2009 NBA All-Star Vote Leaders...

The NBA All-Star game arrives in just a month, illustrating how fast time keeps flying by this 200809 NBA season! This year's All-Star game will be held in Phoenix, Arizona on February 15th. That's just a day after Valentine's day, and many NBA players are hoping fans (or the coaches) show them the love. Here's a look at the current vote totals for the Eastern and Western Conferences....

2008-09 NBA All-Star Top Vote-Getters: (1/1/09)

EASTERN CONFERENCE:

GUARDS: Dwyane Wade, Miami, 1,473,225; Allen Iverson, Detroit, 1,027,153;

FORWARDS: LeBron James, Cleveland, 1,521,272; Kevin Garnett, Boston, 1,101,541

CENTERS: Dwight Howard, Orlando, 1,709,088

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WESTERN CONFERENCE:

GUARDS: Kobe Bryant, L.A. Lakers, 1,534,020; Tracy McGrady, Houston, 961,852;

FORWARDS: Tim Duncan, San Antonio, 1,132,095; Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix, 743,639;

CENTERS: Yao Ming, Houston, 1,396,126;

As you can see from the above totals released January 1, 2009, Dwight Howard leads all vote-getters with 1,709,088. In case you're wondering where Portland's rookie center ranks, Greg Oden is 5th amongst Western Conference centers behind Yao, Shaq, Bynum and Mehmet Okur. That should change within a few seasons. As for this past season's top 2 draft picks, Michaels Beasley is 2nd to last for East forwards, while Chicago Bull Derrick Rose is 8th. Two of the guards that Rose has received more votes than are Jose Calderon (TOR) and Jameer Nelson (ORL), who just might find spots on the reserve section for their first appearance.

Also of note, but not shown above is that New Jersey's new addition, Yi Jianlian, is third in votes for Eastern Conference forwards with 959,324 votes. Overall, he's not too far behind Boston's KG, and has a good shot of capturing a spot. Yi is ahead of previous all-stars Chris Bosh and Paul Pierce with the votes, but if he isn't voted in, don't expect him to edge out either of those guys for a reserve spot. Chalk up the Yi vote to the Yao vote as the Chinese have embraced the NBA greatly since Yao's arrival to Houston.

You can see the rest of the 2008-09 NBA All-Star votes here at azcentral.com. Balloting for the 2009 NBA All-Star Game officially ends on January 19th, 2009.

2008-09 NBA Preseason Info

According to NBA.com, the NBA season is a little over a month away. In the meantime, the preseason schedule was announced last month and features plenty of action to get fans ready for the 2008-09 season. Preseason tickets can often be purchased cheap for great seats, even front row! Some of the games are held at smaller arenas, maybe even in your own backyard area. Keep in mind that many teams may be looking to rest or preserve superstars during these games so you might not see your favorite stars on the court. I've had the opportunity to see both Lebron James and Michael Jordan play in preseason games, as well as Paul Pierce, Vince Carter and Chris Bosh. So you just might get lucky if you choose the right game!

Several teams will also be overseas for a few contests. The Heat and Nets will suit up to play one another for two games in Paris at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy on October 9th. The two teams meet several days later in London for a game on the 12th. France basketball may be most famous for the 7 footer Vince Carter leapt over and dunked on during the Olympics several years ago.

On October 14, the Wizards and Hornets will play in Berlin, and move to Barcelona for a October 17th game.

There's also the NBA China Games 2008, featuring the Bucks and Warriors. The teams will play twice; once at Guangzhou Gymnasium in Guangzhuo on Oct. 15, and at the Beijing Olympic Basketball Arena on Oct. 18. The games were scheduled in anticipation of bringing former Buck star Yi over to the Chinese fans, but he was traded in the offseason to New Jersey. The China Games will be aired on ESPN.

There will also be a unique outdoor game played at Tennis Garden in Palm Springs, CA. The game will feature the Phoenix Suns against the Denver Nuggets. The October 11th game will be televised on TNT.

There's plenty more action to check out this offseason including several Euroleague teams competing against NBA teams, games at different arenas and a chance to check out all the teams vying for this year's title!

You can view the full NBA preseason schedule here.

The Bucks Stop with Skiles

The Milwaukee Bucks are now enlisting the coaching services of Scott Skiles. Many remember that prior to the 2007 winter holidays, Skiles was notified he was no longer wanted by the Chicago Bulls. Skiles said he was ok with the decision, while some analysts felt it was in poor taste to fire a guy around the holidays. Skiles now gets a new chance at coaching in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference.

According to Fox Sports:

Skiles, who was drafted out of Michigan State by the Bucks in the first round in 1986, said he has a "fond place" in his heart for Milwaukee. But he has no illusions about the difficult task he faces in turning around a team that began the season with playoff aspirations but finished 26-56.

