Most Wanted

Citizens of China are playing - and watching - basketball in record numbers, so it only makes sense and that the NBA and sneaker brands send star players over there all summer long to feed the growing demand.

I wrote this feature for SLAM Magazine's KICKS Issue and it was originally published in KICKS # 17 - 2014

“Kobe! Kobe! Kobe!”

The chant fanned out like fire-flames amidst the 17,000 NBA devotees packed inside the MasterCard Center in Beijing, China, watching the Lakers play the Warriors in the first of their two pre-season exhibition games in the country last October. Fans had flocked the arena, presumably with allegiances to both teams. When it came down to it, though, attendees in every colour jersey started chanting Kobe’s name.

Thing is, Bryant wasn’t in the game at the time. Matter of fact, he wasn’t dressed for the game at all. The future Hall of a Famer was on the bench in a business suit, still nursing his healing Achilles tendon. The chants continued nevertheless.

Outside the arena, following a 100-95 Warriors win, Beijing briefly turned into bizzaro version of Los Angeles. Kobe jerseys, T-shirts, hats, mouse pads, iPhone covers, bags, scarves, and other merchandise. The subways, especially, were full of fans of all ages in Kobe jerseys. The NBA may have held the game at a neutral venue, but with the Black Mamba on hand, the Lakers were always going to be the home team.

The love wasn’t a surprise for Bryant; he has been to China quite a few times over the past decade. In fact, so have the majority of the League’s biggest names. Every yaer, between the summer and late fall, apparel and sneaker companies send their stars on marketing runs to Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Shenzhen, and other more remote Chinese locations.

Over the past few years two years alone, the likes of LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, Jeremy Lin, Rajon Rondo, Chandler Parsons and several other players, including Bryant, have seen the word CHINA stamped on their passport thanks, in part, to their sneaker affiliations.

“China is really our number two market,” said Yuron White, the VP/General Manager for Greater China, in a conversation with SLAM, “China has shown love to basketball and greeted NBA fans like local heroes, which is why it has made sense for us to keep bringing NBA players to the country.”

“The sport is growing in China,” adds All Star Damian Lillard, who was part of adidas’ fantastic foursome of point guards – along with John Wall, Jrue Holiday, and Ricky Rubio – to visit China last summer. “It’s a great opportunity for us to come over here and experience how passionate the fans here are. They are huge fans of us but they don’t have access to us the way the people in America do. For us to come over here, it’s an experience for us and for them. I see people wearing my jersey, or knowing my first name. It’s just mind-blowing.”

China, of course, has a long and illustrious history with basketball, which reached its apex of sorts with Yao Mong’s remarkable stay in the NBA from 2002-11. The mania surrounding Yao only boosted a growing love of the game in the country. Nowadays, the sport is played by hundreds of millions across the world’s largest population, and the CBA – China’s own professional basketball league – will kick off its 19th season this year.

But most of the real interest lies in the NBA. NBA China sources say that regular season NBA games, which air early in the morning hours, rate way better than CBA games, which air during the primetime. In China, there are NBA fans in every nook and corner, in every high-end shopping mall and every local hutong.

During the season, starts like Bryant and Lillard help push the League in China. In the summer, naturally, they come to promote their own individual brands.

“I think that the growing interest of the game [in China] is great,” said Jeremy Lin, during his visit with adidas recently, “It’s great for basketball, and it’s great for the country as well. Basketball is such a fun sport and now it’s cool to see how much China has really adopted the game.”

With China’s summertime NBA excesses becoming a larger and more competitive field every year, the promotional approaches have taken on more and more creative forms, from Chris Paul ‘hand-delivering’ the new Jordan CP3.VIIs, as he walked through the old streets of Beijing or LeBron James and Kobe Bryant working with the Nike RISE campaign to help train selected Chinese youth throughout the country.

Meanwhile, adidas turned their store in Beijing’s Sanlitun branch – the biggest adi store in the world – into a Derrick Rose shrine this past year. Even though the former MVP was out of action for most of the season, Rose made a special trip last year to Beijing as part of his Asia tour, and interacted with fans, giving away pairs of the D Rose 773 II shoes and played table-tennis with the media and fans in the city.

While the big names like Nike, Jordan, or adidas boast their international credentials, bringing the West to the East, the East has their rising stars, too. Companies like Peak and Anta from China are slowly gaining clout, and well-known NBA names like Kevin Garnett, Tony Parker, Rajon Rondo, and more have committed to the Chinese brands.

The biggest trail-blazer in this respect has been Dwyane Wade and his relationship with Li Ning. In 2012, Wade became the biggest NBA superstar to join the Li Ning roster, leaving behind his previous American shoe deal for the Asian stalwart.

Sneakers aside, China has also become a hot pre-season destination, as large NBA entourage led by two teams, now head eastward every season to take part in the “China Games,” back-to-back matchups in Beijing and Shanghai between two teams. The Miami Heat, L.A. Clippers, Lakers, and Warriors have played in these games in China over the last two years, and this preseason, the Brooklyn Nets and the Sacramento Kings will make the long flight.

These games continue to be greeted with Playoff fervour – just ask the Lakers and the Warriors. But no matter how big other NBA names get worldwide, Kobe continues to garner China’s love like no other. After all, he has been coming annually every summer for almost a decade. The Chinese like to adopt catchy English nicknames, and of course, ‘Kobe’ is among the most popular ones. Grown men have cried in his presence. There is nothing but love.

And every offseason, Kobe, just like so many of the other top players in the League, returns to China to receive love and give some back. While the rest of the NBA takes a break, the summertime becomes the Playoffs in the NBA’s Far-Eastern Conference.

The Linspiration

Linsanity may be over, but Jeremy Lin is continuing basketball's greatest underdog story

This feature was first published as the cover story of the 133rd edition (2014 - No. 12) of SLAM China magazine. Here is my original English version.

Even the greatest moments in history need perspective, they need some distance, an appropriate passing of time, and the appropriate understanding of that moment’s place in our memories. Sometimes, when we live through these great moments in real time, it is difficult to predict their long-term significance. A great moment thrills us in the present, a greater moment continues to amazes us in future years to come.

It seems like it happened an eternity ago, but it was only in 2012 that Jeremy Lin – in the space of a short fortnight – went from being the last guy on the NBA bench the most popular basketball player on the planet. After being cut from two teams and sleeping on a teammate’s couch because he was sure to be cut from the third, a string of injuries turned a dark cloud into a silver-lining for Lin. The young player out of Harvard took over the New York Knicks’ starting point guard position, and within weeks, became the living embodiment of history in very fluid motion.

The legend of ‘Linsanity’ is well known by now. A relative unknown in the big bad NBA world, Lin led the ragtag Knicks to an improbable winning streak, averaging 26.8 points and 8.5 assists over a six-game stretch (setting a record for the most points by any NBA player in their first five starts since the NBA/ABA merger in 1977). He secured a guaranteed contract with the Knicks, saved Coach Mike D’Antoni’s job, outplayed NBA legend Kobe Bryant, hit a game-winning three-pointer, heard ‘M-V-P’ chants at the Madison Square Garden, was named NBA’s Eastern Conference Player of the Week, found himself on the cover of ‘TIME’ and ‘Sports Illustrated’ magazine, and reignited the NBA’s popularity in China after Yao Ming’s retirement.

Eventually, the fairytale ended. Lin shifted base to the Houston Rockets the next season, and the insanity gave way for some stability. Over the past two years, Lin has been a solid, if not spectacular contributor. The day of Linsanity are over, but the young point guard has become a consistent player in the NBA, a dream that seemed far from his reach when he was struggling between the D-League and 10-day contracts.

Still shy of his 26th birthday, Lin has already survived a lifetime’s worth of highs and lows as he prepares to begin a new chapter in Los Angeles. And we – the audience who have been witness to the history he created – can now have the luxury of perspective. ‘Linsanity’ is over, but basketball’s greatest underdog story continues to inspire hundreds of thousands of young players around the world.

