1. One of our favourites, or as Ahmad used to say, “that’s my boy”, Sundiata Gaines.
2. So we’re not the only ones who love McDyess.
3. Best way to create team chemistry; owe your team money… awkward.
4. The D-League.  Doesn’t get as much attention around the world as it should; Matt Hubert discusses which teams use the DL the best.
5. David Falk.  Say no more.
6. Tony Allen and Defence.  Why is he not getting more coverage?
7. Howard needs to stop talking.  So do a lot of ballers, now that we think about it…
8. Stopping the clock for the hometown team?  Too disgusted for words…
9. Basketball for good.
10. Sooo when was the last time Stern reacted this way to a game?
11. Beckley lays down what LBJ needs to learn from Carmelo.

1. It makes us happy to know we’re not the only ones hyped about NCAA basketball before the season starts.  Go Blue Devils.
2. Speaking of which, nice ACC preview.  If you’re in the US, and can make it there, check out the Missouri/Georgetown game… that will be a barnburner.
3. HoopSpeak has a sexy new banner, and a great post on Andre Miller.  Can you name which team Miller won a championship with?
4. If you’re a passionate fan, you usually love not only your team but the organisation around it.  So it must SUCK if you’re a Knicks fan to hear that your cross-town rivals are dissing your management… granted, this is the same organisation that managed to annihilate their last Finals team (Spree, Camby, Grandmama), trade for a million point guards, sexually assault their female staff and basically turn the Mecca of Hoops into a sad footnote… and they traded away Lee.  Sigh.
5. We all know that one player that manages to sneak in the extra step on drives to the bucket.  While we curse and flout our knowledge of the NBA and FIBA rulebooks, the simple truth is that we all wish we had that extra step… behold D-Wade.
6. Can Dwight become MVP this season?
7. 2K11.  Now in real life.
8. Get on with the game, Stephen Jackson.
   “Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown needs Stephen Jackson to stop getting himself tossed from basketball games… Seventeen games into the season Jackson has committed six technical fouls, tying him with Orlando’s Dwight Howard for most in the league. If he reaches 16, he’ll serve an automatic one-game suspension, but it might not take that long.”
9. Reason #647 why the NBL is just plain strange.
10. Does LBJ need to just grow up?
    “The fundamental problem for Spoelstra isn’t that James doesn’t respect coaches – he doesn’t respect people. Give LeBron this, though: He’s learned to live one way with the television light on, and another with it off. He treats everyone like a servant, because that’s what the system taught him as a teenage prodigy. To James, the coach isn’t there to mold him into the team dynamic. He’s there to serve him. Wade was one of the Team USA players who’d watch incredulously as James would throw a bowl of fries back at a renowned chef and bark, ‘They’re cold!’ Or throw his sweaty practice jersey across the court and command a team administrator to go pick it up.”
11. On that note, James wants his jersey retired in Cleveland?  Really?
12. Home sweet home… sort of.
    “The novelty of Oklahoma City serving as the New Orleans Hornets’ temporary home from 2005-07 seems to have all but disappeared. Crowd reaction during pre-game introductions drew only polite applause for Chris Paul and David West.”
13. Texas on top in SI’s NBA power rankings.
14. The Spurs are taking it back to their ABA roots, playing up-tempo and making magic happen on the court.  Just sayin.

Welcome to our latest section, From The Bleachers, where we’ll be interviewing great basketball bloggers from around the world about their work, their backgrounds and their favourite teams.

We are very pleased to introduce our first FTB interviewee, Matt Hubert.

Matt runs the fantastic D-League Digest, a blog devoted to the NBA’s Development League.  He’s a great writer, and obviously has a great passion for what he does.  He also has the privilege of getting a shot swatted by Lebron…

1. How did you get into blogging?

For me, blogging was a natural convergence of two of my greatest loves in life—writing and sports (specifically basketball). My first blog venture was the self-titled MattHubert.com, where I covered all sports but primarily pro and college football and basketball from December 2007 to July 2009. I also co-hosted a podcast during that time with my brother Mike.