"It's not going to be easy," Skiles said. "I don't have any magic dust to sprinkle on people. We're going to have to do it by working harder and playing better (defense), and the first step will be getting competitive every single night. The team has not been competitive every night and if we do that, good things will happen."

The 44-year-old Skiles has more NBA head coaching experience than Milwaukee's two previous coaches, Krystkowiak and Terry Stotts, did when they were hired by the Bucks.

Skiles spent nearly three full seasons in Phoenix after taking over for Danny Ainge early in the 1999-00 season. He was fired by the Bulls in December after making the playoffs in three of his first four seasons in Chicago.

So now next season, Milwaukee will have the 44 year old Skiles as they try to compete with the tough Central division which includes Cleveland, and Skiles' former team, Chicago. Skiles will have one of the best shooters in the game in Michael Redd and a few young big man prodigies in Yi, Villanueva and Bogut. Can the demanding Skiles turn the tide and get the Bucks rolling?

The Eastern Conference 8 Spot

In the NBA's Eastern Conference, 7 of the 8 playoff spots have been claimed already, with several teams clinching last night. The Washington Wizards and Philadelphia 76ers were among those who will be heading to the playoffs. I'll be the 1st to admit, I just didn't see this Sixers team being worthy of a playoff spot, but then again the East is nowhere near as tough and competitive as the Western Conference.

Here's how things look as of right now:

1 - Boston Celtics (60-15)
2 - Detroit Pistons (54-21)
3 - Orlando Magic (47-28)
4 - Cleveland (42-34)
5 - Philadelphia (39-37)
6 - Washington (39-37)
7 - Toronto (38-38)
8 - Atlanta Hawks (35-41)
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(9) Indiana (32-44)
Games remaining: 6 (4 Home, 2 Away)

(10) New Jersey (31-45)
Games remaining: 6 (2 Home, 4 Away)

(11) Chicago (30-45)
Games remaining: 7 (4 Home, 3 Away)

Right now the Atlanta Hawks are perched at the 8 spot in the East. The New Jersey Nets seem to be falling out of contention despite having the talent of Richard Jefferson and Vince Carter. Losing a player the caliber of Jason Kidd obviously hurts quite a bit, as he ran the show and basically got the stats needed to help win games. They weren't exactly dominating with Kidd there though. So the Pacers, Bulls and Nets all have a legit shot at the final spot should Atlanta falter along the way. Atlanta, should they make that 8 spot, would be playing Boston first round of the playoffs. A possible preview of that will come April 12th in a regular season contest, in Atlanta. See more about the NBA Playoff picture at ESPN.com

Also in the East, the Milwauke Bucks have lost the services of their rookie Yi for the remainder of this NBA season. The Bucks along with Charlotte, the Knicks and Heat are all lottery bound.

NBA China, Kobe & KG

As of yesterday, the NBA has increased its marketing overseas. NBA launched a new extension to its company, "NBA China". According to The Boston Herald:

For now, though, NBA China will serve as an umbrella company for the league’s already substantial marketing and business ventures in China. The NBA currently has deals with 51 Chinese telecasters to rebroadcast NBA games, including the Celtics. The league has also organized hundreds of touring basketball events for Chinese fans and has 16 marketing deals with Chinese companies and with U.S. companies that have Chinese (Source: Boston Herald)

A logical move as popular players Yao and Yi have been helping get games televised in China large audiences. In the past year the Magic played a two game series with the Cavs in China, and in 2004 the Kings and Rockets won a game a piece versus each other. See more about NBA China

In other news, Kobe Bryant had an amazing 48 point game last night, and KG is the leader amongst NBA jersey popularity with his new Celtics green.

Yi vs. Yao: The Global Good & Bad

Friday night marked a historic sporting event which may have had over 200 million witnesses, making it possibly the "most watched sports event" ever, according to ESPN's Sportscenter. The game was the Milwaukee Bucks visiting the Houston Rockets, meaning China's two NBA stars were facing off. It was the rookie Yi, vs the established veteran Yao, making it a contest of global proportions.

Yao got the better of the stats matchup and the Rockets won the game. Apparently fans in China were tuning in during early morning about 9AM or so there to check out the live game which was quite exciting for them. Globally this represents a great thing for the NBA, as it has attracted a very large foreign fan base. It's been the talk of NBA for several years now too, the global expansion and how more European players have started to take over. Cases in point are Germany's Dirk Nowitski, Canada's Steve Nash and Spain's Pau Gasol. Yao and Yi bring even more appeal on a foreign level with a large fan base coming from overseas.