Lin returned to China this offseason once more in a move to once again bring him face to face and closer to Asian fans who have long been unconditionally devoted to him. His stock in the NBA may rise and fall, but out here, he remains a bright shining star, the living embodiment of proof that basketball is much more than a genetic code, that hard work on the court can reap rewards on the court for a person of any race.

Usually, international players in the NBA – particularly those from Asia – are scouted more on the basis of their size. The tallest players, like Yao Ming, Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhi Zhi, or Hamed Haddadi have a clear advantage because they offer the one thing that coaches say can’t be taught: height.

Until Lin’s breakthrough Asian guards rarely scratched the surface of their potential. Credit for his immense development must be given to the hard work he put in to become a rising star in High School, College, and the pros out in America. But still, Lin was able to prove that smaller Asian players – if they have the right combination of internal motivation, good coaching, and the right opportunities – can be just as successful as any of the other young players getting drafted into the NBA.

In his recent visit to Beijing, Lin spoke to SLAM about how his stardom proved that basketball success is clearly more than a game of genetics and that being bigger isn’t the only key for an Asian player to make it to the NBA.

“I hope that my achievements can be an inspiration to young Asians,” he said, “I think that height is just one component, but it’s not close to being the most important one. If you look at the NBA right now, you’ll see that it’s evolving and becoming more of a guard’s game. The most talented position is the point guard position all the way across the board.”

“I hope to see many more Chinese guards – and not just big men – make it to the next level,” he added.

Lin was among the first of a usual off-season flurry of NBA superstars that visit China and help to encourage the growth of the game in the country. As always, he showed enthusiasm for the reception that the game has been getting in China.

“I think that the growing interest of the game here is great,” Lin said, “It’s great for basketball, and it’s great for the country as well. Basketball is such a fun sport and now it’s cool to see how much China has really adopted the game.”

It’s clear to see that the game that Lin professes his love for has loved him back. Lin’s NBA story is markedly different from many of his peers. Unlike his former All Star teammates Dwight Howard or James Harden, Lin did not become a high lottery pick. He wasn’t drafted at all. Everything about his journey – from his Asian background to the fact that he attended Harvard, a Division II squad, in college – was unique.

And yet, years later, he made his uniqueness – as an undrafted, Asian-American smaller player out of Harvard – into his strength. The impact of Lin’s has surely smartened up NBA execs and scouts to think outside the box when searching for prospects and not turn anyone down based on their college, size, or ethnicity.

Looking back now, it is still surprising that Lin slipped past the eyes of so many NBA teams: future prospects can be grateful that his explosive breakout will serve as an example so others like him don’t slip by, too.

Now, Lin has found a role for himself in the NBA beyond the explosive breakout, beyond ‘Linsanity’. He is now fully focused on remaining a regular NBA contributor going forward, and on evolving his role to remain efficient in the NBA.

“I want to keep getting better,” he said, “I saw some improvement in my game over the past year; and I hope that, over time, I’ll be able to see more and more improvement. Hopefully, as a team, we’ll be able to go further and further into the playoffs.”

This offseason, Lin told SLAM that he has plans to continue sharpening the edges in his game. “I want to continue to work on what I worked on last year,” he said, “On aspects of my game like three-point shooting, defense, on improving my left hand. I’m also adding floaters and stuff like that to my game to be a little more versatile on the court.”

Lin’s uncertain off-season finally came to a conclusion when the Rockets sent him to Los Angeles to become a Laker. When SLAM met Lin two days before this trade, he didn’t comment on his team status, but instead looked back on what it would take for Houston to overturn the recent First Round playoffs loss.

The 2014 First Round series between the Rockets and the Trail Blazers saw featured several memorable moments, including two 40+ games by Lamarcus Aldridge, two games that were settled in overtime, and a game-winning three-pointer by Damian Lillard that beat the buzzer and beat the Rockets for good in Game 6.

Lin’s personal high-point in the series came in Game 5 – his strongest performance of the playoffs – as he bounced back from a tough outing earlier to score 21 points off the bench and help Houston secure a victory. It was true to form for Lin, who turned disappointment and despair into motivation and success.

“I just took a step back after Game 4,” he said, “I prayed to God, and I just kinda calmed down, and I realized that I can only control so much and I have to trust in Him. Going into Game 5 I told myself that I have to be really aggressive and I’m gonna play for God’s glory and be okay with whatever happens. That’s the mentality that I had between Game 4 and Game 5.”

But overall, Lin and his team have been left with a sense of incompleteness after their season of hope was cut short so cruelly in the playoffs. Lin – who played 38 of the 71 games last season of the bench and didn’t start in game of the playoffs – saw his scoring and assist numbers take a dip from last year. He, along with his teammates, must bear the responsibility for the playoffs loss, and as he looks forward to starting over with the Lakers, he has to also focus on bouncing back to answer his critics.

The shadow of the past will always hover above him – and not just his past with the Rockets. Lin spoke about how the Rockets struggled with ball-movement last season, and as the eventual NBA champions showed, ball movement can be the key to overcome any challenge in the league.

The Spurs – who on their way to the Finals defeated the Trail Blazers in the Second Round – were the NBA’s best passing team, leading the league in assists, a wonderful habit that they continued as they demolished LeBron James and the Miami Heat with ease in the NBA Finals. Every success story in the NBA inspires others to try and emulate that success: watch out for more NBA teams attempting to copy the Spurs’ model and become better passers of the ball.

Despite being the second-highest scoring team in the league, Lin’s Rockets only ranked 18th in assists per game in the NBA, a statistic that immediately makes clear that the team relied more on isolation opportunities and individual brilliance than team interplay for their points. As a point guard – who believes that the NBA is moving in the direction of becoming a point guard’s league – Lin’s next challenge is to become the type of floor general that can orchestrate the flow of the offense and leads his team to play unselfish, pass-first basketball.

It is also no secret that the Rockets, including Lin himself, struggled on the defensive end. They ranked in the league’s bottom ten in opponent’s points allowed, for which both individuals as well as the system has been the culprit. Lin has vowed to work on his defensive duties this offseason, and his fans will be hoping that he can bounce back to become a consistent performer when guarding the ball as well.

From one perspective, the road ahead looks rocky, as Lin has to take several individual leaps forward to raise his game to a higher level. But history has taught us perspective, hasn’t it?

History has taught us about the underdog who defeated the odds to become a superstar, and let that stardom flicker to help redefine himself in the NBA. History has given us the perspective to look back at the phenomenon that ‘Linsanity’ once was two years ago, and given us the time to see the influence and the inspiration that phenomenon has had ever since. History tells us that Lin toiled night and day in practice to fight for a chance in the NBA, and that perhaps he has the drive to do it again.

But most importantly, the history of Lin’s career tells us that we still don’t know anything at all. Lin is still only 25 and potentially has many more years with the game ahead of him. We’re still watching history being made in fluid motion, and we’re still experiencing Jeremy Lin in the midst of basketball’s greatest underdog story.

The 6th Man: Jeremy Lin

This article was first published as 'The 6th Man' editorial of the 133rd edition (2014 - No. 12) of SLAM China magazine. Here is my original English version.

Forget the playoffs: the most pressure that an NBA player feels these days happens off the court. It happens in the midst of summertime and it happens off-the-court. Basketball’s maestros are most comfortable when they are asked to focus on what they do best – trying to win basketball games. But during the off-season, the chaos of the draft, trade rumours, and free agency takes over, and the same maestros are out of their element.

When SLAM China met Jeremy Lin in Beijing in early July, he was still a member of the Houston Rockets. But the man who was once responsible for causing the ‘Linsanity’ phenomenon was now in the eye of the storm again. He was hearing that he was going to end up in Philadelphia. In Cleveland. Back to Golden State. Instead of being judged on his on-court abilities, he was being reduced treated as simply cap space.

