Sports Bank #2 officer David K. and I go way back. Like myself, he’s from Palos Township and the idea of this site was tossed around in the Southwest suburbs of Chicago many years before it’s founding in 2008. Dave, myself, and our closest bunch of friends refer to our hometown not as Palos Park, Palos Heights, or “the burbs,” but “the SICA” instead.
Named after the now defunct high school sports conference SICA (South Inter Conference Association), we felt our home needed a nickname. This area stretches from Summit to Kankakee, Bolingbrook to Chicago Heights. Obviously, SICA country is more than a geographic area, it’s a state of mind like “Margaritaville.”
Now that high school football season has started, we constructed the short list of SICA-bred jocks. Our home region is so rich in talent, we probably left off a few big names but we both agree on the all-time #1.
By Paul M. Banks and David K.
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Today we live in a world and marketplace that is more globalized than ever.When the NYSE is closed the Nikkei is open for business. There are deals to be closed somewhere in the world around the clock. After all, this website is one of the top 5,000 viewed sites in Costa Rica. In that vein, the Philadelphia 76ers‘ Evan Turner is making cheddar in China, a nation where the NBA is huge! Like the video below tells us, the number of people who play basketball in China is larger than the entire population of the U.S.A.
If you follow Evan Turner on Twitter, you might notice that his page quote is the exact same that I have on my own Facebook page: Jay-Z’s famous “I’m not a business man, I’m a business; MAN!” from his rap on Kanye West’s single “Diamonds from Sierra Leone.”
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Memphis Grizzlies owner Michael Heisley went on the radio yesterday and showed us that he clearly needs media training. A NBA owner whose been named to the Forbes 400 list should be savvier than this. With all the uh, um, uhhhh, uhmmmms in his speak, especially for the first five minutes or so of this interview, he made Beavis and Butthead sound refined. It almost reminded me of the Lou Piniella “on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on, on,” soundbite.
Heisley, who made his money in computers, was born in Washington, D.C., grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, yet seemed to revert to a Canadian/Minnesotan accent during much of his verbal confrontation with Memphis Fox 730 host Chris Vernon yesterday. You’ll hear a few “a-boots,” “oot-sides” in his testy exchange. Maybe it’s because he bought the team when they were in Vancouver, and promised to keep the team in British Columbia, a year before he moved them to Tennessee.
And Heisley admits that he has not read the CBA, and is unaware of the clause allowing negotiating with rookies on incentive-based bonuses.
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Final cuts were made today. USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo announced the 12 NBA players who will represent the United States at the 2010 FIBA World Championship.
Named to the 12-man 2010 USA World Championship Team were: Chauncey Billups (Denver Nuggets); Tyson Chandler (Dallas Mavericks); Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors); Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder); Rudy Gay (Memphis Grizzlies); Eric Gordon (Los Angeles Clippers); Danny Granger (Indiana Pacers); Andre Iguodala (Philadelphia 76ers); Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves); Lamar Odom (Los Angeles Lakers); Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls); and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder).
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Possibly the greatest “second banana” in NBA history, Chicago Bulls legend Scottie Pippen, will enter the basketball Hall of Fame as part of a very special class tonight.
2010 inductees include Jerry Buss, Cynthia Cooper, Bob Hurley, Sr., Karl Malone and two celebrated teams: the 1960 USA Men’s Olympic team and the 1992 USA Basketball “Dream Team.” The announcement was made at a press conference in Indianapolis, Indiana during the 2010 NCAA Final Four.
By Paul M. Banks
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Creating four team deals on ESPN’s trade machine is one of my favorite wasting time hobbies, but rarely do they actually occur in the NBA. They are as common as characters smoking cigarettes on Mad Men. Okay, bad example. However, the Hornets, Pacers, Nets, and Rockets have struck a four-team, five player deal that actually makes sense for each team.
By: David Kay
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TMZ has obtained this exclusive photo of LeBron James in a business meeting earlier today with Rabbi Yoshiyahu Yosef Pinto … a man known around New York as the “Rabbi to the Business Stars.”
Sources involved with the meeting tell us LeBron had hired Rabbi Pinto for spiritual guidance for a “big merchandising meeting” that took place on a private yacht somewhere off the coast of NY just hours ago.
