Team USA takes on Turkey, Yao admits he hates Ron Artest, and will O.J. Mayo be a bust?
Michael Redd (photo. Stephen Hill)By the time many of you read this, Team USA should be in the process of running the Turkish national squad out of the gym. (Editor’s note: You have no idea how hard it was to avoid using “smoking Turkey” or “cooking Turkey.”) Unlike Team Canada, today’s opponent has some size on the roster even though Mehmet Okur isn’t suiting up — the Turkish squad has Hedo Turkoglu (who’s hurt and may not play) plus NBA draftees Ersan Ilyasova, Omer Asik (also questionable) and Semih Erden. Where Turkey suffers is in the backcourt; and it’s not like Team Greece where their guards will slice you apart even if you’ve never heard of any of them. This one should be easy for the U.S., so long as some combination of Kobe Bryant, Jason Kidd, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade, Deron Williams and Michael Redd plays up to their ability. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 and ESPN360.com at 8 a.m. EST, then replayed on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. EST … Yao Ming to the Houston Chronicle on the Ron Artest trade: “For some reason, I like (Artest). Because in the games we play against him, I hate him.” Yao said he had a lengthy text-message convo with Luis Scola when news of the trade broke. “We talked about team chemistry. That’s only what worries us. We worry about the new attitude to the team. We are adding talent to the team and we need that, but building team chemistry is important. This is not bad. I don’t mean he is not welcome to Houston. But a new player always needs some time,” Yao said. “There’s worry. Obviously, yes. Hopefully, he’s not fighting anymore and going after a guy in the stands.” Who knew Yao and Scola were so tight? We remember being at a party in New Orleans at last year’s All-Star where Scola was basically the last guy to leave; if Yao had popped up in the club, that would have been too funny watching them party … The Artest deal won’t be official until August 14, which is the first day Donte Greene can be traded. In the meantime, we’ve heard that the Kings might also send rookies Sean Singletary and Pat Ewing Jr. to the Rockets as part of a salary dump. Not that the Rockets have to keep either one on the roster, but Singletary would be another PG in an assembly line of them — Houston was in the same predicament last year — and Ewing Jr. is not much more than an energy guy at this level … Now that Luol Deng is signed and sealed in Chicago, what’s up with Ben Gordon? Not surprisingly, BG wants his share — equal to or more than what Deng got (six years, $71 million) — which probably won’t happen with the Bulls and might have to wait until he’s a unrestricted free agent next year. Is he worth that much? Gordon was the team’s leading scorer and is a proven crunch-time performer, but he’s also a one-dimensional talent; he gets buckets and that’s about it. Deng averaged one less point than BG this past season, plus he rebounds and plays D … Yesterday we posted our on-site recap of the NBA Rookie Photo Shoot. From what we saw at this year’s event and thinking back to last year’s, J.R. Giddens and Big Baby have the foundation in place to be Boston’s version of Nick Young and Dominic McGuire; they should get a video blog and be forced to live together and see where it goes … And on the topic of rookies, yesterday we asked which ‘08 first-rounder has the highest “bust” potential. That brought up an interesting question: In the case of O.J. Mayo, who’s been hyped as a future NBA superstar since he was in the 7th grade, is he a bust if he turns out to be merely a solid NBA starter? Think DeShawn Stevenson or Cat Mobley here. Or does the same standard O.J.’s being held to apply to anyone that’s a #3 overall pick? Does O.J. have to hit at least a Rip Hamilton level to be considered a success? … If you haven’t seen our Ballers Network site, you should definitely check it out. Recently we recapped the Nike Hyperdunk Challenge, where playground all-stars from NYC, Philly and D.C. went at it with city pride on the line. Everyone from Nate Robinson to Lawrence Moten suited up. And while you’re at it, you can sign up for the BallersNetwork Facebook application to