The Other Gasol.

When ever you hear the surname 'Gasol' in the NBA, most people think of one player-Pau Gasol, 2 time NBA champion with the L.A Lakers. What about Marc?
 Marc's older brother Pau, said this about Marc in an interview with the L.A Times, earlier this season, after being asked if Marc is going to be better than him. "I think Marc is gonna be himself. I think his goal has to be to be better than me. Um I think he has to be as best as he can be. I have archived a lot in my career, and I hope he can archive as much as I have, because I love him to death, and I am proud of what he has done already, and um I think he is gonna be a better player than he is today"
 That says alot about Marc. It says his brother and the league are taking notice of this up and coming 7'1 center for the young Memphis Grizzlies.
 Marc archived alot in Spain. He was apart of the 2004 Spanish League champions, apart of the 2004 Spanish Supercup winners, EuroChallenge Champion in 2007, a Catalan Tournament champion and won the 2008 Spanish League MVP.
 Marc wasn't drafted by the Grizzlies back in the 2007 NBA Draft. He was drafted by the L.A Lakers, at pick number 48.
 The only time that siblings have been traded for one another in the NBA, happened on the 1st of February 2008, when the L.A Lakers traded the draft rights of Marc Gasol to Memphis, for his older brother Pau, who went to the Lakers. He than signed a contact with the Grizz, on June 23, 2008.
 Gasol's rookie season was a success, as he played in all 82 games, and put up just under 12 points a game and pulled down 7 rebounds a game. He was also a member of the 2009 NBA All-Rookie Second Team.
 Marc followed up his great rookie season, with an even better second season for Memphis. Marc missed 13 games in 2009/2010, because of injury problems, but Marc still put up better numbers than his rookie season. Marc averaged 14 points a game and pulled down 9 rebounds, as Memphis had a breakout season, finishing at 40-42.
 So far this season, Gasol is having another solid season, putting up just under 12 points and 7 rebounds a game.
 Marc doesn't only play great in the NBA, he also plays for the Spanish National Team. He has won Gold at the 2006 FIBA World Championship, Gold in the 2009 FIBA European Championship, Silver at the 2007 FIBA European Championship and Silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
 So next time you and a few mates are talking about Pau Gasol, make sure to bring up his younger brother, Marc who is going to be a massive piece to get Memphis back into the playoffs.  

                                                 Marc Gasol taking a jumpshot over Yao Ming.

Turkish Delight

This article was wrote by Luke Sicari and Justin Condo.

Semih Erden, the under rated hard working centre for the Boston Celtics, was born in Instanbul on the 28th of July 1986.
In the year 2004-05 Semih played for Partizan Beograd in the Adriatic league, where he averaged 4.6 points per game and 3.2 rebounds.
Erden's highest scoring out put in that season was 17 points and scored in double figures twice in the season.
In the next season, Semih averaged 6.5 points per game and 5.4 rebounds a game.
In 05-06 Erden scored in double figures 7 times and his highest scoring match was 14 points.
In 2006-07 Turkish league season, Erden averaged 6.4 points per game, 3.8 rebounds in sixteen minutes.
2007-08 Was a great season for Erden. His minutes were increasing because of his inproved performance in the Turkish League.
He averaged 7.1 points per game and 4.7 rebounds a game in 19.5 minutes.
His highest scoring out put in that season was a solid 15 points.
Erden was the final pick of the 2008 draft selected by the Champions Boston Celtics at pick 60.
Instead of Erden going to the Nba season he wanted to go back to the Turkish League to build his confidence up.
On July 5th, Erden was ready to take his talents to the T.D Garden and he signed a one year contact with the Celtics.
With Boston's three centres out injured ( Shaq, Jermaine O'Neal and Kendrick Perkins) it was Semih Erden's time to shine as the starting centre of the Eastern Conference Champions the Boston Celtics.
He first start was against the 76's were he got 8 points in 18 minutes in a extremely close game where celtics won 102 - 101 victory.
In the 2010 Fiba World Championships, Erden won silver with the Turkish League.
Erden has a lot of potentinal in the future playing with the Boston Celtics.
 If he continues up the hard working practise, Semih will become a very solid role player for the Championship Contenders, Boston Celtics.

