Featured Baller: Jamal Crawford (NBA)

This week’s Featured Baller is Jamal Crawford of the Atlanta Hawks, much due to his stellar performance last night against the Pheonix Suns. Crawford was drafted out of the University of Michigan by the Cavs in 2000 and played for the Bulls, Knicks, and Warriors before joining the Hawks this season. So far this year, he has been a reliable sixth man, playing 30.7 minutes per game off the bench to score 17.2 points a game.

Crawford has become a prolific shooter, and that is his primary role on the team. This year, he has improved his FG% from 40.7% to 45.6%, his 3PT% from 34.7% to 35.3%, and his FT% from 84.4% to 85.6%. The Hawks can count on Crawford to hit a big shot when they need it. Last night against the Suns they needed it, and he delivered.

Amare Stoudemire hit a FT to take a 101-99 Suns lead with 3 seconds left. After a timeout, the Hawks’ Mike Bibby inbounded the ball to Crawford, who fired a 28-foot 3-point shot over Jared Dudley that went in at the buzzer, earning Atlanta a 102-101 victory. In a game with horrible 3PT percentages of .154 for Atlanta and .217 for Pheonix, it was a perfect long ball from Jamal Crawford that made the difference.

Crawford finished the game with 21 points, 4 assists, a rebound, and a steal. He made 7 of 7 FT attempts, and of course the game winning 3 to bring the Hawks’ record to 26-13 and give the struggling NBA East a victory over a 24-16 West opponent. (Recap, Box Score)

Grizzlies sign “Done Ruthless”

Inside Hoops reports,

The Memphis Grizzlies claimed Memphis native Lester Hudson off waivers, Grizzlies General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations Chris Wallace announced Friday (January 8). Hudson was available after being waived by the Boston Celtics on Jan. 6.

“We are excited to acquire Lester Hudson off waivers,” Wallace said. “Lester is a player we thought of highly in the pre-draft process. He earned favorable reviews for his performance during his brief time with the Celtics. He is an athletic, tough combo guard who was one of the most prolific scorers in college basketball over his two years at the University of Tennessee at Martin. It is a wonderful day for the Grizzlies to be able to bring this Memphian back home to continue his NBA career.”

The 6-3, 190-pound rookie guard averaged 1.4 points and 0.5 assists in 4.4 minutes in 16 appearances this season with the Celtics, who selected him in the second round (58th overall) of the 2009 NBA Draft. Boston also assigned Hudson to two different stints with their NBA Development League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, where the 25-year-old posted 14.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 28.0 minutes in five games.

One of the most explosive scorers in the NCAA in recent years, Hudson ranked second in the nation in scoring in 2008-09 behind current Golden State Warriors rookie Stephen Curry, averaging 27.5 points as well as 7.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2.34 steals in his senior season with the University of Tennessee-Martin Skyhawks. In his junior year, Hudson became the first men’s player in Division I history to record a quadruple-double with 25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals on Nov. 13, 2007 vs. Central Baptist College.

The native Memphian transferred to UT-Martin after playing his first two seasons at Southwest Tennessee Community College in Memphis.

The Grizzlies’ roster now stands at 14 players.

Hinkle Hoops has been tracking the progress of Hudson’s progress in the NBA and D-League after his impressive college career at UT-Martin earned him the nickname“Done Ruthless.”

Featured Baller: Ryan Wittman (NCAA1)

As a weekly feature on Hinkle Hoops, we post a Featured Baller from any sport or league in the world who is doing something special. Our first Featured Baller is Ryan Wittman, who plays at Cornell University.

Wittman has received a lot of attention this week as his Cornell Big Red nearly beat #1 Kansas in Lawrence, KS, where the Jayhawks have a 50-game home winning streak. Wittman led the Big Red with 24 points in their 66-71 loss to KU (recap, boxscore). He shot 7-17, made 5 3-pointers and 5 of 6 FT attempts, and added 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.

