Sports Poets Society

Born January 1, 1970 (age 45), Zaria , Nigeria Nationality: American Alma mater Bismarck State College Montana State University-Billings Occupation MLSE General manager Masai Ujiri (born ca. 1970) is the general manager of the Toronto Raptors of the NBA . He is a native of Zaria , Nigeria . Early life The son of a doctor mother and a hospital administrator/nursing educationist father, Ujiri originally played football as a youth before focusing on basketball. His interest with basketball started as a 13-year-old playing with friends on outdoor basketball courts in northern Nigeria. This interest would be fed by American sports magazines and VHS tapes of NBA games or basketball movies. He admired Hakeem Olajuwon , an NBA star who was born in Nigeria.   Career Ujiri grew to be 6-foot-4 and emigrated to the United States to play two years of basketball at Bismarck State College , then transferred to Montana State University-Billings , though he left the latter school after...

Spurs general manager R.C. Buford (above left, with happy-looking coach Gregg Popovich and owner Peter Holt)  http://www.poundingtherock.com/2013/1/28/3916228/spurs-general-manager-excellence-r-c-buford   There are innumerable reasons for the success that the Spurs have enjoyed over the last decade and a half, but one area fans often overlook is the role that the team's general manager, R.C. Buford, has played in helping San Antonio stay in position to annually compete for a championship.     By Jesus Gomez @JejeGomez_PtR on Jan 28, 2013, 10:15a This past week, reports surfaced about Chris Hansen, the prospective new owner of the would be Sonics, targeting Spurs GM R.C. Buford as his first choice for the position if the Kings were sold and moved to Seattle . It wasn't long before reports about how R.C. was not interested surfaced. Look like it would take a whole lot of money or some unforeseen circumstances for Buford to leave after working ha...

http://nypost.com/2014/10/04/from-phoenix-in-the-70s-to-brooklyn-now-the-hollins-and-westphal-story/ By Tim Bontemps October 4, 2014 | 12:11am To know the relationship between Lionel Hollins and Paul Westphal you have to go back to the late 1970s , when Westphal was an All-Star shooting guard and go-to scoring option for the Suns, and Hollins was the defensive stopper for the Trail Blazers tasked with slowing him down whenever the two teams faced one another. “I held him and grabbed him and beat him up,” Hollins, now the head coach of the Nets, said of Westphal, his assistant coach , with a smile after a practice earlier this week. “He was a great scorer, had great footwork and made scoring look easy, but I had a lot of athleticism and competitiveness and toughness, and so I battled from that perspective.” Westphal was equally complimentary of Hollins. “He was such a great competitor,” Westphal said. “He liked taking on the challenge of playing defense, and he liked to get under...

Head Athletic Trainer (Orlando Magic and Team World) College:  University of Maryland (B.S.) Temple University (M.S.) Years in NBATA: 12 Keon Weise enters his fifth season as the head athletic trainer for the Orlando Magic . Weise began his career with the Magic as an athletic training intern during the 2002-03 season. Weise is responsible for all aspects of the medical care of the Magic players, including injury prevention and rehabilitation. Prior to being promoted to this position he served as the team’s performance enhancement specialist/assistant athletic trainer for seven seasons. Before joining the Magic, Weise attended graduate school at Temple University, where he received a master’s degree in sports medicine/athletic training. While at Temple, he also worked as a graduate assistant athletic trainer for the university. As an undergraduate student at the University of Maryland, he earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology, while working as a student athlet...

http://www.gazzetta.it/Nba/12-01-2014/nba-antetokounmpo-giannis-greco-milwaukee-bucks-ambulante-202046438553.shtml   Il 19enne greco dei Bucks è figlio di immigrati nigeriani che per anni hanno vissuto illegalmente in un quartiere di Atene vendendo riproduzioni di griffe famose per strada. Al primo anno in Nba molti vedono in lui un potenziale da stella. Compreso Kevin Durant, a cui viene paragonato  Michele Talamazzi, Gazzetta dello Sport  12 gennaio 2014 - Milano   Chissà se un domani si parlerà del Draft 2013 come quello in cui Giannis Antetokounmpo venne scelto “solo” al numero 15. Già il fatto che i primi mesi di Nba del rookie dei Milwaukee Bucks abbiano dato adito a questa ipotesi è però indicativo di quanto sia grande il suo potenziale. Catapultato in pochi mesi dalla serie A2 greca all'Nba, nessuno si aspettava dal 19enne un impatto immediato: invece Antetokounmpo si è fatto largo nella fiducia di coach Drew fino a guadagnarsi il pos...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/from-selling-sunglasses-on-street-to-nba-player-on-the-rise--greek-freak-living-the-american-dream-214309752.html By Adrian Wojnarowski March 18, 2014 10:50 AM Yahoo Sports ST. FRANCIS, Wis. – Within the walls of his three-bedroom apartment , Giannis Antetokounmpo had come to combat the beginnings of a long winter's loneliness with the preferred passage of untold young NBA players: PlayStation 4. Thousands upon thousands of hours are unapologetically consumed in the mesmerizing grasp of the flickering images on screen, and perhaps few hands so enormous had ever wrapped themselves around the game's controls. The cold winds had come sweeping across Lake Michigan , colliding into glass doors on a balcony that belongs to t...