And yet, despite the storm that brewed externally, Lin was the epitome of internal calm in Beijing. He smiled. He posed for photographs. He spoke about his family. He spoke about his past, his present and his future. He spoke about the Rockets and about being back in China.

He wasn’t just handling the storm, he was taming it.

And that’s when we realized that, for the man who has struggled at every step of the way, who was refused a D1 scholarship, left undrafted, cut by two teams, forced to sleep on a teammate’s couch, and pushed to the limits of his NBA dreams, a few trade rumours are nothing. Jeremy Lin had been through real tornadoes; the offseason uncertainty was a mere breeze.

Days later, he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers. The drama was thankfully over, and the new chapter in Linsanity was set to begin. Now, it’s time to focus on being a maestro again.

Check back soon to see my full feature and interview with Jeremy Lin published as the cover story of SLAM China 133 here.

Market Men: Biggest names on the NBA’s trading block

3 PM Eastern Time on February 20th – that’s when the NBA market shuts down. And with the deadline looming, teams around the league are exploring, contemplating, and imagining. Some are imagining opposing players in their own jerseys, some are imagining hording up future draft picks, and some are focused single-mindedly on the accounts chart, hoping to clear up as much cap space as possible. Some wanna get better now, some wanna get better later, and some are clueless.

There aren’t too many big names or current All Stars involved in serious trade rumours this season, but here are the top players that could be on the market if their team gets an exciting offer or two.

Click here to read full feature.

The Value of Improvement: Email Exchanges on some of the NBA's most pressing and depressing thoughts

Let's just call it the 2-man e-weave, a stripped down online version of the popular basketball drill (the 3-man weave) except that it's done with words and not basketballs and requires only the workout of keyboard typing fingers (and the occasional workout of the mind).

Soon after I praised the Pacers possibly fielding three most-improved players on the same roster (Granger, George... and a contender for this season: Stephenson) on Twitter a couple of weeks ago I was approached by my man James Hsu with a simple yet powerful idea: "Can P-George qualify for MVP and MIP in the same season? Always improving: your Indiana Pacers! I feel like discussing what MIP or MVP would be an article in itself. We should do a Simmons-Gladwell style email exchange."

James, an NBA addict whenever he's escaping from the responsibilities of real life (and perhaps even during those responsibilities), is a regular writer on his blog and elsewhere, covering every topic from expat experiences in China to music reviews. The NBA is one of our common passions, and so I didn't take much convincing to agree to his idea.

So over the next few days, we exchanged emails about our thoughts relating to the game's most valuable and most improved players so far this season, before spiraling into the rant stratospheres. And... I'll let James take it away from here...

James

Hey Karan,

Happy holidays man. Hope you're doing well and you got a chance to watch some of the Christmas games tonight. The OKC Thunder definitely took care of business against the Melo-less Knicks, but I don't want to get too deep into that, for fear of getting us off-topic. (You know I can go on and on about the best team in the league...OK I'll stop!)

What I want to discuss with you today is the subject of Most Improved Player and Most Valuable Player - "MIP" and "MVP" for short. It started from something you tweeted about recently - whether Lance Stephenson could win the MIP this year. Dude just had a ridiculous game, with YET ANOTHER triple double in the books. We tweeted briefly about Granger, George and the history of the always-improving-Pacers. The Pacers are just an unbelievable team - well coached and well run as an organization.

Though the regular season is far from over, it's never too early to think about our early-season picks for MIP and MVP. So I thought it would be fun to have an email exchange with you about (1) what goes into the MIP / MVP selection process and (2) our picks for MIP / MVP.

We're going to riff off of the Simmons-Gladwell format a little bit. After all, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. And we're both Grantland nerds, so what the heck.

So let me get things started - how would you define "Most Improved Player" and "Most Valuable Player"? It's a terribly subjective measure, to be sure, but I'd like to get your perspective. If you were going to cast your vote, what goes into your thought process?

Karan

Hi James,

Merry Christmas and Happy Post Christmas Feast Coma Day.

I totally jumped at your idea of an email exchange - which isn't just an imitation of Simmons/Gladwell - it's a pure, raw, and uncut steal. STEAL. STEAL. STEAL. STEAL. Glad that I got that out of my system.

Moving on to more pressing matters.

I've long been intrigued, concerned, amused, and even sometimes angered by the definitions of MVP and MIP. But I think the beauty of the system is the very fact that each one of us has a different definition. If we all thought the same, exact, scientific way, then LeBron James would be cruising to the next five MVP awards without debate and that is certainly not the world I want to live in.

Here is my definition: the 'Most Valuable Player' is the one player whose absence would make the biggest difference in the final standings of the league. This player isn't just the best stats guy or the best player in the best team: he is a combination of all factors that effects both his team and the rest of the league more than any other player.

(If I ruled the NBA world, there would only be one consolidated MVP award given at the end of the Finals (instead of MVP/Finals MVP) to the absolute biggest game changer of the season. But that is another tangent for another day.)

Now, the Most Improved Player award gets even more complicated. It sounds simple at first: the guy who 'improves' the 'most', is the 'most improved'. If every NBA player is rated from 1-100, what player makes the biggest jump in his ratings? But historically, this award is only given to one type of improvement: of a under-25 rated guy moving to become an around 50-75 rated guy. Bobby Simmons, Boris Diaw, Hedo Turkoglu, Aaron Brooks, and Ryan Anderson are perfect examples of this. Every once in a while, a guy like Kevin Love or Paul George breaks the mould and actually 'improves' to become a All Star instead of just a decent starter.

But the award rarely looks at the maturation of an All Star into a Superstar. Of a 75-80 guy elevating his game into the 90s. In 2010-12, I believed that Kevin Durant should be considered for this type of improvement, but when a guy is so competitive in the MVP race, few voters around the league consider him to be an MIP as well.

This season, that guy is Paul George, who sneaked into his first All Star game last season, and has sneaked into MVP talk this season. His candidacy opens up a whole Pandora's Box of questions. Could he be the first to win both the MVP and MIP award? Could he be the first to have two MIP awards in a row?

James

In this case, we'll give ourselves a collective pat on the back for stealing - or shall I say re-appropriating - the idea. It's another free plug for Grantland, which never fails to impress.

I think that your definition of MVP is rock solid and spot-on. Fully agree that MVP needs to be the most valuable TO THAT TEAM, but I like the way you put it - "biggest difference in the final standings of the league." The MVP needs to have a big enough impact that he's affecting the balance of power in that division, and probably the entire damn conference. He's the guy that when other teams suit up to play, they think about That Guy. Is That Guy going to dominate the game? Have we prepared sufficiently for him? Will That Guy beat us at the buzzer?

In the past I've been conflicted about making distinctions between the Most Valuable Player and the Best Player, which is why I never believed Steve Nash to be an MVP and why I was on Team Kobe instead of Team Shaq. I will add to your definition, which is that the MVP needs to get it done on both ends of the floor. Jordan did that. When Miami only had Wade, it was the same thing. And Lebron is like that now. (And this is why Nash isn't on my list.)

The best theoretical exercise, by the way, is to imagine the team without that player. Then it becomes easier to see his value. (Like the Melo-less Knicks on Christmas Day...OK, I need to nip this reference in the bud.)

The funny thing about our definitions, or anyone's definition for that matter, though, is that Lebron James is the clear-cut MVP no matter what definition we use. He is clearly the best player on the planet. He contributes in every way, on both ends of the floor. He now has that killer instinct and knows when to put his head down to get to the line. When he plays basketball it's like he's playing a video game - he can get any shot he wants on the court. And he's shooting ABSURD percentages, unreal percentages.

