Around the Globe: Brandon Jennings and Josh Childress Debut

Injuries to NBA Stars and the Olympics
With training camps in full swing, a list of NBA players that participated in the 2008 Beijing Olympics are recovering from minor injuries, including Manu Ginobili, Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, Andrew Bogut, Carlos Delfino, and Yi Jianlian.

So far, only Ginobili will miss significant time this season.

However, no doubt injuries to these players, and any prospective injuries to players such as Yao Ming, Dirk Nowitzki, Luis Scola, Linas Kleiza, Fabricio Oberto, and any players from USA squad (except Carlos Boozer) during the 2008-09 season, will bring the perennial arguments about whether players should be allowed to represent their countries when under NBA contract. (Of course they should)

Nets hope Yi Jianlian’s play and roots invigorates ticket sales
The New York Times article talks about how Yi Jianlian’s presence on the New Jersey Nets is drawing Chinese fans online and off.  The Nets’ website can now be translated into simplified Chinese, and nearly 30% of the site’s traffic originates in Asia.  In the wake of the obtaining Jianlian, the Nets have hired a multicultural advertising agency, and have plans for game night promotions centered on Yi and the Chinese community.   But even with Yi’s popularity back home and being the only Asian player east of the Mississippi, he still plays in the shadow of Yao MIng. “Right now, everybody is more into Yao because Yi is still nearly a rookie. said Sunny Moy, president of the Asian American Youth Center.

CSKA winless during Euroleague American Tour 2008
CSKA Moscow lost handily to the Orlando Magic 94-66 and then lost to the Toronto Raptors a few days later 86-78.  Moscow had issues dealing with NBA bigmen Dwight Howard Chris Bosh.  HOward dominated inside with 28 points and 10 rebounds on 10-for-12 shooting while Bosh put up 24 points and 10 rebounds on 7-16 shooting. “

To be honest with you, we can’t lose another game against a Euroleague team.” Bosh said after the game.  The Raptors are now 6-2 against Euroleague teams, losing to Real Madrid last year in Spain and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in 2006 in Toronto.

Next up on the Euroleague American Tour is FC Barcelona taking on Kobe Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers on Saturday, October 18th.

Top-10 NBA Jerseys Sold in Europe
The NBA released the top-ten most popular NBA jerseys sold in Europe include five American players, three of which are in the top five and five European players… no Dirk Nowitzki or Manu Ginobili?  Anyways, here’s the list:

1. Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
2. Kevin Garnett, Boston Celtics
3. Pau Gasol, Los Angeles Lakers
4. LeBron James, Cleveland Cavaliers
5. Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs
6. Allen Iverson, Denver Nuggets
7. Andrea Bargnani, Toronto Raptors
8. Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
9. Marco Belinelli, Golden State Warriors
10. Jose Calderon, Toronto Raptors

Nathan Jawai’s rookie debut hits Snag
The 21-year old Aborigine rookie from Australia Nathan Jawai is being held up from continuing practice with the Toronto Raptors because of medical concern. Apparently there are concerns about the 6-10, 280lb rookie’s heart, or “cardiac issues” that showed up in a routine pre-camp cardiac tests held on a treadmill.  “I’m fine, I’m normal,” Jawai said yesterday. “I haven’t had any symptoms or anything. I’m breathing okay and everything’s fine. I’ve played for four or five years now and I haven’t dealt with it before. I’ve had no problems with it and it just basically showed up then. It’s frustrating but I’m kind of handling it okay.”

Brandon Jennings Update & Debut (+ Josh Childress)
The New York Times features an update on Brandon Jennings and how his decision earlier this year to forgo the normal path to the NBA, in the face of college ineligibility and the NBA age-minimum rules, has paid off so far. The money is there with a 1.2 million contract with Italian club Lottomatica Virtus Roma and a 2 million dollar endorsement deal with Under Armour, now if the 19-year old can do it on the court and survive the cultural shift off it, he could be blazing the trail for future academically-challenges American high school hoopers that can’t make the grade.

Sonny Vacaro, who was behind Jennings’ move overseas has heard from 12 other elite basketball players (and their families) interested in possibly making similar moves.

Now Jennings has to follow-through on the court, and early results have been good, as the 6-2 point guard averaged 20 points through five exhibition games, “He’s one of the top talents that I’ve ever seen.” said Dejan Bodiroga, European legend and Roma’s general manager.

Jennings/Childress Update: Though Brandon’s been doing well in preseason scrimmages, his professional debut wasn’t quite as successful.  On Monday, Jennings came off the bench, as almost all younger players do in Europe, and scored seven points (3-10 fg), grabbed two rebounds and passed for two assists in 21 minutes. Lottomatica Roma barely won 83-81 over little-known club Eldo Caserta

Josh Childress fared much better in his debut for Olympiaco, who cruised to a 90-65 win over Egaleo.  In only 23 minutes of action, Childress scored a team-high 16 points on 4-9 from the field and a perfect 8-8 from the floor.

White Collar Crime: Devin Harris Hustled in London
Widely circulated and reported yesterday by Ball Don’t Lie is a video of Devin Harris being schooled (more like hustled) by a British streetballer in v-neck and jeans… I don’t see it as that bad.  Yes, a little embarrassing for an NBA player to have the ball put in-between your legs and scored on by a what he thought was a regular Joe Sixpack, but it’s a damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t-situation for Devin and I don’t think it reflects on him badly at all.  Full story behind the video can be found here.

Monta Ellis suspened 30 games for Lying…
Whoa. Monta Ellis suspended 30 games for lying about how he seriously injured his ankle. The 22-year old guard injured it in a Moped accident, but told team officials that it happened during a pickup game in his native Mississippi, only to come clean later on.  Haven’t we learned anything from about lying after going through the Vladimir Radmanovic ski-gate?   It’s not so much the games he’ll miss, Ellis’s injury would have had him out a while anyways, but Monta will lose out on $3 million dollars during his suspension but I guess it’s better losing your money having fun on a moped than watching your 401K disappear in a financial crisis…

Coming Soon: NBA Regular Season Games in London
Sounds like the NBA will be playing some regular season games in London sometime between now and before the Olympics hit in 2012…  “Although we have no plans on the drawing board, it has been suggested to us that we should schedule in the next three years or so some regular-season games here – more than just one – on a regular basis,” said NBA Commish David Stern. “It’s fair to say that we’ll see a minimum of one and possibly more regular-season games by 2012.”

The globalization of the game continues as David Stern does his best to keep the NBA a big part of the world’s progress.  Stay tuned.

Links and Resources: With Yi, Nets are hoping to tap a new fan base (New York Times), Orlando Magic 94-66 CSKA Moscow (Euroleague.net), Bosh has 24 points, 10 rebounds in Raptors’ win over CSKA Moscow (Canada Press), Warriors suspend Ellis for mo-ped accident (Yahoo!), Radmanovic lies about injury (ESPN), Stu Does it Again (Basketball 24/7), Brandon Jennings Paves Path from High School to European Pro Leagues (New York Times), Brandon Jennings & Josh Childress Debut (SLAM), Top-Ten most popular NBA jerseys sold in Europe — related forum thread (NBA.com) Aussie Jawai forced to sit for Raptors after cardiac screenings (Fiba), No heart problems in family history, Jawai says (Toronto Star), NBA: London Calling (SkySports), NBA’s Monopoly and Basketball Globalization (Interbasket)