The Indianapolis Star did a feature on him yesterday, discussing similarities between him and his father, Randy Wittman, who graduated from Ben Davis High School, played on Indiana University’s 1981 NCAA Championship team, played for the Pacers and other NBA teams, and coached the Cavs and Timberwolves. The Star’s Curt Cavin writes that both Wittmans play with a “high basketball IQ, toughness and talent to support both.”

Wittman is the go-to guy for the Cornell Big Red, averaging 19.1 PPG and leading them to a 13-3 record including victories over Alabama, Massachusetts, Drexel, St. Joseph’s, Davidson, St. John’s, La Salle, and more. His best performance was at La Salle, where he scored a career high 34 points to help his team win a 78-75 game on the road (recap, boxscore).

Cornell is getting a lot of national attention with their 13-3 record, victories over reputable programs, and competitive losses to Seton Hall, #9 Syracuse, and #1 Kansas. They have established an impressive non-conference resume that has fans and analysts wondering if a competitive Ivy League could leave Cornell in 2nd place and earn the conference two NCAA Tournament bids. It is a long-shot for a league that usually earns one bid around 14-seed territory, but it is certainly a possibility with two teams (Harvard and Cornell) at only 3 losses going into conference play.

In his 3.5 years at Cornell, Wittman has averaged over 15 PPG every season. He’s averaged around 3.5 rebounds and 2 assists over his four years, and made more than 81% of his free throws and more than 41% of his 3-point shots every year. He is the top scorer in Cornell history, and still has half a season to build on those numbers before he graduates.

We will keep a close eye on Wittman and the Cornell team as the season progresses, preparing to watch them play in March and then see if Wittman becomes one of the few Ivy League graduates in recent history to play professional basketball.

Update (01/09/2010):

At Basketball State, you can view the team sheet for Cornell as it stands at this point in the season. This is the same exact sheet that the Selection Committee looks at when evaluating teams for placement in the tournament. Read discussion of this topic in The Mid-Majority’s interview with David Worlock, Associate Director for the Division I Men’s Basketball Championship.

LeBron’s 48 pts keep Cavs hot with comeback win

On LeBron James’ birthday he wasn’t about to give up a game to one of the top teams in the NBA East. He put up 48 points to lead the Cavs, who got off to a slow start, but tied it up at 101 with seconds left thanks to a 3-point shot by Anderson Varejao.

The big 106-101 win over the Atlanta Hawks brings the Cavs win streak to six. That includes road wins over the Suns, Kings, Lakers, and Hawks, and home wins over the Rockets and Hawks. That puts the Cavs to 26-8. They are tied with the Celtics (23-8) and Magic (23-8) in the loss column at the top of the East. The Lakers (25-6) and Suns (21-12) are two of the top three teams in the West.

The Cavs are without question the hottest team in the NBA. With the quality of these wins, I would argue that they are playing the best basketball in the league right now as well.

The Cavs have a bit of an easier stretch coming up (if there is such a thing in professional sports) with games against the Nets, Bulls, and Wizards, all teams with losing records. They head back out west for two tough nationally televised games after that:

@Denver (20-12), January 8th, 10:30 PM, ESPN
@Portland (20-13), January 10th, 9:00 PM, ESPN

Those games are also available online at ESPN360.com.

(Cavs-Hawks recap & box score)

Izzo benches his point guard?

USBasket’s Kevin Cochran reports,

Michigan St. was picked as high as #2 in the preseason polls. The Spartans are now at #11 after a 9-3 start, and coach Tom Izzo feels the need to send a message to his club. Tuesday, Izzo benched point guard Kalin Lucas, the team’s floor leader, with the hope of sending a message to his club.

Izzo says Lucas needs to take more responsibility and spend time thinking about his leadership role on the team. Lucas led the Spartans to the championship game last season, where they fell to North Carolina.

Lucas is averaging almost 16 points per game, and is not being suspended. His status for tomorrow’s game with Texas-Arlington is unknown.

Is benching your point guard, your team leader, an affective strategy for recovering a talented by struggling team? It will be interesting to see how Izzo’s strategy works out.

As for how it will affect play, I wouldn’t worry too much. Izzo has recruited and developed an exceptionally deep squad at MSU.