The runner-up, Kevin Durant, is also a statistical monster, but not to the same extent as James. And he's not as dominant defensively.

The only argument against Bron I would make is that when you compare him next to Paul George, the Pacers would struggle more without George in the lineup than the Heat would without Lebron. That's because the Pacers are offensively challenged and don't run as much - you might even pin that on the point guard. In a moment of weakness, I thought about Paul George as MVP, but he just isn't as dominant as James or Durant. He's a fantastically improving player (and we'll get to that in a sec), but not quite MVP yet.

Admittedly, I am not as well versed as you in thinking about the various ways the Most Improved Player race could play out. It's pretty human to notice the BEST players on the planet; it's quite another skill to see the biggest improvements made. Again, I think your definition makes a lot of sense, and I'm really tempted now to fire up NBA 2K so that I can start going through the virtual player rankings. The challenge, obviously, is that we don't know a lot of the time how these players are REALLY ranked on a scale of 1 to 100 while they're riding the bench or getting limited playing time. Did Kevin Love really make an astronomical jump, or was he in the right system? Would Dirk become the superstar he is today had Nellie not given him a shot?

If I think about the examples you gave, yes, players like Turk and Diaw went from unknowns to sensations over the course of a season. Basketball is about confidence, and some of these players simply were given a shot given how hard they worked on their game and a combination of coaching / team circumstance.

A recent example that comes to mind is J.J. Redick - he went from a guy who could only knock down 3s to someone who could make pull-up jumpers and even play a little D. He clearly put work into his game, and it shows. He's somebody who deserves his contract.

I'll add to your definition of MIP one more thing - any tie breaker can be resolved by the record of that player's team. In other words, he needs to help the team win in some way, and not just be vastly improved on a mediocre team. (Austin Rivers - I'm looking at you to make Most Improved Player. I'm not holding my breath, though.)

Now, to address your question about whether repeat wins is possible - if we operate under the illusion that this is a completely objective contest, then I'd say yes. If we can't give George the MVP, we can surely give him the MIP again - pretty fair, right? But realistically the MIP needs to maximize good PR for the league, and that means voters in the league will use this opportunity to highlight a particular team or new player that hasn't won the award. I mean, heck, if I had a crystal ball I'd say that Goran Dragic's chances this year are higher than George's, because of how the Suns have catapulted into the spotlight under his solid play. And for all my criticisms about Jeremy Lin, his improvement did more for the league than anybody else that year.

Now that we've discussed these definitions a bit, I need to ask - who is YOUR pick for MVP, and for MIP? This is where the fun begins.

Karan

It's always less complicated - for me, at least - to pick MVP than MIP. There can only be one 'best' player, but improvements are made by many players in many different ways every year.

We're only two months into the regular season, and we've already had a bunch of pretty legit '2-month MVP' contenders.

It seems like LeBron will be a contender until he pretty much can't run anymore or till he decides to retire early due to hairline-embarrassment issues (that headband seems to be getting bigger every season). Even at cruise control (by this Himalayan high standards), he is the league's most efficient player, averages close to 25-7-7, and shoots at an insane 59.5 percent. Then there's Chris Paul (Written pre-injury). When it comes to point guards, I'm not saying that he's number one. Oh, I'm sorry I lied: he's number one, two, three, four, and five. Paul plays like the point guard I create for myself on NBA 2K14 (it's always a point guard), putting up points-assists double-doubles on a nightly basis, exploding to the basket when required, shooting at a high-percentage, and taking the game to a whole other level at clutch time. Our original muse for this email exchange, Paul George, has been the best player for one of the league's best teams and has become one of the league's most rounded players. Offensively, he's still several steps behind those other star forwards like LeBron, Durant, and Melo, but he makes up for it with elite perimeter defense. And then, there's the man in the middle of the league's most surprising squad, the Trailblazers LaMarcus Aldridge, who might just be the NBA's best power forward this season.

But if I have to choose my MVP at this point, it would be Kevin Durant. The Thunder are one of the league's three best teams, and Durant, very much like LeBron, has mastered the art of dominance while still in cruise-control. KD is leading the league in scoring while averaging a career-high in boards (8), assists (4.8), and three-point percentage (42.4). It's not a easy decision, but KD wins the race for me in a very close call. With Westbrook out for the next couple of months, expect OKC's record to stutter a little, but also expect for Durant to raise his game even higher to keep his squad at an elite level. You grant me one player for one do-or-die championship game this season, and I'll choose Durant. For now.

Now, we can enter the hazy and unpredictable world of the 'best improvers'. And each player isn't just a candidate, he's a whole different way of defining the 'Most Improved Player' award itself. Should it be WHO-THE-HELL-ARE-THEY-?I? guys? Tony Wroten, the sophomore who scored 91 points last season - TOTAL - but is already averaging nearly 14 ppg this time around for Philly. Miles Plumlee had 13 points and 22 rebounds ALL SEASON while playing Roy Hibbert's backup in Indiana. He's been a revelation in Phoenix this year and is averaging 9.7 and 9.1 points/boards per game. Evan Turner, Lance Stephenson, and Aaron Afflalo have all taken major steps up into the elite category, and if I had to choose between them, I'd take Stephenson on the factor that he plays for a truly successful squad. And oh yeah, don't forget about Anthony Davis, whose surging season was paused only by an injury.

Opportunity paves the way for success. And no player has used opportunity better than my 2-month MIP, Eric Bledsoe. Last season, Bledsoe averaged 8.5 points, 3.1 assists and three rebounds in 20.4 minutes per game playing backup to Chris Paul. The Suns took a risk by making him their franchise centerpiece, and Bledsoe has responded admirably, raising his numbers to 18.9 points, 6.0 assists and 4.3 boards in 33.5 minutes per game. The Suns, who were expected by many to be the worst team in the West, are actually standing at sixth place, above the Warriors, Mavericks, Nuggets, Lakers, and Grizzlies.

Who would be your picks? And do you think there are any other names that neither of us are considering contenders yet that can step up over the next four months?

James

Damn. Lebron's headband is looking positively HUGE. Do you think he has a private factory in China that manufactures these monstrosities for him? Maybe they do predictive analysis on his hairline and manufacture a million of them in advance, Bruce Wayne-style. I wouldn't put it past him.

Digression aside, I'm excited that you picked my man Kevin Durant as the MVP. Durant is straight up killin' it and the Thunder are nearly perfect at home, one snafu to the Toronto Craptors notwithstanding. As much as I am a Durant fanboy (and I unequivocally AM a Thunder homer/apologist in every sense of the word), I have to give the award to Lebron. You could make a strong argument either way, but the tiebreaker for me is that Lebron is still the better passer and a more versatile defender. Part of defensive excellence is the fact that he's thrust into the role - the Heat are all-small ball, all the time, and he's guarding 3s and 4s on a nightly basis. But nobody does the "get a stop/rebound, outlet pass, leak out for an alley-oop dunk" better than Lebron. Although these days, Durant barely touches the net on a lot of those jump shots, it looks so scorchingly beautiful.

Color me conflicted, but I still have to go with Lebron James as my MVP, with the SLIGHT edge over Kevin Durant. If you asked me 2 days from now, that could change. Regardless, I think it's a win-win for basketball fans to see such exciting play.

Now, the Chris Paul for MVP argument is interesting. Has there been a better point guard than Paul in the last half-decade? I think not. He's definitely got ice water in his veins, as evidenced by the Clippers-Blazers game yesterday. I don't think anyone on the planet does the pick-and-roll, herky-jerky dribble, stop-on-a-dime and pop-the-midrange-J-in-your-face better than CP3. That was a tough loss for the Clippers, but Paul sure put Damian Lillard in his place! He's not willing to concede the best point guard title to anyone else, yet. But as long as Lebron and Durant are breathing, Chris Paul would have to be #3 for me.