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Last year the Washington Wizards went 26-56 and were the only team in the NBA’s Southeast Division not to make the playoffs. Wisely, they blew up their roster this past season. And truly begin the re-building process this fall. The Wizards are starting over with a new Owner (internet pioneer and Capitals owner Ted Leonsis) and franchise player at the point guard position (NBA Draft #1 overall pick John Wall).
Leonsis, whose net worth is in the billions, was gracious enough to take time out of his very busy day to answer my questions about where the Wizards are going.
I first asked Leonsis about John Wall’s supporting cast, and if the other pieces around him will aid his transition into the NBA (similar to what Chicago did with their fanchise, #1 overall pick point guard Derrick Rose).
“I think that great next generation point guards are very rare, and difficult to find,” Leonsis said.
By Paul M. Banks
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Ted Leonsis is the majority owner, chairman and CEO of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a group that on June 9, 2010 became owners of the NBA’s Washington Wizards, NHL‘s Washington Capitals, WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the Verizon Center and the Baltimore-Washington Ticketmaster franchise.
Leonsis, a former vice-chairman at AOL and an internet marketing pioneer, also serves as chairman of SnagFilms, Clearspring Technologies, and Revolution Money. However, his most unique attribute is likely his “scorecard” of personal and professional life goals. He drew up the 101 item list at age 25 after surviving an airplane flight that nearly crashed. Since that day in 1983 he’s checked off 74 of those 101 items. (See the list here).
By Paul M. Banks
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Shaq was one of two big name NBA free agents left on the market. Now, Tracy McGrady is left all alone without a home. The Diesel will take his huge body and declining game to the Boston Celtics in hopes of helping the aging team win another ring. Is it a good move? I think so.
By: David Kay
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By now you’re certainly heard about NBA star (or should I just call him “reality star”?) LeBron James’ ad in the Akron Beacon Journal reaching out to his hometown; but ignoring Cleveland, the city that made him a larger than life star. Now I know what you’re saying:
“Aren’t Cleveland and Akron like the same-thing?”
Well, yes and no, and no, not really.
They’re a 30 minute drive from one another. It’s like saying Chicago and Evanston are one in the same.
So James really wanted to do something about the public relations Hiroshima he unleashed on his home community? He should made a similar gesture to CLEVELAND!
You may have heard that they HATE HIM there. Especially when attention-whores wear LeBron James Miami Heat jerseys to Cleveland Indians games.
If I could quote the Evil Emperor in Return of the Jedi, “I feel your ANGER.” The only advice I can give here is take up the habit of your city’s all-time greatest hip-hop artists, Bone Thugz n Harmony. That could mellow you people out. Or read this column, since so few of you have, and I spent too much time on it to have so few page views.
I guess I have to accept the fact that I’m not huge in Cleveland. Well, at least I still have Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
By Paul M. Banks
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The NBA announced their national television schedule for Tip-Off and select national holiday games, including Christmas and MLK Day.
The league begins the season with a TNT doubleheader, earlier than usual this year: Tuesday, Oct. 26. The 2010-11 season will mark Turner Sports’ 27th consecutive campaign of broadcasting NBA games. In the season opener, the “fantasy team” of Miami Heat (Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade etc.) are shipped up to Boston to take on the defending Eastern Conference Champion Boston Celtics led by the Boston Three Party (7:30 p.m. ET tip).
The nightcap at 10:30 p.m. ET features the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers hosting the Houston Rockets and Yao Ming (if he’s healthy.
ESPN opens on Wednesday, Oct. 27 with a doubleheader, beginning with Derrick Rose and the Chicago Bulls visiting the Kevin Durant-led Oklahoma City Thunder at 8 p.m. ET. Game two features the Portland Trail Blazers at the Los Angeles Clippers. (Blake Griffin‘s long overdue debut)
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The city of Cleveland is currently acting like a spurned and scorned ex-lover turned stalker. Yes, LeBron James broke their hearts, but they need to deal with this in a healthier fashion. T-shirts for sale on the streets outside Progressive Field read “F*** LEBRON” and “the Lyin King” (a parody of the Lion King- OMG! I get it, LOL, ROTFLMAO!)
But that is not the way.
Heckling and taunting one idiot at an Indians game in a LeBron Miami jersey will not make the pain go away.
