Walter Herrmann looking to return to NBA

Small forward Walter Herrmann (6'10"), who spent last season playing in the Spanish League for Caja Laboral, apparently misses playing in the NBA.

The Hoops Market reports that Herrmann is in discussions with the team to terminate his deal so he can return to North America, where the 31-year-old Argentine forward played for the Charlotte Bobcats in 2006-08 and the Detroit Pistons in 2007-09.

Herrmann's agent says there is some NBA interest in his client. In his four NBA seasons, Herrmann averaged 5.4 points, 2.1 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game.

Whatever happened to... Robert Swift

Robert Swift is famous for being the first White player drafted straight out of high school. Robert was the Sonic's top pick in the 2004 draft, the 12th choice overall. He played four seasons.

He never really caught on in the league, peaking out in his second year, playing 47 games, averaging 21 minutes a game, 6.4 points and 5.6 rebounds. After missing a complete season because of severe injury, he played only 8 games in year three, and 26 games in year four. He had a brief stopover with his hometown team, the NBDL's Bakersfield team, before quitting the sport in 2009.

This past week it was announced that Robert will be resurrecting his professional career in Japan.



The BJ League announced today (Aug. 16th) that former NBA Player Robert Swift has agreed to terms to play for the Tokyo Apache this upcoming season.
Swift, a 216cm center, had previously played for the Seattle Super Sonics and Oklahoma City Thunder after jumping to the NBA straight out of Bakersfield High School.
As a player, Swift is not only talented around the basket, but provides a large interior presence that can run the floor.
According to his new teammate Darin Satoshi Maki's twitter feed, he also has Japanese heritage, being quarter Japanese. This should allow fans to become closer and help Swift get into touch with his Japanese side.

World Championships Day 4 -- Ersan Ilyasova

Half-pool action again today, back to full schedule tomorrow and Thursday for the final two group rounds.

Ilyasova comes up huge today in Turkey's massive win for Group C lead, over hated rival Greece. The fans were whistling against Greece THE ENTIRE GAME, from minute one, great game atmosphere.


Ersan Ilyasova, PF (TUR) -- 26p (14 shots), 5r
Kirk Penney, SG (NZL) -- 26p (19 shots)
Thomas Abercrombie, SF (NZL) -- 23p (17 shots), 7r
Tomofey Mosgov, C (RUS) -- 19p (10 shots), 5r
Fadi El Khatib, SF (LEB) -- 18p (8 shots), 7r
I Bourousis, C (GRE) -- 15p (13 shots), 7r
Levon Kendall, PF (CAN) -- 15p (8 shots), 4r
JJ Barea, PG (PR) -- 13p (7 shots), 9a

Thomas Abercrombie Meets the World

Every international tournament marks some young player's coming out party, as his spectacular play and athleticism get him noticed worldwide, often leading to a contract in the NBA. One such player definitely catching eyes this tournament is Thomas Abercrombie, shooting guard for New Zealand. He is 6'6, 198# and 23 years old, currenlty playing for the Breakers, in the New Zealand Basketball League.

He actually led his team in rebounding in NZ first game against Lithuania, amassing an incredible 8 offensive rebounds, finishing with 11 total, to go with 7 points, in 21 minutes.

Against Spain, he got even better, pouring in 19 points (on only 11 shots), and cleared 6 rebounds, tied for team high, in only 21 minutes off the bench.

In today's game against Lebanon, Abercrombie was back in the starting lineup, and played for a full 30 minutes, making the most of it: 23 points (on 17 shots). Again leading the team in rebounds with 7 total, of which 5 were on the offensive glass.

After three games, Abercrombie actually has more offensive rebounds than defensive rebounds. This stat really highlights his toughness and athleticism. He lets the big guys clean the glass on the defensive side, but on offensive, he attacks the rim with ferocity.


Here is one of his sweet dunks. It was the same play they ran a couple days ago against Spain, with him finishing over Marc Gasol. I hope somene puts together a full highlight reel from the Championships for him. He is an amazing leaper, and his overall game is solid. I would expect to see him move up from the New Zealand pro league very shortly after this breakout performance.

World Championships Day 3 - Luis Scola

Kevin Love gets buried behind Odom, playing only 5 minutes. What a joke, this is why I do not support USA basketball.

Splitter, PF (BRA) - 13p, 10r in nice game against USA. Too bad Varejao did not play, but he will be back in action for the next game. Watch out for Brazil in the medal rounds.