In April 2009, I launched Blog Talk BayHawk, covering my hometown Erie BayHawks of the NBA Development League. In February, Steve Weinman invited me on board as a contributor to D-League Digest of the ESPN TrueHoop Network.

Then, in July, Steve stepped down to take a job with the NBA and graciously offered me the opportunity to take over his role as lead writer for D-League Digest. I retired Blog Talk BayHawk and currently write exclusively for D-League Digest, where I plan to focus my efforts for the upcoming D-League season.

2. Do you also write for any print outlets?

I have a freelance writing relationship with a few different companies, but I don’t currently write for any sports-related print outlets. Of course, if there are any sports-related print outlets out there that are interested in my services, I’d be happy to listen to them, but I’m happy doing what I’m doing as a blogger right now.

3. Do you find blogging easy? Why?

I think this is a bit of a trick question. Yes, it is easy to blog in the sense that any 15-year-old with Internet access and cursory knowledge of a topic can start his or her own blog today. But producing a good blog is a much greater challenge. It requires a talented writer (or writers) who is committed to providing unique, quality content, which consists of informed opinions, insight and analysis. Depending on the circumstances, a good blog may require some actual reporting as well.

The thing is, even if you meet all of those requirements of having a good blog, the most difficult part is finding and maintaining a steady, loyal readership. Bloggers write with the intent of being read. If you’re good enough and patient enough, the readers will eventually come, but there are so many blogs out there—and new ones launching every day—so it’s definitely not easy to find a niche.

4. Have you studied journalism?

I graduated summa cum laude from Mercyhurst College in Erie, Pa., with a degree in English and a duel concentration in writing and creative writing. So I wasn’t a journalism major, but I did study journalism. I took a handful of journalism courses as part of my requirements for the writing concentration. I also completed a 10-week internship at the Erie Times-News during my senior year (spring term, 2007). The bottom line is I don’t have the training of someone who went to school for journalism, but I have a solid foundational understanding of journalistic style, practice, and ethics that I hope helps dispel the old guard’s living-in-his-parents’ basement stereotype bloggers have been trying to shed for years.

5. Who are your favorite bloggers?

I know I’m going to end up leaving someone important off this list, but there are just so many talented people doing great things in the blogosphere these days. I’ll limit my list to basketball bloggers. I have to start with Henry Abbott, who is like the Bill Walsh of the basketball blogging tree with so many others branching off from his fantastic and groundbreaking work at TrueHoop.

Kevin Arnovitz, Abbott’s colleague at TrueHoop is another must-read for me. I think the stuff that Scott Schroeder and Jon L post at Ridiculous Upside—a trailblazing D-League blog that predates D-League Digest—is some of the most entertaining stuff out there today. As a Lakers fan, I used to love reading Kurt Helin at Forum Blue & Gold (now in the very capable hands of Darius Soriano), and still enjoy Helin’s work for NBC’s ProBasketballTalk.

Sebastian Pruiti is working all the time, putting out some great content at Nets Are Scorching and NBA Playbook. Steve Weinman, my predecessor at DLD is probably the most talented blogger on the inactive list right now. I’d also be remiss if I didn’t mention Matt Moore, whose work can be found on a myriad of sites these days, including Hardwood Paroxysm, AOL Fanhouse and CBS Sports. Finally, my favorite player blogger is Mike Gansey, the former Erie BayHawk who just signed overseas with CB Canarias. I could go on and on; clearly there’s no shortage of great bloggers out there today!

6. Did you play/do you play basketball?

I starred in grade school and played freshman and JV ball at my high school before being cut my from the varsity team in junior year. I went on to play two years of CYO and then intramurals in college. In college, I earned the nickname “Half Court Hero” because I was still skilled enough to light it up in a half court pick-up game but not in shape to perform on the same level if the game was stretched full court. I’ll always love the game, but I don’t play nearly as much as I’d like to anymore.