Ballin'-J.J Redick

 If you have a retired number at Duke University, you are bound to have a great NBA career.
 For Jonathan Clay "J.J" Redick, his NBA career has not been GREAT yet, but it sure has been solid, as a role player.
 So what made J.J's collage career so good, Duke retired his number 4 jersey?
 Well here is a list of his awards and honors in collage.
 -On JAN 6th 2003, he was named ACC Rookie of the Week.
 -He was named ACC Player of the Week 10 times.
 -In 2006 he was ACC Athlete of the year.
 -He was a 2-time ACC Player of the Year (2004/05 and 2005/06)
 -A 2-time ACC Tournament MVP.
 -Associated Press Player of the Year in 2006.
 -National Player of the Year in 2006.
 -Duke's all time leading scorer with 2,769 points.
 -He has the record for most points in a season at Duke, 964.
 -Leading scorer in ACC Tournament history.
 J.J has many more awards and honors, too many to name!
 Redick has been said to be one of the best collage players of all-time.
 So after an amazing career at Duke, Redick was taken at the number 11 pick in the 2006 NBA draft by the Orlando Magic.
 When J.J was drafted he said this is an interview with the Charlotte Observer "I think I'll be a role player like 80 percent of the players in the league are. I don't expect to be a star, I'll just shoot, be a team player."
 J.J was right, because with J.J's time with the Magic he has been an role player.
 His highest scoring output in the NBA is 27 points in a match against the Raptors on NOV 1, 2009.
 In J.J's 4 years in the league he is averaging 7 points per game off the bench.
 He has also been in the playoffs them 4 years with the Magic, averaging 6.2 points per game in the playoffs.
 So far this season J.J is averaging 7.1 points per game.
 J.J still has a while before he becomes a real noise marker in the NBA, seeing that he must improve his defense.
 His offense game is just about perfect , being one of Orlando's many shooters.
 So I think J.J can become a really good player in this league, if he can maintain this type of play and improve his defense.

 

The Silent Assassin

After a successful high school career at Murrah High School, Maurice 'Mo' Williams was hoping for a successful collage career as well, as he attended the University of Alabama.
 In he 2002 season at 'Bama, Mo was a freshman, where he averaged 10.4pts and 4.5ast per game, starting every game at PG.
 In that season Alabama finished with a record of 27-8, including an amazing 17-0 record at home.
 Albama made the NCAA Tournament that year, but Mo and his 'Bama teamates could not get the jod done, going down 71-58 to Kent State in the 2nd round of the tournament.
 Mo played another year at Alabama in 2003 where he averaged 16.4pts and 8.8 ast per game, leading the team in both scoring and assists.
 Yet again the 2003 season ended with another early exir from the NCAA tournament as 'Bama lost to Indiana in the 1st round.
 Williams entered the 2003 NBA Draft where he got selected by the Utah Jazz at pick 47, in the second round.
 People say that the 2003 draft has been the best ever, as Miami's 3 stars LeBron, Wade and Bosh got picked in that draft, as well as Nuggets superstar Carmelo Anthony.
 Utah released Mo after his rookie season, where he averaged 5.0ppg and 1.3apg.
 Mo was signed with the Milwaukee Bucks after the Jazz realesed him.
 Williams started to shine with the Bucks in his 2nd NBA season where he averaged 10.2pts and 6.1ast per game, filling in for the Bucks injured starting PG, T.J Ford.
 Mo became a cluth player for the Bucks in the 2005/06 season, where he hit several game winning shots for the Bucks, along with getting 12.1ppg and 4.0ast per game that season.
 Williams got to start in the 2006/07 season after the Bucks traded T.J Ford.
 Mo had a break-out year in that season, getting 17.3ppg and 6.1ast per game, along with career highs in rebounds, averaging 4.8rpg.
 Williams also got his first triple-double that season, with 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists on DEC 20 2006 vs the Miami Heat.
 It was much of the same in the next season for Mo, averaging 17.2ppg and 6.3ast per game in 07/08.
 Mo was apart of a 3-team, 6-player deal, where Mo ended up with the Cleveland Cavaliers, on AUG 13, 2008.
 When he got to Cleveland, Mo had to change his number to #2 after his former #25 was retired by Cavs legend Mark Price.
 Mo's first season with the Cavs marked his first All-Star match, filling in for Chris Bosh.
 Mo got 12 points and 5 assists in the 2009 All-Star match, for the East.
 In his first season as a Cav, Mo got a career high in points per game, getting 17.8ppg, along with shooting .436 percent from downtown, another career high.
 On FEB 11 2009 Williams put up a career high 44 points and 7assists in a match vs the Suns.
 Williams was a key in Cleveland's 2009/10 season getting 15.8ppg and 5.3apg.
 After LeBron left the Cavs, Mo was in trade-talk's but on his Twitter, Williams begged not to be traded.
 Williams hit a buzzer beater on NOV 14,2010 for the Cavs, vs his old team the Bucks, Mo also put up 25 points that game.
 So far this season (2010/11) Mo is getting 15.5ppg and 5.3apg for Cleveland.
 I hope Mo will keep on improving in future, as my Cavs will ned him to take over the offense, without King James.

 ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL.