Update (12/30/09):

Lucas played 29 minutes and scored 16 points today against Texas-Arlington. These stats are right at his season average.

Courtney Sims officially in CSKA Moscow

EuroBasket reports that Courtney Sims, former Michigan Wolverine and Pacer, Sun, and Knick in the NBA, has signed with CSKA Moscow.

CSKA Vice President Natalia Furvaeva said in the announcement that CSKA had been needing help at the center position. Sims has not played in two months and was an easy player to pick up in the middle of the year.

Sims bounced around the NBA, playing small minutes for three teams and spending some time in the Development League as well. He put up 6 points and 6 rebounds in 24 minutes in the 5 games he played in the NBA. Playing for the Iowa Energy, he was the 2009 NBDL MVP, having put up 22.8 points, 11.0 rebounds, and 2.0 blocked shots in 32 games. He was cut from the Atlanta Hawks in the 2009 preseason.

CSKA could be a good breakout opportunity for Sims. Sitting atop the A Superleague standings at 8-0, they are one of the top international programs. I will keep an eye on the Sport-Scene.net tracker, where you can occasionally download and watch a televised CSKA game. I will also track EuroBasket’s Russia news for updates on his performance there.

Update, 01/23/2010:

Courtney Sims officially [lasted 12 minutes] in CSKA Moscow! USBasket reports:

The reigning NBA D-League Most Valuable Player, Courtney Sims (6’11”-C-83, college: Michigan), has returned to the Iowa Energy. The 6-11 Sims returns to the D-league after an unsuccessful stint with Russian powerhouse CSKA Moscow. The former Michigan big man appeared in only one Euroleague game with CSKA, scoring six points in 12 minutes and was in fact replaced earlier this month with former D-League star Pops Mensah-Bonsu (6’9”-F-83, college: George Washington). Last year with the Energy, Sims appeared in 32 games and was fifth in the league in scoring (22.8ppg), third in rebounding (11.0rpg) to go along with 1.5 assists and 2.0 blocks all while leading the league in field goal percentage (60.5%). In addition to being named MVP, Sims was also Co-MVP of the D-League All-Star Game along with Blake Ahearn (6’2”-G-84, college: Missouri St.). Sims is in his third professional season and will make his 2009-10 D-league season debut on Saturday night as the Energy take on the Ft. Wayne Mad Ants at 11pm EST on a nationally broadcast game on Versus.

It’s a shame that Mad Ants star Ron Howard will be missing as he is still recovering from an injury. The Mad Ants certainly miss his 22.4 PPG. This could still be a fun game to watch anyway. Sims should be playing with a chip on his shoulder after all those wasted frequent flier miles. If you are one of the few people who actually have access to Versus, watch it!

Recruited to chase a dream

Thon Luony, playing on a student visa from the Sudan, warms up for a game at a community college in Miami, FL.

The Boston Globe printed an eye-opening story Sunday on the recruiting of athletes from Africa to play at schools in the United States. Boys leave horrific situations in countries such as the Sudan in hopes of earning a living playing a game in the America, only to be pushed around and taken advantage of by self-serving American institutions:

When the dream makers found them, one boy was living barefoot in an Ethiopian refugee camp, the other languishing on the streets of an émigré enclave in Australia.

Both boys were Sudanese. And both were very tall.

Play basketball in America, the men urged them, and seize your dreams: education, housing, food, and clothing, all expenses paid. Maybe even a shot at the National Basketball Association.

The two refugees, like dozens of athletic African youths shepherded to US shores by basketball recruiters associated with American nonprofit charities, arrived with little more than the shirts on their backs and starry visions of new lives in a land of plenty.

Instead, Thon Luony and Mathiang Muo tumbled into a group some are calling the new Lost Boys of Sudan – young Afri can basketball prospects bounced by their sponsors from state to state and school to school, sometimes substandard schools where basketball is the main object and academics are sketchy. Some, like Luony, fear deportation if they protest. Many wind up feeling manipulated and betrayed, but also wary of losing the support of those who promised to help them.

Read more…