Gordan Giricek
Gordan Giricek has fallen out of favor with Jerry Sloan, becoming very public last week when Giricek and Sloan were seen arguing during a timeout in the second quarter of Utah’s loss at Charlotte on December 19th. Sloan sent the disgruntled Croatian guard to the locker room and Giricek didn’t see an NBA floor for the next three games. That fourth game turned out to be his last with the Utah Jazz. The Jazz sent him (and a conditional first round pick) to Philly for Kyle Korver.

GM Larry Miller gave some insight into the situation when he spoke to a local radio station (KFNZ 1320 AM). He said that assistant coach Phil Johnson once told him “Phil Johnson said, ‘Gordan Giricek is the most talented player on this team. But he won’t do what he’s supposed to do.’

The 6-6 shooting guard, who had fallen to the role of third-shooting guard, wasn’t surprised at all by the trade, saying that he had asked management to move him because he felt as he was being disrespected. “What concerned me all the time was to be respected as a man,’‘ Giricek added. “Not my role, but to be respected as a man.” Sounds familiar huh? You think he and Andrei Kirilenko has had some late-night chats?

Now, only four days after being sent to the Philadelphia 76ers, Giricek returns to Utah tonight to face his team of the last five season. Geez, I would need some time to heal, but these are grown tattooed men made of testosterone, muscles and anger — “It will be awkward a little [tonight]. I’ve been playing basketball a long time, and I don’t need any more excitement like that.’ Said Giricek ‘I don’t fall into the [trap] that this is my ex-team, they traded me and now I’m going to do everything I can to beat them. I think I’m going to see it as a game that I’m going to help my new team beat my old team.”

Hedo, He Do!
Sorry for the title. Some guy had that nickname on one of the basketball forums I frequent. Kind of funny, kind of lame.

Anyways, Hedo Turkoglu continued his fantastic season as one of the Magic’s indepensible four (Dwight Howard, Jameer Nelson, and Rashard Lewis are the other three) Despite Hedo having a horrible game (7-19 shooting and 7 turnovers) Turkoglu hit the game-winning jumper with 0.7 seconds left against the Chicago Bulls last week giving Orlando the 112-110 win.

Since the last report we talked of Hedo (12/05), Turkoglu’s field goal percentage has dropped, but his points per game has gone up (18.6 to 19.6) as has his rebounds (6.1 to 6.2). Helping Orlando stay on top of the Southeast division.

Kleiza Rising
Speaking of game-winners, Lithuanian Linas Kleiza found himself with the ball with seconds to spare.

After Allen Iverson drove the lane and missed, Marcus Camby tipped the ball out and Kleiza was in the right place, right time. The 6-8 muscular power forward with a nice soft touch, hit the straight-on jumper to give Denver a one-point win over the Sacramento Kings 106-105.

Linas has scored double-figures in seven of his last eight games and has seemed to hit his stride. After earning more minutes last season, Linas hasn’t quite been as consistent as he would like this season.

He’s still improving. On the season, Kleiza’s third, he is averaging career highs 10.8 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.3 assists. This from a guy that is seventh on the team in minutes, yet third on the team in scoring. Kleiza is sixth in the league in two-point field-goal shooting (61.1 percent). That’s saying a lot playing with the likes of green-lighters Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony. If AI and Melo are the cornerstones, it’s important to find guys that play well and efficiently with those two — Kleiza (along with Camby and Eduardo Najera) are proving to be those guys through their play.

Nash Still Passing
In his last 25 games, Canadian Superstar point guard Steve Nash has registered 23 games with double-digit assists. And for the season, he’s had 26 games (out of 31 played) with double-digit assists — Jason Kidd is second with 20 games of 10+ assist games (out of 29 games played). Nash is passing at a career-high rate at 12.4 assists a game.

Songaila Finally Misses
Darius Songaila finally missed his first free-throw and is at 24-26 this season, Songaila’s only shot 5 free-throws since the last time we reported on his streak - a duration of 18 games. Because of this, Songaila hasn’t shot enough free-throws to qualify for the league leaders, but before his miss the other night, Darius topped the list of NBA players that have shot the most free-throws without a miss.

Beno’s Ups and Downs
After going 0-8 in 29 minutes in a win over New Jersey last week, Beno Udrih hit a career-high six threes (6-7) in a win over Milwaukee the next night to the tune of 24 points. Before playing 29 minutes and putting up no points in the New Jersey game, Beno had a streak of 11 games in double-figures.

Yi Jianlian Only Bright Spot in Milwaukee
In a win over the Charlotte Bobcats, Yi Jianlian had career highs in points, FG att, FG made, and minutes. At the end of the game Yi scored 29 points, pullled down 10 rebounds and shot 14-17 from the field. Yi hit his first 12 shots before missing. Jianlian has scored in double figures in the last eight of ten games and was just named the NBA East Rookie of the month for the month of December (2007). Yi averaged 12.1 points and 6.6 rebounds in December and ranks second in scoring and rebounding among rookies.