Why Teams Would Benefit from Kevin Martin

Kevin Martin is one of the, if the most dynamic scorer in the NBA. I mean this guy can put up points and he can do it fast. He can take it all the way to the hole, and that quick release on his jump-shot gives defenders fits. Now with Houston, after the Kings traded him to give more space to Tyreke Evens, Martin is putting up 23.6ppg early in the 2011/11 season with the Rockets.

Martin has always been a scorer averaging 17.5ppg throughout his 8 year career with Sac-town and Houston. In collage Martin was also a scorer getting 23.3ppg, while shooting the ball at 46.1% from the field, with the Western Carolina Catamounts. His highest scoring output in the NBA was 50 points in a 143-141 OT lose to the Warriors on April 1st, 2009. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGFh4suyU2Q.

Teams that struggle to score on a nightly basis (New Jersey, Charlotte and Detroit to name a few) could really use Kevin Martin on they teams. Now I am not saying Martin is going to be traded, but this is what he could bring to some of the struggling offensive teams in the NBA.

New Jersey-In New Jersey Martin would fit in perfectly. He would start at SG, Devin Harris would go to PG and he would work well with young impressive center Brook Lopez. Martin and Harris would prove a tough back court to stop. Martin would help the Nets a lot.

Charlotte-With Michael Jordan's Bobcats Martin would team up with Gerald Wallace and Stephen Jackson. With Martin in Charlotte they would have some good scorers in Martin, Wallace and Jackson. Also Martin would work well with PG D.J Augustin.

Detroit-If Martin went to the Pistons, they would hope to get back to playoff form. The Pistons already have some impressive players in vets R.I.P Hamilton, Tayshaun Prince and T-Mac. The Pistons already have a great scorer in Ben Gorden and with Martin in the motor city, it would be hard to stop. He would also be a nice fit with young players Rodney Stuckey, Greg Monroe and Austin Daye.

Cleveland-Ok let's face it, the Cavs need to score right now. Antawn Jamison and Daniel Gibson are doing all the scoring for this team at the moment due to a hip injury to Mo Williams. If Martin was to come to Cleveland, he would provide instant scoring as he would go to the starting line-up. Martin would also help young stud Manny Harris in becoming a scorer in this league.

You can follow Luke Sicari on twitter @lukesicari
or send him an e-mail sicarimailto:sicari.luke97@gmail.com

J.J Hickson-The Rising

'With the 19th pick in the 2008 NBA draft, the Cleveland Cavaliers select J.J Hickson from the North Carolina State University.'
 It was a dream come true for now 22 year old J.J Hickson, so how did it start?
 In high school James Edward 'J.J.' Hickson attended Joseph Wheeler High School in Marietta, Georiga.
 J.J had a great HS career in where he was ranked No.10 overall recurit, No.2 PF by Rivals.com and as the No.3 PF by Scout.com, all in the class of 2007.
 Also in 2007 J.J was named a McDonald's All-American.
 J.J's Wheeler High squad made it to the 5A Final Four in 2006.
 The stat line for J.J as a senior in HS was 25.9ppg, 13.8rpg and 3.0bpg-not bad.
 So after a great HS career, J.J only played 1 year of collage ball at North Carolina State University.
 In that 1 year J.J averaged 14.8ppg and 8.5rpg, leading all freshmen.
 Highlights of J.J's short collage career were being named ACC Rookie Of The Week 3 times, setting an ACC single-game freshman record when getting 23 rebounds in a match against Clemson University.
 Now onto J.J's NBA career.
 He made his NBA debut against the Charlotte Bobcats, scoring 4 points.
 His rookie year highs were 14 points, 4 blocks and 9 rebounds.
 He averaged 4.0ppg and 2.7rpg in his 62 games of his rookie year.
 Now J.J started to make quiet noise around the L in the 09/10 season.
 In 09/10 J.J got his first ever start with the Cavs and on Jan.27 2010, he set a then career high with 23 points.
 In that season J.J averaged 8.5ppg, 4.9rpg and he increased his minutes per game by around 10 minutes.
 J.J has started this season (10/11) with a bang.
 He scored a career high 31 points (at time of print) in a lose to the Atlanta Hawks on the 2nd of November, 2010.
 His stats for this season so far (6 games in) are 17.8ppg, 6.0rpg and 1.0apg, helping the Cavs to go 3-3.
 In the future J.J must work on his rebounding, to help the Cavs in the post LeBron era.
 Things are looking up for J.J, as long as he keeps up his type of play.
 In the meantime keep an eye on J.J Hickson, and buy his cards while they cheap!

J.J driving past Elton Brand.

 GO CAVS!!

The Heat is on.