Did you ever date someone for a couple weeks, until you realize they’re PSYCHO, so you quickly and wisely end it?
But they keep calling/texting/Facebooking/emailing no matter how many messages you ignore. Then they blog and Tweet about you. And you receive drunk voicemails months and possibly even years afterwards…well, you get the point of this 100% hypothetical and in no way based on real life experience scenario.
This is how Cleveland is acting towards Lebron James right now.
By Paul M. Banks
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You heard about the guy who wore a Lebron Heat jersey to a Cleveland Indians-New York Yankees game Wednesday night? It created such a scene that it became national news, and the story is spreading like wildfire over the internet.
And what happened made a large group of Indians fans look about as uncivilized as they did 36 years ago on Ten Cent Beer night. Yes, whenever you get a large group of New York Yankees fans together, you get MLB’s version of what gets caught in the gene pool skimmer. Yet the Yankee fans present looked downright classy and sophisticated compared to the fun at the old ballpark that went down.
Seriously Cleveland, you had a NBA star. Now he’s gone, GET OVER IT!
But on the other hand, Matt “LeBron Heat Jersey in Cleveland” Bellamy did something described as extremely attention whorish at best, completely knobbish (yes, I know these are not words) at worst. (Or maybe being an attention whore is worse than being a complete knob?) And Ohio State fans, he’s also one of your people. Thought I’d mention it.
By Paul M. Banks
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The 2011 NBA off-season likely won’t be filled with the excitement and drama of this past summer especially with a possible league lockout looming. Still, there are some major players that could be hitting the market and switching teams. Here is an early look at the free agent crop of 2011.
By: David Kay
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Yesterday, I busted out my list of NBA off-season winners. Today, it is time to call-out the losers who either made terrible off-season decisions or fell short in their attempt to achieve their goals. This list features a former king and one of the most written about and hated people at The Sports Bank.
By: David Kay
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Following four days of training and an intra-squad exhibition in Las Vegas, USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo announced his 15 NBA superstar players picked as finalists for the 2010 USA World Championship Team.
The three biggest names on the roster are Chicago Bulls franchise player Derrick Rose, Nuggets superstar Chauncey Billups, and Oklahoma City Thunder go-to-guy Kevin Durant.
The 2010-12 USA National Team will be coached by Duke University’s Mike Krzyzewski, with USA assistant coaches Syracuse University’s Jim Boeheim, New York Knicks head mentor Mike D’Antoni and Portland Trail Blazers head coach Nate McMillan.
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With the end of July quickly approaching, we can pretty much put a wrap on the NBA off-season. For the most part, the rosters are filled out with maybe a few minor signings remaining. Here are the winners of the very hectic, crazy, and entertaining 2010 summer. Check back tomorrow for my off-season losers.
By: David Kay
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Chris Paul is reportedly unhappy and wants out of New Orleans. The face of the Hornets apparently does not think the franchise has made the necessary moves to surround him with the talent needed to make a run at an NBA title and will sit down with management Monday to discuss his future. The end result could involve CP3 demanding a trade out of the bayou in hopes of pulling a LeBron James and aligning himself with another top tier player.
Rumored wish lists have begun to surface about where Paul would like to end up if the trigger is in fact pulled on a trade. New York and Orlando seem to his preferred destinations with Dallas and Portland also being discussed. Allow me to put my trade machine expertise to work and throw out some potential deals like Ron Burgundy throwing out sexual advances at Veronica Corningstone.
(Note: In no way I am supporting any of these trades or saying the Hornets would or should make these deals. They are clearly possible offers that would benefit all parties involved. So don’t leave a comment claiming I am an idiot for proposing these deals. Thank you.)
By: David Kay
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Inside sources around around the Chicago Bulls and the rest of league are saying T-Mac will be a Bull by the end of the week. The Bulls will work out free agent guard/forward Tracy McGrady on Monday. And T-Mac, a seven time All-Star appears very interested in becoming that 12th NBA player the Bulls are looking to get under contract. His tweets certainly say so:
i have unfinished business…. Saturday, July 24, 2010 9:13:36 PM via web
C-H-I-C-A-G-O be there tomorrow… workout monday.. thank u twitter followers for your support, inspiration, and prayers… Saturday, July 24, 2010 9:13:10 PM via web
By Paul M. Banks
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