Let's agree to disagree on Aldridge. I'll take K-Love over L.A. any day of the week. Aldridge has a tendency to disappear and rely too much on that jump shot. Truth be told, the MVP award usually belongs to someone who is a guard and can control the game with the ball in his hands. So it's harder to make the argument for a power forward who doesn't dominate the ball.

In terms of MVP dark horses, I'm not seeing anybody else who's qualified. Maybe K-Love if they make the playoffs. As far as I'm concerned, though, it comes down to a horse race between James and Durant.

As for Most Improved Player, my pick is Reggie Jackson. R-Jax looked positively lost last season, especially in the playoffs, but he's made big strides this year. He's now averaging 12.4 points, 3.8 boards, 3.4 assists with nearly a steal a game. It's not just about the numbers for him, though. Jackson's been a steadying presence as a super-sub and capitalized on his value with Westbrook out early in the season. It's gotten to the point where I don't feel as devastated if Russ sits out a game. The one deficiency for Jackson is his 3 point shooting, but he's shown a lot of savvy in getting to the basket and picking his spots. Point guard is a challenging position to play; even more so when you have an MVP like Durant on the wing. So in terms of his value in running the team and contributing to the Thunder's amazing record, I'll give the nod to Jackson.

My runner-ups for MIP are Jeremy Lin and Andre Drummond. Lin is shooting the lights out on the long ball AND finishing near the basket. He's also top 10 in attempted drives to the basket. Basically Lin has been rock solid, and a perfect sixth man, WHEN HE'S BEEN ABLE TO STAY ON THE FLOOR. In light of Beverley's offensive...struggles, Lin plays a key role for the Rockets. I can't conceivably give him the nod over Jackson, though, simply due to durability issues. The Great Asian Hope is actually living up to his reputation!

As for Drummond - he's just been a beast, averaging 13.1 points, 12.5 boards and 1.6 blocks a game. The free throws are still as atrocious as ever, but you can't argue with his torrid 61.3% field goal percentage, or the 31-point, 19-rebounds, 6-steals, 2-blocks masterpiece against Philly. I guess we can always give him the Most Improved Player award after he starts making a couple of freebies. This also begs the question: who's been the worst free throw shooter to ever make an All-Star team? I can think of another Piston, Ben Wallace, but Wallace was an all-world defender, whereas Drummond most definitely is not. Still, I really like this kid for his basketball ability and for gracing the Internet with one of the better feel-good stories of the year. Hey, I never said I was impartial!

Drummond and Davis pose an interesting question - do second-year pros deserve to win "Most Improved"? I agree with you that Davis has been spectacular this season and is living up to his billing. He's one of the ONLY reasons to watch the Pelicans, unless you're one of the 7 people in the Tyreke Evans fan club. And can we just go ahead now and call Austin Rivers one of the biggest lottery busts in recent history? Anyways, back on topic...I would be more inclined to give MIP nods to players who are in their 3rd year or longer. With the young guys, they're barely hitting 20 years of age and they should be improving.

Having said that, I like your Bledsoe pick a lot. I expected him to crash and burn this year, and he's proven haters like me wrong. As mentioned before, I'll add Dragic to the list of MIP candidates. I don't really have any other "dark horse" contenders - we're well into the season, and all candidates should have emerged by now. Well, OK, I'll add a BORDERLINE CANDIDATE to the discussion - Xavier Henry. He belongs to the distinguished category of "super-athletic 2-guard playing in the shadow of Kobe Bryant," and is heir apparent to Shannon Brown. All jokes aside, I'm interested to see if Henry gets better as the season goes on. It's not easy to shine when you play with Swaggy P, the black hole of the universe.

Karan

Call me a very far Asian cousin, but I get absolutely thrilled whenever Linsanity makes it's brief spurts of return. Maybe it's the unbelievable underdog story. Maybe it's the fact that his best 2 weeks of his - or anyone else's career - came when he was wearing the jersey of my favourite team. Or maybe I'm just a sucker for exciting, fearless point guards. But Lin is always fun to watch, and I'd love to see him win the Most Improved Player award. That said, I wouldn't be putting my money on it: Lin's improvement just hasn't been as dramatic as some of the other contenders we mentioned.

By the way, I'm definitely one of the 7 living people in the Tyreke Evans fanclub, the world's most exclusive group that includes Evans, Evans mom, four groupies who met him during his rookie season in Sacramento, and me.

It seems that the MVP candidates for us are most or less in the same closed group, led by the likes of Durant, LeBron, CP3, and Paul George. But MIP - just as I'd expected - opened up a whole different universe of possibilities. Bledsoe, Jackson, Henry, Lin, Drummond, Davis, Wroten, Turner, Afflalo, Stephenson, Plumlee, and several more that I'm sure we may have missed. Let's just live with the reality that you can rarely get a majority consensus for a favourite here.

Which is why I find last year's MIP campaign by Paul George so startling. George seemed to be the MIP favourite through the course of last season, and it wasn't even close. George's ascend from a decent, underrated starter to an All Star and borderline superstar in less than a year was the very definition of improvement. During Linsanity in 2012, Jeremy improved from being Landry Fields couch-sleeper to the NBA's Player of the Week, a far more dramatic improvement, but his story flattened down to an average pace after that incredible high. George seemed to carry his 'improvement momentum' all season in 2012-13 and seems to be carrying it again this year.

So maybe, we can forever look at George's 2012-13 model to define what the ever-elusive 'most improved' really means. Maybe, we can choose all future improvers on his mould (even if their improvements aren't as dramatic). By this definition, maybe, his own teammate, Lance Stephenson has a real shot.

James

Just for fun, I put together some statistical comparisons of Paul George from last season.

First, we can look at his transition from reserve to full-time starter last season, and associated per-game averages:

Season FG% 3P% Points Rebounds Assists Steals Blocks Turnovers
2011-12 0.44 0.385 12.1 5.6 2.4 1.6 0.6 1.8
2012-13 0.419 0.362 17.4 7.6 4.1 1.8 0.6 2.9

A 5-point, 2-rebound, 1.7-assist jump is nothing to sneeze at. George had his turnover problems last year, but was able to adjust mid-season with more experience and better coaching.

What's more revealing about his improvement during the 2012-13 season is splitting the 79 games he played into 3 groups:

Season FG% 3P% Points Rebounds Assists Steals Blocks Turnovers
2012-13 First 25 games 0.3998 0.3889 16.4 6.88 3.68 1.32 0.76 2.48
2012-13 Next 25 games 0.4245 0.3482 19.12 8.64 4.12 2.24 0.56 3.24
2012-13 Last 29 games 0.4047 0.3206 16.86 7.41 4.55 1.86 0.62 3.1

The mid-season is where George really started to hit his stride. The rebounds, assists, steals all saw significant increases. Turnovers became more of a problem, probably as a result of defenses keying in more strongly to his dribble penetration. By the the last third of the season, however, he reined in his turnovers. The last third of the regular season also saw his scoring, rebound and shooting percentages dip, but he still kept them higher than how he started the first 25 games. George was also very durable - only missing 3 games all season and averaged nearly 38 minutes per game, while starting each game. Given all of these factors, I'd say that his consistent improvement and gaudy averages definitely warrant the Most Improved Player honors!

As if that wasn't enough, take a look at George's last season vs. the first 29 games of this season:

Season FG% 3P% Points Rebounds Assists Steals Blocks Turnovers
2012-13 0.419 0.362 17.4 7.6 4.1 1.8 0.6 2.9
2013-14 (29 games) 0.475 0.412 23.9 5.8 3.6 2.1 0.3 2.6

Can you say UNREAL? The rebounding and assists are down, but there's a HUGE gain in FG%, 3P% and points per game. And turnovers are down despite a much higher usage rating this season. This guy is special and a compelling case for the dual MVP/MIP award if there ever was one.