No real surprise, Kevin Durant took home that award for the West, which brings up a good question - Is there even a small chance that Yi could change the decision-makers whom seem to be unanimously handing the award to Kevin Durant?

As of this writing, both have played 30 of their team’s 31 games, so let’s look at the stats between the two-frontrunners for Rookie of the Year:

* Kevin Durant, Seattle Sonics (9-22): 19.7 points on 40.7% from the field, 4.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.0 steal, and 1.2 blocks in 32 minutes a game.

*Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee Bucks (12-19): 11.0 points on 47.1% from the field, 6.1 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks in 28 minutes a game.

Hmmm… yep, it’s definitely still Durant at this point. However, if Durant remains steady for the season at around 20ppg and if Yi can get his point average up to 14-15 points a game, it would be a competition. In Yi’s last eight games, he’s been averaging around 34 minutes a game which is promising.

Yi’s problem? He’s the third option on the Bucks, while Durant has the green-light.

Big Z loves Team LeBron
I was watching a Cleveland game the other week and the announcers mentioned a little tidbit: Zydrunas Ilgauskas averages 16 points and shoots 51 percent from the field with Lebron James on the court, and only puts up 9/game on 36% without the King this year. Not that Big Z hasn’t proven himself previous to LeBron, but King James has definitely made things a lot easier for aging Ilgauskas who seems to have find himself open for midrange jumpshots a lot more this season.

Yao Back to the Boards
In a recent four game stretch, Yao Ming pulled down 63 total rebounds, 20 of which were offensive rebounds for averages of 15.8 rebounds per game. Unfortunately, the Rockets lost three of those four games. Yao then followed those games up with 13 rebounds in the next two games. On the season, Yao is averaging 10.6 rebounds, a career-high.

Scola Heats Up when McGrady Chills Out
Yao’s teammate Luis Scola had a string of three games in double-figures, also pulling in 25 rebounds in that stretch. The not-so-funny thing, and we’ve pointed this out in a previous update, Scola seems to play much better with Tracy McGrady injured. Of seven games that Scola has scored in double-figures, five have come when Tracy has been out injured.

Manu Ginobili Should Make the 2007 NBA All-Star Team, but won’t
I was doing my all-star picks this week and came to the realization that Manu Ginobili will more than likely be undeservingly left off the West squad. I Know that every year a couple deserving players get the shaft, but I really believe Manu should be in the same category as Dwight Howard, Kevin Gernett, Steve Nash and Kobe Bryant this year - automatic.

Thats what I think of the season Manu has had so far. Despite being injured, Ginobili has been the man this year for the Spurs. I see Manu in the same position as Josh Howard, who will make the all-star game because he has upped his game while Dirk Nowitzki has slowed down some. My all-star picks (not predictions):

East All-Star Team:
C- Dwight Howard
F - LeBron James
F - Kevin Garnett
G - Chauncey Billups
G - Jason Kidd

R - Ray Allen
R - Paul Pierce
R - Chris Bosh
R - Tayshaun Prince
R - Richard Hamilton
R - Caron Butler

West All-Star Team:
C - Yao Ming
F - Tim Duncan
F - Josh Howard
G - Kobe Bryant
G - Steve Nash

R - Brandon Roy
R - Dirk Nowitzki
R - Amare Stoudemire
R - Carmelo Anthony
R - Manu Ginobili
R - Carlos Boozer
R - Allen Iverson

*R1 - Chris Paul
*R2 - Baron Davis
*R3 - Tony Parker
*R4 - Chris Kaman
*R5 - Deron Wlliams

WOW. The West is stacked with talent, each reserve deserves a spot. With the way Portland has been playing lately, Brandon Roy is going to be a lock if they continue going down that path. On the other side, Deron Williams might be the odd man out considering the way he’s played and the Jazz’s freefall lately.

I believe Manu is the guy that’s kept the Spurs amongst the elite this season and certainly deserves a spot, but voters will likely vote for a representative from a team instead of voting another Spur or Sun in — so although I picked Manu, it’s likely Chris Paul will take his spot (and Vince Carter, Dwyane Wade and Tracy McGrady will all undeservedly make the all-star team too).

With all that in consideration it’s likely that this will be first NBA all-star game in 15 seasons where Shaquille O’Neal won’t be participating in the mid-season classic. And it may also be the game with the least amount of international players voted in (not counting Tim Duncan) since 2001.

Sources: Giricek back with Jazz following three-game cooling-off period (Canadian Press), Giricek returns to face ex-team (salt Lake City Tribune), Giricek decision will wait until Jazz return home (salt Lake City Tribune), Whatever he’s called, Kleiza makes Impact (Denver Post), Yi, Durant Named Rookies of the Month (Nba.com), 2007 NBA All-Star Returns (Nba.com)