All-White Argentina of course destroyed all-Black Angola. The African sides are very weak, as usual.

Other White stars today (only half the teams playing today):

Luis Scola, PF (ARG) -- 32p (21 shots), 8r, 3st
Hamed Haddadi, C (IRI) - 23p, 13r, 4b
Carlos Delfino, GS (ARG) -- 22p (12 shots), 5r, 4a, 4st
Dusko Savonovic, PF (SRB) -- 21p (10 shots), 7r
Marko Keselj, F (SRB) - 21p (10 shots), in 15 min.
Kosta Perovic, C (SRB) -- 20p (11 shots), 6r, 2b
Roko UKIC, PG (CRO) -- 20p (14 shots), 7a
Marko POPOVIC, PG (CRO) -- 17p (7 shots) in 15 min.
Marko TOMAS, SG (CRO) -- 17p (8 shots), 4a
Aleks Maric, C (AUS) -- 15p (9 shots), 5r
Uros Slokar, PF/C (SLO) -- 15p (8 shots), 6r
Jaka LAKOVIC, PG (SLO) -- 15p (9 shots), 4a
Goran Dragic, SG (SLO) -- 14p (10 shots), 4r, 4a

World Championship Day 2 - Luis Scola

Star performers:

Luis Scola, PF, ARG -- 31p (19 shots), 9r (4 off)
Vassilis SPANOULIS, PG, GRE -- 28p (12 shots)
Hamed Haddadi, C, IRI -- 27p, 9r (5 off)
Joe Ingles, SG, AUS -- 22p (15 shots), 4r
Marc Gasol, C, ESP -- 22p (9 shots)
Jan Jagla, PF, GER -- 22p (11 shots), 9r, 4a
Kirk Penney, SG, NZL -- 21p
Kosta Perovic, C, SRB -- 20p (10 shots)
JJ Barea, PG, PUR -- 20p (12 shots)
Jackson Vroman, PF, LEB -- 19p, 5r, 3st
Linus Kleiza, SG, LTH -- 18p, 10r
Tiago Splitter, PF, BRA -- 16p (10 shot), 4r
Kevin Love, PF, USA -- 10p, 11r (5 off) in 13 minutes
Levon Kendell, PF, CAN -- 9p, 11r
Ilyasova, PF, TUR -- 10p, 10r

World Championships Day One - Kirk Penney

Of course, the big news of the day was the shocking loss of all-White Spain to the heavily Black squad from France. France actually started a White player at guard, who then got a grand total of 8 minutes playing time. We have seen that pattern of "starting only to sit on the bench" far too often in the NBA. It is hard to know what motivates it.

There were a number of incredible performances by White players at the Worlds today.

Kirk Penney, SG (NZL) -- 37p (20 shots and 16-20 FTs)
Linus Kleiza, SF (LTH)-- 27p (15 shots), 8r
Carolos DelFino, SG (ARG)-- 27p (18 shots), 8r
JJ Barea, PG (PUR) -- 25p (17 shots), 4a, 4r
Aleks Maric, C (AUS)-- 23p (14 shots), 9r
Derek Anderson, PF (AUS) -- 22p (10 shots), 9 r, 4a
Aleksandar Rasic, SG (SRB) -- 22p (9 shots), in 18 minutes
Ioannis Bourousis, C (GRK) -- 21p (12 shots), 8r
Luis Scola, PF (ARG) -- 20p (12 shots), 4r
Guilherme Giovannoni, PF (BRZ) -- 17p (10 shots), 7r
JC Navarro, SG (ESP) -- 17p (13 shots)
Ersan İlyasova, PF (TRK) -- 17p (8 shots), 8r, 3a, in 21 min.
H. Haddadi, C (IRN) -- 16p, 9r, 5 blocks
Goran Dragic, SG(SLO) -- 16p (9 shots), 8a, 5r
Marko Popovic, PG (CRO) -- 16p (8 shots)
Levon Kendall, PF (CAN) -- 11r (4 offensive)
Kevin Love (USA) -- 10r in 11 minutes.
Marcelo Huertas, PG (BRZ) -- 10p (5 shots), 9a in 22 min.
A. Ponkrashov, PG (RUS) -- 10p (5 shots), 11a

World Championship friendly updates

Greece is looking great. Last weekend they beat Croatia by 9, Germany by 28, and Russia by 38. Nice addition they found in former Florida Gator Nick Calathes, who led them in scoring.

--In a surprise to me, Serbia ended up beating Turkey fairly easily 83-70, led by Nenad Krstic.