And these are just the stats. As anyone that watches Paul George play can attest to, he plays with a confidence and know-how that is wiser than his age. Together with Hibbert, they form the 1-2 punch and are the defensive anchors of the team. George is a fantastic 2-way player and can lock down the opposing wing player like nobody's business.

Paul George gushing aside, I think ALL of the names you mentioned, especially Stephenson, are due for an amazing season. That's the great thing about the NBA - you never know what's around the corner. With that said, what would you say are the biggest surprises for you so far this season, either from a team or player perspective?

Karan

Here's the thing with George: I can't even pay attention to his stats when I discuss his improvements or his value. George is so much more than that. I didn't have to look at the stats to see that he has doubled his scoring over the last couple of years, or improved across the board as a passer, rebounder, and shooter from every part of the floor compared to two years ago. The Pacers feature a unselfish, deep, and defense-first squad, and George's numbers never tell the full story of the impact he has on the floor. He's their best perimeter defender and best scorer, and would probably see some of those numbers inflated even higher if he played on a different, less talented team.

But yes, I'll echo your sentiments to say that he has indeed been UNREAL, and really, one of the strongest contenders in NBA history to complete the unlikely MIP/MVP double.

George's ascension was a surprise last season, but this year, all of this seems almost destined. I'm not surprised anymore. And I won't be surprised if he goes on from here to win the MVP award and lead the Pacers to the NBA Finals with an upset over LeBron and the Heat. Not guaranteeing that it'll happen; I'm just saying that I won't be surprised.

(On a sidenote, I do have one Heat-related guarantee. I have some strong feelings about a certain Michael Paul Beasley Jr., noted NBA cancer, who has made franchises worse in every NBA stop, from Miami to Minnesota to Phoenix. Now he's back in Miami, threatening to bring his bad-luck charm and locker-room voodoo to the back-to-back champions. I know that he has been better than everyone expected, and I know that the Pat Riley - LeBron - Wade triumvirate has been watching over time, but I'm still not convinced that the voodoo is over. So here's my prediction: if the Heat don't cut Beasley before the playoffs begin, they will not make it past the Eastern Conference Finals. Book it.)

But back to surprises. I know that New York teams have been surprisingly bad and the Trailblazers have been surprisingly good, but there's a different team that's making my jaw drop these days. As I sit and write this, I watch the Phoenix Suns wrap up a win - their 19th of the season - against the Los Angeles Clippers. The Phoenix Friggin Suns, whom before the season began, I had predicted would end up at the very bottom of the West. And here they are dreaming of home court advantage in the impossibly tough Western Conference. Here was a team that was planning to clear cap space and stack up draft picks for an epic tankfest; now I'm hearing rumours that they are going to trade up instead of trading down, and aim to win in the present instead of planning for the future. One of the men in the middle of this impossible rise has been my MIP favourite Eric Bledsoe. The other has been the Slovenian Goran Dragic aka The Dragon. Much props to everyone from Miles Plumlee to Channing Frye and the Morris twins. And Jeff Hornacek is a legit COTY candidate too.

If teams could win the 'most improved' award, my vote would be split between Portland and Phoenix. And I would let those awesome Suns jerseys decide the tiebreaker.

Here's what I did next. Since my mind has been distracted by six different activities as I write this, I had to take the lazy way out instead of racking my brain and google 'opposite of improvement'. The word that popped up was 'regression'. I thumped my forehead with a "Duh!" And then, I came up with this.

MRP: Most Regressed Player - aka, the exact opposite of everything Paul George has done over the last two years. Sponsored by the carcasses of Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum.

We can't conclude this discussion on improvement without touching on the those at the opposite end of the spectrum. So gimme your top MRP candidates.

James

Oh! Oh! *emphatically raises hand* Most Regressed Player! This will be good. Can I name Austin Rivers or Anthony Bennett? Maybe even D-Rose?

Just kidding. I'll use the same criteria for selecting MRP as I would MIP. The MRP needs to be in the league for at least 2 full seasons. Candidate also needs to experience regression due to natural causes (read: work ethic), and not due to injury. This excludes Rose and Nash from the Hall of Shame, for now.

Here are my finalists for Most Regressed Player:
- Larry Sanders: the gaudy block numbers are gone. And dude got hurt from fighting in a nightclub...always a recipe for disaster.
- Kevin Garnett: I feel like such a jerk for listing him, but the KG we've come to know and love (hate?) is no more. The Nets desperately need him to anchor the paint but he hasn't been delivering the goods. Stick a fork in him.
- Andrew Bynum: he doesn't want to play the game of basketball anymore. It doesn't get any worse than that. As a closet Sixers fan, I feel a *little* better now that he's consistently screwed 3 teams in a row. A little petty of me, but I can't help but feel slightly vindicated given the hope he once gave the city of brotherly love.

In the end, I'll have to go with LARRY SANDERS!! as my Most Regressed Player. He's averaging HALF of what he was averaging last season in terms of points and rebounds. The Larry Sanders block party has been permanently canceled and he's exhibiting character issues. Great timing, Larry. Plus the Bucks just...suck. I rest my case.

I'll keep my "surprises so far this season" short and sweet.

Biggest surprise player for me has been the immediate contributions of Em-Cee-Dubya, Michael Carter-Williams. I thought MCW would be at least a season away from being this good, but he's been aggressive and showing the league what "big guards" can do. I love it.

Biggest surprise team for me are the Memphis Grizzlies. They've been playing some awful, subpar ball. Marc Gasol is out of action - we get it - but they should not be this bad! Mike Miller is officially a walking corpse, Zach Randolph is lackadaisical (old age?) and nobody on the team can make a jump shot. When James Johnson has to play hero ball for your team, you know something's wrong. Plus, without Gasol, there isn't much in the way of rim protection. I hope they turn it around, but it is NOT looking good.

As for Mike Beasley, that's an incredible prediction - and one not too far off from reality, I think. When the Heat were playing without Lebron this week, my heart sank when I saw Beasley take ill-advised shots in the first quarter. He looks like he's not even trying to break a sweat. Beasley could be sinking the Heat before you know it. (Interesting side-question - who's in your All-NBA Cancer team? Beasley must be on the First Team. Most definitely First Team honors.)

I think that about wraps it up. It's been a ton of fun talking to you about MVP/MIP/MRP, and always good to get a different perspective on things. We'll definitely have to see how thing turn out for our beloved players and teams come playoff-time. I'll be rooting for "The Dragon" and Bledsoe to do well - and who knows - even more fun if they can shock somebody in the first round!

Karan

I like your MRP criteria: we can't judge a person out with injury of course (Rose, etc.) and can't really count rookies like Anthony Bennett (you have to be good first to regress; Bennett's career can only go up from here!).

I would like to jump to the defense of Larry Sanders, and not just because I feel really good about picking him up in my fantasy league before anyone else could (I had to drop an injured Brook Lopez, and then drop Andrew Bynum who was out bowling). Sanders has only played six games this season. SIX GAMES. That's not enough to qualify for me. He was at a league-leading 2.8 blocks per game last season, and in the very small number of games, is getting two blocks a game this season. I'll hold my MRP judgement on Sanders for a while.

Continuing his streak of being relevant in the league (for better the worse), I hand the MRP award to last year's 6th Man of the Year... the one and only... JR Smith. 'Smithsanity' is definitely over in New York. JR enjoyed career highs in scoring (18.1), and rebounds (5.3) last season, shooting at a fairly decent 42.2 percent. But he has regressed alarmingly in 2013-14, and you can only blame marijuana suspensions/younger brother management issues so much. Despite playing nearly the same amount of minutes as he did last season, Smith's scoring numbers have dropped to an abysmal 12.1 points per game this season, on an even more abysmal (and career low) 35.1 percent shooting from the field. I could have a host of excuses of why the Knicks suck so much this season, but the one-line answer is this: their second-option is a weird hybrid of Andrea Bargnani and JR Smith. The thrill is gone.