The interesting thing will be to see if this will tarnish the All-Star game even more. While Yi is having a respectable rookie season (even better than Yao's), he is definitely not one of the top 5 players in the East and probably will not be (think KG, Bosh, O'Neal, etc). But with China's population and so many people rooting him on, you'd have to think he will get a lot of their votes come All-star time. Yao has definitely benefited from this and Yi will as well, possibly ousting a more deserving player from the East lineup.

NBA News and Notes 11.05.07

Here's some news and notes from around the NBA with the season in its first full week of action.

Elton Brand and Greg Oden aren't the only stars forced to sit out for most of or all of the NBA season. Adam Morrison of the Charlotte Bobcats is now out for the season with an ACL tear in his left knee, probably one of the worst injuries someone can see in basketball or pro sports. Morrison will have surgery on the knee in about 5 days. Despite the injury, Seattle Times reports Morrison is trying to stay positive.

Players of the week for the first NBA week were Indiana Pacer Danny Granger and Houston Rocket Tracy McGrady. Both teams are off to 3-0 starts in their respective Conferences, and perhaps Indiana was the bigger surprise of the 2. Strong play from Granger indicates he may have a breakout season to lead this team, with J O'Neal struggling with injuries. T-Mac is more expected although he and teammmate Yao will need to also stay healthy this season to keep the Rockets contending.

Speaking of Yao, there was the highly-praised game of his fellow Chinese superstar, Yi Jianlian for the Milwaukee Bucks. Yi had 16 points and 8 rebounds in an early game, helping the Bucks record a win over the favored Chicago Bulls. According to reports from China, fans were flipping back and forth between the Houston Rockets game to see Yao and the Bucks game to watch Yi in action. This is definitely great for the NBA as it broadens its fanbase even more. Yao was already very popular there and jersey sales of other NBA stars are as well. Yi is also being heavily promoted amongst Chinese media sources. The question will be do both these guys get a ton of votes come All-star time?

And of course the NBA story everyone loves to hate is that of Kobe Bryant. Will he stay a Laker, or will he leave? It's always good to see a player stay his career for one team, but sometimes it is inevitable and things can't be worked out in their current situation. Kobe seems unhappy with the way the current Lakers team is and it may be justified as he's won in the past. So where will the star end up next? Marc Stein at ESPN.com has the "Take a spin on the Kobe Coaster" article in which he says don't rule out Chicago or Dallas at all. Stay tuned.

Yi Signs With Bucks

It appears NBA fans and analysts are now on track to start discussing the great Yi vs. Yao debate. Yi Jianlian fro, China and #6 pick of the Milwuakee Bucks has signed a contract and will be part of training camp in October. From NBA.com:

"The Milwaukee Bucks announced today that 2007 first round draft pick Yi Jianlian (EE jee-AHN-lee-AHN) has signed a multi-year contract. The Bucks 6th overall selection in the 2007 NBA Draft, Yi Jianlian signed his contract in Hong Kong following a negotiating session with Mr. Chen Haitao, owner of the Guangdong Tigers. Bucks owner and team president Senator Herb Kohl, General Manager Larry Harris and Bucks Vice President Ron Walter were able to meet with Mr. Chen, as well as Yi and his family, as part of the process.

Yi Jianlian is expected to join the team for training camp that begins on Monday, October 1 at the Bucks Training Center in St. Francis, WI." (Full Article here)

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There's already been discussions of whether Yi will become a better player then Yao Ming of the Rockets. I say give it at least a season or 2 to see what he's got, but for now I'd put smart money on Yao to finish his career with the better stats and possibly an NBA title.

Survey Says Durant is Top Rookie

NBA.com released a 2007-08 Rookie survery on its site which proclaims Kevin Durant as preseason favorite to win the Rookie of the Year award. Durant was also voted above Oden in terms of who would make more All-Star game appearances before they finished their career. The survey was conducted by NBA.com, who gave several questions to the 44 rookies in attendance at a rookie photo shoot on July 27.

Durant received 23 of 44 votes (53%) over 5 votes for Greg Oden to receive rookie of the year. You might attribute this to the fact that Durant had a strong showing in the Vegas Summer league, with some mega scoring efforts. Also add in that Oden didn't play all of the summer league, due to leaving for a tonsillectomy procedure.

The rookie who was voted #1 in the "know least about" category was the big man from China, Yi Jianlian, of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Another interesting question asked of the rookies: Which current NBA player are you most looking forward to playing against? (Votes followed by percentage)

1. Kobe Bryant, LAL 10 24.4
2. Shaquille O'Neal, MIA 5 12.2
3. Tim Duncan, SAS 3 7.3
Kevin Garnett, MIN 3 7.3
LeBron James, CLE 3 7.3
Steve Nash, PHX 3 7.3

I find it odd anyone looks forward to playing Shaq, because those young rooks will be getting bulldozed over, at least for a few years to come.

Check out the 2007-08 NBA.com Rookie Survey at NBA.com.