Roy Hibbert wants to play for Team USA, seeks release from Jamaican national team (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
Between injuries to Dwight Howard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Chris Bosh, and the implosion of Lamar Odom, the U.S. national basketball team that will compete in this summer's 2012 London Olympics looks like it could be suffering from a perilous dearth of big men. The current Team USA roster includes one healthy center, Tyson Chandler, and only three other players ? power forwards Blake Griffin and Kevin Love, and recent addition/putative draftee Anthony Davis ? who stand 6-foot-10. Even the ranks of non-national-program-approved prospective American big men seem to be thinning, given the apparently impending Filipino naturalization of JaVale McGee.
[Related: Oft-injured center Greg Oden wants to join the Miami Heat ]
Man, it's a shame that Roy Hibbert, who earned his first NBA All-Star selection this year and has become an integral piece for an Indiana Pacers team playing in the Eastern Conference semifinals, isn't eligible for Team USA duty as a result of the appearances he has made for the Jamaican national basketball team in international competition over the past four years, including a run as that squad's captain . Hibbert was born in Queens, N.Y., to a Jamaican father and a Trinidadian mother, and he made his first appearance with the Jamaican national team in 2008.
A 25-year-old dude who is 7-foot-2 and averaged 15.5 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.6 blocks per 36 minutes in the best league in the world would sure seem like someone worth considering for some minutes in the middle against the rest of the world's best. Oh, well.
/walks away, kicks a rock, frowns not quite imperceptibly
BUT WAIT!
In an interview with Robert Bailey at the Jamaica Gleaner , Jamaica Basketball Association President Ajani Williams ? a 6-foot-10 former forward who earned training camp invites with the Orlando Magic and Atlanta Hawks before retiring, and whom noted international hoops source ShamSports.com referred to as "a basketball vagabond with an enormous vertical leap" ? said that Hibbert has asked to be released from his responsibilities to the Jamaican side "in order to become eligible to play for the United States at this summer's Olympic Games."
As you might expect, though, it's not quite as simple as all that:
Paul Pierce dunks early, attacks often to set pace in Celtics? Game 3 win (VIDEOS) (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
After the combination of a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee and the defensive efforts of the Philadelphia 76ers (and primarily Andre Iguodala) had him looking less than his best in the first two games of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Paul Pierce came into Wednesday night's Game 3 bent on attacking. He'd managed just 20 field-goal attempts through two games against Philly after averaging better than 16 a night in Boston's six-game opening-round win over the Atlanta Hawks, and the Celtics' captain was determined to ratchet that number up with the series tied at one game apiece.
"I just wanted to be aggressive, regardless," Pierce told reporters (including Frank Dell'Apa of the Boston Globe ) after the game. "Everything I do was going to be aggressive, and that's it. When I'm getting limited to nine shots in a game, that's not me."
Exploding for dunks on consecutive possessions isn't really Pierce, either, or at least, it isn't anymore ? he threw it down just 20 times in nearly 2,100 minutes during the regular season, according to CBSSports.com's Dunk-O-Meter ? but late in the first quarter, that's precisely what happened.
Paul Pierce says there is ?nothing wrong? with his knee, but it sure doesn?t look that way (Ball Don't Lie) ...more ?
The truth is plain to see, as is The Truth. Boston Celtic legend Paul Pierce has not moved well since suffering a sprained knee in Game 4 of his team's first-round series against Atlanta. He suffered a sprained MCL, in fact, and though his next two outings against the Hawks were passable (17 points a contest on 43 percent shooting) his first two games against the Philadelphia 76ers have been downright awful.
Battling both the MCL sprain and all-world Sixer defender Andre Iguodala, Pierce has contributed just 21 points in two games while playing from the comforts of home. Worse, he's shooting just 25 percent from the floor, and he's turned it over seven times in two games. Worse than that is the way Pierce looks ? stilted, clearly hobbled, seemingly incapable of making a difference for a Celtics team that has for over a decade relied on his step-back jumper and ability to get to the free-throw line. Much, much worse is the way the Celtics have ceded home-court advantage to the Sixers, and allowed Philadelphia insight into how to stop the Boston attack. As noted by 76er veteran Tony Battie, as quoted by ESPN's Jackie MacMullan :
"I know he's hurt," Battie said, "but Paul's definitely not going to ever admit that to anyone. You can see it. His shot is a little flat. His knee is bothering him, and he's had some foot problems, and his lift isn't 100 percent. But he's still the heart and soul of that team. We know Paul. We know he can get it going. I don't put it past him to come out with a Willis Reed-type Herculean effort in the next game."