And hey! There is no better way to start a new year and end our email exchanges with something positive and heart-warming... Something like the All Cancer Team! Michael Beasley is of course the captain and starting combo forward. Andrew Bynum has won his way into the Center position. Tyreke Evans must be given his due for the opposite of selfless play he has displayed in Sac-Town and New Orleans over the past few years. JR Smith would fight me if I kept him off this list. And Corey Maggette would complete the unholy quintuplet, managing a way to perform worse than his skill level wherever he's played.

Oh yeah. Happy 2014!

James

That's an impressive looking All-Cancer Team. Add Boogie Cousins, Rudy Gay, Ben Gordon and the ghost of Steve Francis coming off the bench and then we're talking! How about Bargs too, for that trigger happy and highly questionable 3 pointer (you KNOW what I'm talkin' about!). These guys are good at sabotaging their teams, that's for sure.

I must admit that JR flew past my radar, that's how invisible he has been. Good call!

Happy new year to you as well - all the best!

Houston, we have all the stars: An All Star 2013 Preview

The home of the Houston Rockets is hosting basketball’s biggest annual festival – the 2013 NBA All Star Game – on Sunday, February 17th (Monday morning in India). Between LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony and fans’ leading vote-getter Kobe Bryant, the exhibition will feature some of the biggest names in basketball today. All your favourite players (or at least most of them; sorry D-Rose) will be on the same court together, bringing fans in over 200 countries basketball’s biggest party.

From the Shooting and Dunk Competitions to the big All Star Game itself on Sunday night, here is my preview and my predictions for what to expect over the next two days!

Click here to read full feature!

All (of my) Stars

The All Star Game is a mostly a popularity contest, and the sooner we come to grips with that, the happier the rest of our existence will be. Fans are allowed to vote for their All Star starters because fans are given the freedom to pick and choose who they want to be seen. Unfortunately for the Basketball Gods, us fans don’t always want the right things. We want our favourites at the All Star Game, even if our favourites don’t deserve it as much as better (or healthier) alternatives.

So in annual All Star fashion, fans made some selections and people had a problem with some of those selections. This year’s list of ‘undeserving’ starters includes Kevin Garnett and Dwight Howard, two immensely popular yet less productive big men. With the recent season-ending injury to Rajon Rondo, it’s also clear that some else from the East (probably young Kyrie Irving) will get the starting nod. The rest of the starters on both coasts (Wade, LeBron, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Kobe, Durant, and Blake Griffin) have justified their popularity with strong All Star caliber play on court.

Screw it! I find myself on the other side of the fence, the side which very strongly believes that fans should be given exactly what they want! The side that wants to see his favourite players on court and the players that he dislikes far away!
My side also happens to be the side that believes that a player’s ultimate value shouldn’t be judged based on the number of his All Star appearances (which are a popularity contest for starters and only a mid-season judge of talent for the reserves) but on the number of First, Second, or Third All NBA Teams that they get named to at the end of the season. Kobe’s popular because he’s been to the All Star Game 15 times; he’s great because he’s made the All NBA First Team 10 times.

With those long disclaimers out of the way, I get to the crux of my point. Here are the players whom I would like to see the starting fives for the East and West teams. I’m going to pick players for each conference on the basis that the NBA set for the All Star Voting: two backcourt and three frontcourt players per team. They don’t all deserve it and they won’t all make you happy. But for one reason or another, these happen to be my favourite players in the NBA. They’re my All Stars:

East

Backcourt

Derrick Rose: You read that right. Derrick Rose. The man who hasn’t played a single NBA game all season. Or played a single game of basketball since the end of April 2012. But Rose is my favourite player and it would be incredible to see him make a comeback with the All Star Game. Even after the devastating injury, I believe that Rose will have enough in his tank to remain one of the most exciting players in the league. Rumour is that he has begun taking full contact in practice with the Bulls, and should be ready to suit up for the Chicago Bulls soon after the All Star Weekend. I would just like to pre-pone his return a little.

Dwyane Wade: Wade has made a career out of proving his doubters wrong. Underrated in his own draft class, he became one of the biggest stars in the league and rode his way to a championship and Finals MVP in just his third season. He recovered from devastating injuries to come back and lead the league in scoring. He adjusted his game to fit in alongside LeBron James and pitched in just enough whenever needed to win another championship last season. And despite the naysayers, he continues to be one of the elite players in the conference. And despite the fact that LeBron mostly overshadows him now, Wade still has the ability to be the best player on the court on any given night.

Frontcourt

Carmelo Anthony: As a Knicks fan, I was always a little sceptical about how ‘Melo would fit in and how he could really elevate this team. This year, most of that scepticism has ended. Anthony has been playing like an MVP contender and the Knicks are one of the best teams in the league. His game does have a lot of faults, but I’m willing to overlook that: ‘Melo is one of the most dangerous scorers of all time, and this season, has become one of my favourite players.

Kevin Garnett: We will be seeing this forward pairing in the real All Star Game anyways, and it’s going to be extremely interesting especially considering the recent clash between Garnett and Anthony (#HoneyNutCheerios). From being a man-child in the mid-90s in Minnesota to graduating as a do-it-all MVP and then moving up as an elder statesmen, leader, and defensive monster in Boston, Garnett is a rare breed of stars in the NBA. He is already a champion and one of the greatest players in history. He is not having his best season so far, but with Rondo injured, expect him to fight till the very end for the Celtics.

Amar’e Stoudemire: Amar’e? – really? – Amar’e?? Yup. Forget the oversized contract, the injuries, the fact that he’s now a bench player, the lack of defensive ability, or the fire extinguisher incident. Amar’e is one of those players I like and I don’t expect anyone to understand why (Warning: I like a lot of players like that). When he’s on song, he’s a lot of fun to watch. And it was his arrival in New York back in 2010 that has made the Knicks’ turnaround possible. Amar’e was the first big name player to sign with the Knicks and bring hope back to the Garden. Anthony followed suit, and even though the two have struggles playing together, the Knicks would’ve been juggling for a lottery spot if he hadn’t signed with them three years ago. So thanks, Amar’e. Stay away from fire extinguishers though.

West

Backcourt

Jeremy Lin: To those who’ve been living under a rock, Mars or North Korea for the past year: last February, this Asian-American guy from Harvard who used to crash on his teammates’ couch and didn’t have a guaranteed NBA contract got propelled by injuries around to start for a team that played in the world’s biggest basketball market. He went – for the lack of a better phrase – absolutely apeshit. He broke scoring records, he was named the Player of the Week, he appeared on cover of magazines, he hit game-winners, he outperformed some of the game’s best, and he led his disappointing team to a lot of wins. Then, people figured out his weaknesses and shut him down, and then he got injured. Then, he left that city to go play in Houston for a lot of money. This season, he hasn’t been good in Houston, but he hasn’t been horrible either. But in my heart, Linsanity lives forever. So there.

Ricky Rubio: Need I really make a case here? Sure Rubio’s been recently and not lived up to expectations this season. But it’s still Rubio, one of the most exciting playmakers in the game and a devastatingly good defender when he’s on song on the other end of the floor. The Timberwolves and Rubio have been struggling recently, but I still want to see him start in my All Star team.

Frontcourt

Metta World Peace: If you’ve been following my blog or my Twitter feed for long enough, you perhaps already know of my unexplainable fascination with the man formerly known as Ron Artest. Metta has been one of my favourites for a decade. From the highs of a Defensive Player of the Year award and a crucial role in a Championship team to the lows of the Malice at the Palace and a dozen other half-crazy incidents through his career, I’ve had Artest’s, I mean, Metta’s back. What can I say: he’s hilarious. And he needs to be an All Star!