--Angola, the African champions, got crushed over the weekend by Brazil 59-89. So much for African basketball superiority!

--Germany is not looking strong. They always have a great defense, but they are not getting any scoring punch, and appear to be stuck at the lower levels of the comp: losing by one to Croatia, winning by 3 over Russia (also, Russia beat Croatia by 1).

--Puerto Rico, lost the best of three with Argentina over the last week, although they played without Carlos Arroyo and Renaldo Balkman (and the last game without their big man Ramos). They lost the first game in overtime by five, then won by 7, but lost the final in the series by 13.

--Argentina played their three games against P.R. without Oberto and Nocioni, and the first two without Prigioni, who will all be with them for the Worlds. Luis Scola continues to play like a monster, scoring 33 in their final victory over P.R. Scola may be the best player in the tournament at the Worlds.

--Spain has beaten three quality opponents fairly easily in the past week, still looking like the tourny favorites: beating Ivory Coast by 15, Lithuania by 21, and Slovenia by 20. JC Navarro, Rudy Fernandez, and Marc Gasol look to be the keys to their success.

--Lithuania beat Slovenia by 3, considered a slight upset the way they have respectively been playing lately, led by Kleiza and Javtokas. Dragic continues to pour in points for Slovenia.

--New Zealand squeeked out a victory over Iran 69-68, led by Kirk Penney's 28. In their 71-76 loss to Serbia, Penney poured in 34.

--Iran now has Hadaddi in action, and are a very tough squad with him on the floor.

Turkey looking strong

Turkey is of course amped up, being the host nation for the tournament, and they are looking very strong in their early friendlies. They beat New Zealand and Iran by wide margins (87-65 & 93-53). They play Serbia today, which should be a good game, but Serbia is not looking as strong against those same teams (winning by 76-71 & 96-68).

Team Turkey is in the group of death at the Worlds, along with Greece, Puerto Rico, Russia, China, and Ivory Coast. It will be a tough fight for the top three spots in that group, with the winner of Russia-China likely taking the fourth advancement spot.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=adidas-cup-to-rehearse-world-championship-2010-08-08

Carl English Update

I developed a liking for Carl English watching him play for Canada against Team USA in 2008. It was fun watching him and Kobe go at it. Kobe fancied himself the team's designated stopper, looking to smother the opponent's best scorer, and English was it for Team Canada. English held his own, making some nice scoring moves and scored 11, including going to the line for 8 FTs. He was definitely fun to watch, and it definitely earned my respect.

Carl is playing in Europe professionally. He will play for DKV Joventut in the ACB league (Europe's top league, based in Spain). Of course, he is playing for Canada during the Worlds.

Canada is in Group D, and looks like they have a chance to advance. Spain looks out of their reach, but beating Lebanon, New Zealand is quite doable. If they play well, they might even catch France or Lithuania in the group standings.

Team Canada plays friendlies against China and France this coming up week before heading off to Europe for some more pre-tourny tournies.

http://turkey2010.fiba.com/pages/eng/fe/10/fwcm/news/p/eid/4728/nid/42377/sid/4728/article.html

World Championships 2010

Looks to be a great tournament shaping up for White basketball fans.

Spain is the prohibitive favorite. They are the defending World Champs, as well as the European Champions from last year. Of course, the big minus is Pau Gasol not playing, but the entire rest of the team is coming back, and better than ever.

The United States has to be considered a dark horse. After the loss of David Lee and coach Dantoni, as well as both Lopez brothers, they are looking especially weak down low. Kevin Love looks to be the only White player to make the team.

Argentina all-White squad is currently the number one ranked team in the world, so they cannot be overlooked.

Brazil's integrated team also looks very powerful and should give Team USA a solid beating in their group.

Serbia's all-White squad looks to be dark horses, having turned around their national program and taken 2nd in the Euro 2009 Championship.

Slovenia looks to be an up-and-coming squad as well, led by the surging Goran Dragic, although it would be a major shocker to see them make the medal stand.

It is with great sadness for me to report that the Italian team did not make the tournament. Although ranking in FIBAs top 10, and better than most teams that did make the field, they could not make it out of the tough European qualifying.

Puerto Rico's integrated team also looks to be a dark horse, bring a very high-powered and mentally tough team to the tournament.

France's all-Black team looks good on paper, and includes the addition of Joachim Noah, but like all all-black teams, will probably underperform.

The "friendly" pre-tournament games heat up this weekend, so look forward to frequent updates.