Sports Poets Society

16 July 2015, 09:30 The National Basketball Association (NBA) and the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) announced today the full rosters for the first NBA game in Africa, which will take place August 1 at Ellis Park Arena in Johannesburg, South Africa.   The sold-out NBA Africa Game 2015 will feature a Team Africa v Team World format and will be played in support of Boys & Girls Clubs of South Africa, SOS Children’s Villages Association of South Africa and the Nelson Mandela Foundation . The game will air live in the US on ESPN at 9:00 a.m. ET and in Africa on SuperSport at 3:00 p.m. CAT. Team Africa , comprised of players born in Africa and second-generation African players, will feature team captain and two-time NBA All-Star Luol Deng (#9 Miami Heat; Great Britain; born in South Sudan),  Al-Farouq Aminu (Portland Trail Blazers; US; parents from Nigeria),  Giannis Antetokounmpo (#34 Milwaukee Bucks; Greece; parents from Nigeria),...

IT TOOK ALMOST TWO SEASONS FOR THE SIXERS’ EVAN TURNER TO FIND HIS FOOTING IN THE NBA. NOW THINGS ARE FALLING INTO PLACE AND PHILLY’S DO-EVERYTHING RISING STAR IS READY TO TRULY BREAK OUT. W O R D S. P A T R I C K C A S S I D Y A RECURRING THEME OF THIS ISSUE is the weight of great expectations . After being selected with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, the Sixers’ Evan Turner is all-too familiar with the pressures that come with soaring promise. After a turbulent two seasons in the League, it appears as though Turner is finally on the verge of his own breakout. Down the stretch of the Sixers’ surprising run in this year’s playoffs , Turner found himself in Philly’s starting lineup , leading the charge and taking the Boston Celtics to a hard-fought 7th game in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals . His minutes (34.5), points (11.2) and rebounds (7.5) all took a major jump in the playoffs, and he is now poised to do big things in 2012-13. I caught up with ...

Dime magazine #66, November 2011  As the second overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft , Evan Turner didn’t exactly live up to expectations last season. Though the Sixers surprised some people with their stellar play late in the year, Turner struggled to get minutes and was seemingly lost in translation.  Philly is loaded with solid wing players, but need a guy who can spread the floor and shoot a decent percentage from three; Evan Turner is that guy . After spending his summer working with Hall of Fame coach Herb Magee to tweak his shot, Turner knows that he’ll improve upon his averages of 7.2 points and 3.9 rebounds in 23.0 minutes a game. And with the ability to create for himself off the dribble , look for him to make the leap this year.

After building up his name with one hustle play after another, Kenneth Faried, the breakout star of last summer’s Tem USA squad, has big-time NBA success in his sights, too.  by Peter Walsh, Slam magazine #186, April 2015 It’s days before the Denver Nuggets open the 2014-15 NBA season, and Kenneth Faried is fnally taking a minute to reminisce on the summer of a lifetime. “My career-defning moment thus far is winning Gold with Team USA,” says Faried, who did more than any other player to improve their personal stock at the FIBA World Cup, averaging 12.4 points and a team-leading 7.8 rebounds per game in the US’ nine-game march to the Gold in Spain. “That really just showed everybody who said, ‘Hey, why is Kenneth at the camp?’ Or, ‘Why is Kenneth playing for Team USA?’ Or, ‘He’s not going to make it past the camp.’ Or, ‘He’s not going to make the team.’ Or, ‘He’s not going to get any minutes or even start.’ What I did and what we did over there really helped sho...

Blessed with the ability  to do a little of everything on  the BasketBall court and determined  to keep getting Better at all of it, MARC GASOL has become one of the game’s most valuable players. By y aron Weitzman by Yaron Weitzman, Slam magazine #186, April 2015 He won’t share many details, but the remnants of his pregame snack do. They’re scattered around his unkempt Barclays Center locker on this blisteringly cold January night. A small box of GoPicnic hummus and crackers is nestled underneath some shorts, a yellow wrapper that once held gluten-free crackers finds itself trapped under a folding chair leg, a blue and white container with the words “METABOLIC DRINK” printed on it leans against the wooden locker’s left wall. It looks like something Neil Armstrong might have brought with him to space. At the moment, Marc Gasol is out on the court warming up. It’s about an hour before tipoff of what will turn out to be a relativ...

by Rick Telander, Slam magazine #186, April 2014 There have been lots of brothers who have played in the NBA, which makes sense. If the guy who pounded you constantly as a kid on the family basement sock-basketball court has the genetics and temperament to play in the bigs, why not you? Just a short list of siblings who have played in the League includes Harvey and Horace Grant, Bernard and Albert King, Jim and John Paxson, Mike and Willie Sojourner, the trio of Jon, Brent and Drew Barry, and even the fabulous Jones quartet: Caldwell, Charles, Major and Wil. But right now, beside the towering Lopez brothers, Brook and Robin, we’ve got big men Pau and Marc Gasol showing how brothers can dominate on the foor. Seven-foot, 250-pound Pau, 34, who earned two Championship rings with the Lakers, is in his frst year with the Bulls and playing as well as he ever has in his 14-year career. Seven-one, 260-pound Marc, 30, is in his seventh season with the Grizzlies and is playing far be...

Milwaukee's Giannis Antetoukounmpo has already risen from unkown prospect to fan favorite... and at 20 years old, he's just getting started. by Peter Walsh, Slam magazine #185, March 2015 The Milwaukee Bucks have just beaten the Brooklyn Nets in a marathon triple-OT game at the Barclays Center and the visiting locker room is abuzz. Though it’s only November, the halls of Barclays are swarming with enough groupies, media members, hangers-on, agents and the like that it feels like a big late season win. Jason Kidd’s son, TJ, ecstatic to see his father earn a win in the head coach’s return to Brooklyn, is dapping up every Buck in sight. In one corner of the locker room, OJ Mayo does his best Birdman impression and let’s out an audible, “Rich Gang!” And coming from an unseen section of the locker room is the sound of young forward Giannis Antetokounmpo singing and laughing loudly.  Emerging from the showers and moving gingerly across the locker room after playin...

138 km | Friday July 24 | Start 13:20 – Finish 17:45 CET STAGE FACT Start town St-Jean-de-Maurienne is home to the iconic Opinel knife — an item that’s become emblematic of French culture. Today is all about the big guns slugging it out up big mountains . And we assume no one will be telling Chris Froome to slow down when he hits the final climb of La Toussuire this time round. It was here in 2012 that he put his own raceleading team-mate Bradley Wiggins on the back foot and created a tension between the two that never really got settled. Pierre Rolland won the stage. Memories, eh?  Floyd Landis will also have painful recollections from the ski resort. The disgraced American blew up big time here in 2006 to lose his yellow jersey . He doped his way back to a most improbable recovery the following day but was caught shortly afterwards. What other climbs are there today? The stage opens with an up from kilometre zero. The Col du Chaussy is new on the Tour itinerary, a...