Kevin Durant: Leading scorer en route to a historically great shooting season top MVP candidate perhaps ready to become the best player in the NBA makes his three pointers look like layups can score 30 points with his eyes closed is the man everyone wants to take the last shot has the sweetest game in the league could be one of the greatest pure talents in the game for all time just 24 years old and is just too awesome for punctuation.

Pau Gasol: Metta’s Laker teammate has been going through a lot of ups and downs in recent years. His arrival to the Lakers in 2008 rejuvenated them and he helped guide the team to three Finals and two championships. But he has been struggling since mid-2011 and – outside of dominating performances for Spain – hasn’t been himself in the NBA. Still, I believe he’s one of the most purely gifted and intelligent big men in the league and a sentimental favourite.

There. Regardless of whether or not any other fans show up, now here is an All Star game I’d like to watch!

Rise & Fall: A midway review of the NBA season

This feature was first published on Court Side News on January 19, 2013.

Let’s clink our beverages together and declare ‘cheers!’ to an incredible first half of the 2012-13 NBA season, for by the time that you read this, most NBA teams would have played around 41 games each and the NBA calendar would be hovering right around it’s hallway point. Through November to January, we’ve seen great Basketball, fantastic individual accomplishments, surprising highs and some shocking lows.

If NBA teams and players were on the stock market, they would have seen some serious fluctuations in their value over the past three months. We take a look back at those rises and those falls in our mid-season review of the stories that shaped the first half of the season.

Rising: The Los Angeles Clippers. In a half-season to remember, the Clippers have already played the best Basketball in the cursed history of this franchise, even going back to the days of the Buffalo Braves or the San Diego Clippers.

Rising: Chris Paul. Until this year, Paul used to be a frontrunner in arguments of the league’s best point guard. There’s no one arguing anymore.

Falling: The Los Angeles Lakers. Recent turnaround notwithstanding, the Lakers have had a terrible three months. With what was assembled and dignified as one of the greatest starting fives of all time – Kobe, Howard, Nash, Gasol, World Peace – they have achieved little and find themselves outside the playoff picture. But there is light at the end of the tunnel, as a healthy return to their crucial pieces has produced positive results.

Rising: New York Knicks. For a team that hasn’t been past the first round of the playoffs for over a decade, a top two place in the Eastern Conference is looking assured this season. Thanks largely to the brilliant play of Carmelo Anthony, but also to the defence and leadership provided by Tyson Chandler, Jason Kidd, and the rest.

Falling: The stocks of a whole bunch of injured players, from Andrew Bynum and Derrick Rose to Kevin Love and Danny Granger. Many of them will return in the second half of the year, but their form will be questionable. And a few who have returned of late – Dirk Nowitzki, Eric Gordon, John Wall, and Amar’e Stoudemire – the pressure is on them to acclimatize themselves as soon as possible.

Rising: The Golden State Warriors. David Lee and Stephen Curry are playing like All Stars, and this team is winning. A lot. But the Warriors will need the return of Andrew Bogut to be their defensive stalwart in the middle if they have greater ambitions of playoffs success.

Falling: The job prospects of the Minnesota Timberwolves medical staff, who have lost Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio, Brandon Roy, Chase Budinger, JJ Barea, Josh Howard, and Malcolm Lee to a various slew of injuries. Somehow, the team remains in the playoff hunt!

Rising: Damian Lillard who? The rookie point guard who took the now unheard-of path to the NBA with four years in college has exploded on the scene, leading all rookies in points, assists, steals, and minutes and has provided fresh hope for the Trailblazers.

Rising: James Harden. From sixth man of the year in Oklahoma City to sure fire All Star in Houston. Harden has developed into one of the best all round players in the league, and has improved his scoring average by nearly 10 points from the past season to rank fourth in the NBA this year (26.3 ppg). He’s only 23, so expect him in the ‘rising’ column a lot more.

Falling: The value of Harden’s Houston teammate Jeremy Lin, who was an unstoppable force of nature on and off the court for a few weeks last year, but now finds himself comfortably shelved playing average Basketball for an average team. Judging by his All Star votes, he’s still immensely popular; and judging by his salary and endorsements, he’s still going to be immensely rich.

Rising: Kevin Durant and the Thunder. No doubt that Durant – who is on pace to have one of the greatest shooting seasons of all time and has led the Thunder to the NBA’s top record – is my pick for the mid-season MVP. Durant has drastically added to his game and as a result, the Thunder sit pretty on top as the favourites to steal the NBA championship.

And finally… Stocks are Even for LeBron James and the Miami Heat. What can a three-time MVP, reigning champion, and Finals MVP do to get better? Just keep doing what he’s always done at a historic pace. The path to the title must still go through James and the Heat, and you can be sure that they’ll be standing in the way of any challengers. They haven’t been perfect this season, but Miami will surely up the ante defensively once the playoffs begin to rise again.

KFC 3x3 Challenge in Beijing

3x3 basketball - like it or not - is being sold aggressively, and a majority of different interested parties, from FIBA to the NBA to your neighbourhood tournament organisers, are hoping to see this format of the game grow. FIBA's dream is to see 3x3 Basketball become an Olympic sport by Rio 2016, and they've begun to hold FIBA 3x3 world championships in recent years. The NBA has gotten in the act by holding the NBA 3x tournament around the world, including the tournaments that were launched around India a few months ago.

It's a slightly different story in China - the world's largest population has been holding one of the largest basketball competitions in the planet for the past eight years, independently of FIBA or NBA's official participation. The KFC National Junior/Youth (U19) 3-Men Basketball Challenge was launched in 2004 in China, and this year, it has seen participation from nearly 200,000 young players from 500 Chinese cities! The quickfire format of 3x3 basketball is designed to increase participation, and there's no place that has mastered the art of involving it's massive population like China!

I was at hand on Saturday to watch some of the action of the Beijing City Finals of the 2012 version of KFC's national tournament. The tournament was being held at the national training facility of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) - who are part of the tournament's organisers - the same facility that is used for China's national teams for practice.

There was a major Jeremy Lin overdose at the event. Lin's visit to China in the summer opened up doors for a plethora of commercial possibilities. Lin is the official brand ambassador of the championship; his banners were draped all around the arena and they were TV commercials on the big screen of Lin (in very bad Chinese) inviting Chinese guys to play 3-on-3 with him.

The great thing is that the tournament is free for kids to register. Their objectives are simple: play basketball and eat KFC. Those last five words also sum up my life.

The one drawback: there is no equivalent competition for girls in the KFC 3x3 Challenge. It's an All-Boys championship nationwide. There could easily be another 200,000 if the scope of the championship is widened to involve girls, too.

Everyone who has plays basketball has played 3x3 basketball. That's a fact. But is the format of the game good enough to be taken seriously, to become an Olympic sport, or even a professional sport? Many suggest that 3x3 is good because it involves participation and also levels the competition a little bit. But it still feels like a less serious version of the game, and it involves and showcases fewer skills than 5-on-5 fullcourt, real basketball. In China, there are hundreds of thousands of youth who already swear by it. Time will tell how popular the organised version of 3x3 can get in the future around the world.

Rocket Science

The Rockets have suddenly become one of the NBA’s hottest tickets, going from the most unknown to the one of the most interesting squads in the league in the new season. An all it took was a heady cocktail of an unstoppable, underrated, likeable, and beautifully bearded scorer paired up with an exciting and also likeable Asian sensation.

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A Linsane Decision

As the clock crossed midnight on the 18th of July and Jeremy Lin officially became a Houston Rocket, the Knicks made one of the stupidest back office decisions in a history of stupid back-office decisions. All that the Knicks had to do to keep a hold of the most positive phenomenon in their history in over a decade was too just KEEP HOLD OF HIM! He was theirs and they let him slip away.

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