Bradley Beal and the Washington Wizards started off this season about as poorly as possible. Now they're rolling. What's changed for the Wizards' rookie, and what does it say about his future? By James Herbert @outsidethenba on Feb 27, 2013 TORONTO -- Bradley Beal was born for this. He was built for it. Watch the Washington Wizards guard curl around a screen, rise up for a jumper and hit nothing but net. He looks nothing but natural, like nothing can faze him. Beal is only 19 years old , but you wouldn't know it. There's nothing 19 about how he carries himself. On the floor he rarely forces anything -- he's smooth, smart, steady . In the half-court, you'll almost never see him take more than three dribbles . Listed at 6'3 and 207 pounds, he's sneaky with his speed, strength and athleticism . Explosive fastbreak dunks, reverse layups and rebounds in traffic shouldn 't look so easy. Washington is playing like a playoff team late...

I Mafikizolo sono uno dei più famosi gruppi musicali afropop sudafricani . Erano originariamente in tre: la cantante e compositrice Nhlanhla Sibongile Mafu Nciza , il cantante e compositore Theo Kgosinkwe , e il rapper Tebogo Benedict Madingoane ; quest'ultimo è sttao ucciso in una sparatoria di streada a Soweto, Johannesburg, nel 2004 .  Il loro stile musicale è il kwela , da cui trae le origini il kwaito .  In Sudafrica, il loro brano Ndihamba nawe è stato fra i più grandi successi del XXI secolo .  Hanno avuto molto successo anche album come Sibongile , Kwela e Six Mabone ( disco di platino in due settimane). Nel 2007 , Nhlanhla Nciza ha pubblicato un proprio album solista, Inguquku , alimentando il sospetto che il gruppo potesse essere in procinto di sciogliersi. Dopo la pubblicazione dell'album di Nciza, tuttavia, i Mafikizolo hanno intrapreso un importante tour nel Regno Unito ; la stessa Nciza ha dichiarato di non voler sciogliere il gruppo, anch...

Amadou Gallo Fall, pictured with Spurs general manager R.C. Buford, is heading up the NBA's new office in Johannesburg. 3/11/2010 Kevin Arnovitz, ESPN Staff Writer  It's not unusual in Africa to see kids wearing David Beckham jerseys , but you'd be hard-pressed to find a pick-up game or anything emblazoned with a Lakers or Bulls logo. Amadou Fall is the man in charge of changing that . In January, the Senegal native was named vice president of development for the NBA in Africa after 12 years working as director of player personnel and vice president of international affairs for the Dallas Mavericks . Fall will be in charge of opening the NBA's office in Johannesburg this spring . This week, Fall is in Dakar to announce the eighth annual Basketball without Borders camp in Africa. I caught up with him by telephone. - You've arrived in Africa. What's the first item on your to-do list? On this trip, we're first in Senegal to plan for Basketball with...

http://www.supersport.com/basketball/nba-africa-game/news/150724/Sons_of_Africa by Julio Chitunda 24 July 2015, 21:08 The clock is ticking fast for the inaugural NBA Africa Game in Johannesburg, South Africa, on August 1, and supersport.com brings you individual profiles of Team Africa players.  The exhibition game will feature Team Africa - composed of Africa-born and second-generation players - against a Team World select. Three-time NBA head coach of the Year Gregg Popovich will be at helm of Team Africa, while the World Team will be coached by Brooklyn's Lionel Hollins. Luol Deng (PF, 6'9", Miami Heat) - Team Africa captain  - Born in South Sudan, 16 April 1985  - As a child Deng lived in Egypt , but moved to the United Kingdom during his boyhood years. Internationally he represents Great Britain and he led them at the 2012 London Olympics . " Coming from South Sudan and having participated in the Basketball without Borders Af...