7. Fondest memory of the game growing up?

Well, it’s not really a fond memory per se, but my best basketball story is when my team played against LeBron James in a travel tournament in Ohio the summer after fifth grade. We were called the Dunkin’ Dutchmen, a collection of the best fifth graders from the Erie area, but we were in for a rude awakening against LeBron. He towered above the competition, literally and figuratively. Parents of my teammates questioned his age, but he was legit. (He’s actually three months younger than me.)

I took the first shot of the game, a long jumper, and he swatted it out of bounds. It didn’t get any better from there. We had no answer for him defensively. The score was so lopsided at halftime that he left to go play with the older kids in search of better competition. We lost handily. Even without LeBron there in the second half, we were no match for that team. But now I have that story, so it wasn’t a total loss.

8. Favorite team?

I’m a Lakers fan, but before you toss out the B word, hear me out. My first memory from my childhood is watching the Lakers-Pistons in the Finals (couldn’t tell you if it was ’88 or ’89 but I like to think it was ’88 since they won) as my dad cheered on Magic, Kareem and the gang. I’ve followed them loyally ever since, and I even owned a Nick Van Exel and an Eddie Jones jersey back in the day.

9. Favorite player, past or present?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar gets the nod, though there’s a special place in my heart for Robert Horry and Derek Fisher. I also have a crazy amount of respect for Kobe Bryant as I’ve had the privilege of watching his game mature at the same time that my understanding of the game was maturing. Chris Webber tops my list of favorite non-Lakers as I was a huge Fab Five fan, and I remain a loyal Michigan basketball and football fan to this day because of that group’s influence.

10. Tell us about how you see basketball in a social context; is it important, is it useful, does it break down barriers or is it another way to exclude people?

Basketball is inherently a social game, on and off the court. When all five players on the court are communicating and functioning as one—think 2008 Celtics defense—it’s tough to beat that. The basketball blogging community is, in my opinion, among the best on the Web. And the most exciting part is that we’re just in the tip-of-the-iceberg stage of figuring out how to leverage all the tools and technology available to us to enable fans get the most out of following the sports they love.

Everyone knows the 2010 basketball fan experience is so incredibly different than the 1980 fan experience, but it’s also vastly different from the 2000 fan experience or the 2005 fan experience. And things are evolving and changing so rapidly, that there’s no telling what breakthroughs will be impacting fan experiences in 2012, 2020 and beyond, but blogs and social media play an important role in sports today, and I think that’s a good thing.

11. What teams in the upcoming world championships are you looking out for?

Obviously I’m most familiar with the U.S. squad. I’ve also heard/read good things about Spain. Beyond that, I don’t have a lot of insight. In all honesty, I don’t follow the international basketball scene too closely outside of an Olympic year, so I’ll have to plead ignorance on this one.

12. Player to watch? (any league)

Latavious Williams. He recently became the first player ever to go from high school to the D-League to get drafted by the NBA (selected in the second round by Miami and then traded to Oklahoma City). He’ll likely spend most (if not all) of this season developing further with OKC’s D-League affiliate, the Tulsa 66ers, where he played last season. He’s still got a lot of rawness to his game, but if his year one development is any indication, he could be a great find for the Thunder down the road.