Boston-88 def Miami-80.
 When we all saw this score line on opening night of the 10/11 NBA season and the debut of Miami's big 3, we didn't know what to expect next-we now know.
 One opening night the Heat looked out of sync, but it wasn't long until the got that fixed.
 When I watched the Magic @ Heat match on Saturday I knew that this was going to be a scary season for the east (and west.)
 The match was close all up until the 2nd half when Miami went off running away with a 96-70 win in the Heat's opening home match.
 Dwayne Wade put up 26 points on that night, while LeBron chipped in with 15 points.
 Than the Heat went and destroyed the Nets and the T'Wolves, along with beating Philly to go 4-1 after the first week of the new season.
 In the last 3 games we have seen the LeBron and Wade are playing better with each match.
 They seem to play really well together on the court and they both know there role.
 LeBron being LeBron, dished out 12 dimes vs Wolves on Wednesday while putting up 20 points.
 In that Heat win LeBron and D.Wade combined for 46 points.
 Lets put Wade and James aside for a minute and focus and the Heat's 3rd option Chris Bosh.
 Bosh has been playing solid in Miami's first 4 matches putting up 11pts @ Boston,15pts @76ers, 11 pts vs Orlando, 18pts @ Nets and 13pts vs T'Wolves.
 Along with that the Heat have a great supporting cast with Carlos Arroyo, Joel Anthony, James Jones, Udonis Haslem, Eddie House and Big Z.
 So to all of the other 29 teams, be aware-The Heat is on.

ATL Fast Start

Hey Cavsfanatics,

The Atlanta Hawks have jumped to a 3-0 start this season. The are playing great basketball right now, and were good enough to pull out a win vs Wizards the other night. We have them up next so it will be tough, lets just hope the boys can go out there and make a point.

Luke

Manny Harris In, Danny Green Out.

Hey Guys,
So the Cavs have de-listed Danny Green, and signed un-drafted rookie Manny Harris. I think this is a good idea, Manny played great @ Raptors, didn't get much of a chance vs Kings. I hope Manny can have a great career with Cleveland, and best of luck to Danny Green for whatever he does in the future.
GO CAVS!!
Cheers Luke

Underated-Monta Ellis.

If 25.5 points per game, 5.3 assits per game and 4.0 rebounds per game isn't enough to get you a spot in the all-star game I don't know what is any more.

 This was the case for Golden State Warrior, Monta Ellis in the 2009/10 NBA season.

 Maybe its because he is playing with the Golden State Warriors a team with a losing record or maybe its because Golden State's season was ruled by young super-star point guard Steph Curry.

 What ever the reason was it didn't seem to faze Ellis much, as he continued to perform at a high level after the all-star break.

 ‘The Mississippi Bullet’ started has Basketball career at Lanier High School in Jackson.

 In his four season at Lanier he averaged 28.9ppg, 4.9apg, 5.2rpg and 3.1spg.

 His best season at high school was his last which he averaged an amazing 38.4ppg, 7.9rpg, 6.8apg and 4.5spg.

 His best outing at high school was a whopping 72 points in a match against Greenwood high school-WOW!

 Amazingly Monta was a second round draft pick in the 2005 NBA draft (pick 40) drafted by the Golden State Warriors.

 His first ever points in the NBA came in a match against the Phoenix  Suns on December 7th, in which he scored a 3-point shot.

 Ellis was forced to play only about half the season in his debut season, playing 49 games due to knee problems.

 In them 49 games he averaged 6.8ppg and 2.1rpg.

 In his sophomore season in the NBA Ellis recovered from his knee problems to play almost a full season.

 During his sophomore season Ellis hit his first ever game winning shot in the NBA against the Nets giving the Warriors a 110-109 win, on January 24th, 2007. 

 In the 77 games he played Ellis put up 16.5ppg and 4.1apg, in his sophomore season.

 Disaster stuck Ellis in his 3rd season in the NBA.

 On August 26, 2008 he had torn a ligament in his left ankle.

  Ellis said in an interview, he had suffered the injury during a pick-up game in a gym in his home town of Mississippi-this ended up being not the case.

 Suspected during weeks of speculation, it was official that he had sustained the injury in a low-speed moped accident.

 This behavior is against his player contact, and the Warriors suspended him for 30 games-about the amount of games he was going to miss, because of the injury.

 So in a crazy 08-09 season for Monta he ended up playing 25 games, in which he got 19.0ppg and 4.3rpg.

 Now to the 09/10 season in which Ellis should have been in the all-star game.

 Again knee problems forced Monta to play 64 games this past season in which he still averaged career highs.

 Ellis averaged 25.5ppg, 5.3apg, 4.0rpg, 2.2spg and he played 41.4 minutes per game, another career best.

 Monta Ellis has provided us with a reel of highlights in his career so far, but is still underrated, in my opinion.