1. For the stat geeks, a take on True Shooting Percentage on the Orlando roster.
2. Karl Malone has deservedly been inducted into the Hall of Fame.  Here’s a question though: who’s better, Tim Duncun or KM?  A Utah fan shares his view, we’d love to hear yours.
3. Reason #735 why more Aussies should be in the NBA…
4. Nancy Lieberman, winner.
   “The only pressure on me is the pressure that’s self-inflicted. I’m used to winning. I’m not really sure I know much about losing, so I expect to be successful and I expect our franchise to be successful. I haven’t spent my life aspiring to be on an NBA bench. My focus has been to change the lives of the people who need me. I’m not going to get into a situation where it’s, “Oh my God, what if we lose?” We are going to be successful and we’re going to win and I’ll tell you how: 20 percent of the NBA are players who have experience in the D-League — guys like J.J. Barea, Chris Andersen, Sundiata Gaines. Look at the coaches who have moved up. Look at the referees who have moved up. So 80 percent of my guys I’m coaching for life. We’re going to make them better men. We’re going to give them great information so they’re better decision-makers. We’re going to build their character and self-esteem. And we’re going to make them better basketball players. Does that translate into our winning a D-League championship? It very well could. But more than anything we’ll coach our guys up.”
5. Steve Adamek is not too hyped about the USA Men’s Team…
6. Excellent Scottie Pippen article.
7. Scottie finally gets the limelight he deserves.
8. Brandon Jennings is focused.
9. Back to Scottie – J.A. Adande’s take.
10. And Sam Smith’s take.
11. Don’t you dare sleep on the D-League.  Next season’s schedule is up, and Matt Hubert has some impressions.
12. Speaking of which, I love eloquent players.  Add this to your list of must-reads.  Another D-League alumni.
13. Just so you know, if you’re in Australia the World Championships will be shown on FOX Sports.
14. A Stern Warning breaks some interesting news – Leroy Loggins to bring back the Brisbane Bullets?
15. Another Scottie article:
    “Pippen, regarded as perhaps the top individual defender in basketball history, also shared his thoughts on the hottest topic of the NBA offseason, LeBron James’ ‘decision’ to sign with the Miami Heat in free agency. ‘You know what? The way it went down, it was a little bit classless,’ said Pippen, not exactly a stranger to controversy himself during his playing days. ‘He’s a great player and we all love him as a player, but you don’t change spots by going on TV and announcing where you’re going as a free agent. I think that really hurt him a little bit, but it’s over and it’s history.”
16. Say it ain’t so TP…
17. Aimless Ballin.  Must Read.
18. Team “B” (see item 5) beats Les Bleus.
19. Ok one last Scottie article.

1. Henry Abbott at Truehoop is trying to find a nickname for the Miami trio.  Superfriends?
2. Making a run at all-time greatness:
   “If there’s one thing that’s been missing from the NBA over the last decade or so, it’s that we haven’t had a team truly take a run at all-time greatness – we’re coming up on 15 seasons since the ’96 Bulls. I’m not yet ready to call the Heat the favorites for 2010-11 (I think I still favor the Lakers because of superior size), but in future seasons, when they can use salary-cap exceptions to add more depth of quality bigs next to Chris Bosh, I do think we’ll get a 70-win team at some point.”  The Painted Area
3. This is why we’re not very happy with Lebron-gate:
   “Even before the first batch of burning James jerseys had cooled or the giant Nike Witness mural started to come down, team owner Dan Gilbert’s stinging open letter to fans hit the media. The attack of James’ character in the hours after he announced his intention to sign with the Miami Heat was the most prolific moment.
   But the true low point for the team was hearing and then reading about how James was actively recruiting free agents for his new team: putting the full-court press on friend Mike Miller, meeting Derek Fisher at the airport and calling up to tug Mr. Cavalier Zydrunas Ilgauskas to South Beach.”
4. Take a bow, Pat Riley:
   “There was no way to know that the three men captured in this brief clip from the early 1970s would go on to have so much influence on the NBA in the ’80s, ’90s, 2000s and now this decade.”
5. Joe Posnanski calls out Dan Gilbert’s font usage.
6. Hoopspeak ties Phillip Roth and Lebron together.
7. NBAMate stays positive for NY after Lebron-gate.
8. Who were the biggest steals in the 1st round of any NBA Draft?  SLAM puts together a list.
9. Epic post about the Spurs, dunking and all that is good and bad…
10. Lord.  Have.  Mercy.
11. The NBA; where Shakespeare happens.  Another epic post.
12. It had to happen.  Lebron Hate Shirts.
13. There’s something beautiful about stars who just want to play:
    “When asked why he would play in the summer league, Smith responded that it was ‘love of the game’ that drove him to play and that he ‘might as well play in something like this than play in a high school gym and get hurt.’”