organize your basketball life. It’s the ultimate tool to set up and manage pickup runs, leagues, tournaments and to track your record. Check it out and let us know what you think … Julius Hodge ran with the Nets summer league team this year, but their backcourt is crowded enough that his chances of making their big-league squad were pretty slim. So Hodge is reportedly on the verge of signing with the Melbourne Tigers of Australia’s NBL, where he’ll be a teammate of ex-Alabama star Rod Grizzard and one-time NBA draft pick Chris Antsey … But how’s this for a big name or two headed to Europe? Shawn Kemp and Vin Baker are apparently both getting interest from Premiata Montegranaro (Italy), where one or the other would join a squad with Kiwane Garris, who was THE MAN at Illinois back in the day. Word is the team likes 38-year-old Kemp as a first priority, but if that falls through will reach out to 36-year-old Vin. We’ve seen the Reign Man on the court lately and he doesn’t look bad; Vin might weigh 325 now for all we know … In related news, the man who helped make Kemp and Baker look so good for a lot of years, Gary Payton, is happily retired and says he might be getting his own TV show soon. Count us among the crowd who would 100 percent rather watch GP yap for half-an-hour every day than “Jim Rome is Burning” … We’re out like Memo …
July 31st, 2008 at 7:22 am
Yoooo says:
Rome is Burning is terrible… Yao sounds like he’s got a prejudiced against Artest. Like he just pops up into the stands and starts ringing cats bells for no reason ALL the time. It was a one time incident and he did his 73 games. If I was Ron id have a nice long sit down with Yao and whoever else shares the same sentiments and tell them to breathe eazy. You’d think Yaos soft ass would be happy to have a teammate who has his back. Maybe his big dumb ass won’t get dunked on as much.
And OJ as a #3 pick should be at the least a multi all star guy. If he’s not and some other Lottery pick is, who came after him, then the pick wasn’t worth it. Unless, they win a chip and he’s a key contributor something like a Posey or to a larger extent Tayshaun Prince.
July 31st, 2008 at 7:22 am
M says:
Will be interesting to see how the usa bigs hold out. Looking forward to watching the game!
July 31st, 2008 at 7:22 am
Fab says:
Second
July 31st, 2008 at 8:00 am
I`CouldBeYourFather says:
Why do you guys always measure success by comparison? Is he going to be like….can’t a player simply be who he is…
I think that’s why Rip Hamilton, Chancy Billips, Rahsheed Wallace have had success, because JDumars understands how to tap into the individual talents of a player, for the benefit of the team!
Let OJ Mayo be OJ Mayo!
Everyone is not MJ! Bird! Magic! SirCharles…..
July 31st, 2008 at 8:23 am
that's whats up says:
USA is gonna fry that Turkey ass today
July 31st, 2008 at 8:24 am
Celts Fan says:
I think they meant OJ had to be as successful as Rip, not the same player or comparing anything more than his level of success. I said I picture him being a slightly better Caron yesterday (absolutely nothing wrong w/ that,) which isn’t what he’s been billed as. If you’re billed as Michael, and you’re Scottie, does that make you a bust? Not to me, but some people will say yes. I also said I see him as a 3rd option AT WORST and got ripped for it, so people definitely believe…
Julius Hodge has the worst luck. He gets shot driving a car, basically loses his shot at the NBA, is the ONLY guy that Chris Paul’s shown he’s human against (sorry lil’ Julius,) gets stuck playing on summer league teams whose back-courts are way too crowded for him to even have a shot, and now he’s going from NBA hopeful to the Australian league?! (as in, no EuroLeague teams?) It’s beautiful, but all I’m saying is Australia has, BY FAR, the most poisonous/venomous/dangerous animals in the world, I picture a tragic morning where he’s discovered covered in funnel web spiders, hanging from the ceiling…
Vin Baker in Italy? A place where they stay up drinking wine most of the night. Am I the only one that sees a problem here? At least Kemp would just help bolster the 2030 Italian national team. Just don’t be surprised when Fabio and Marco Kemp (different moms, of course) are smashing on dudes in a few decades…
July 31st, 2008 at 8:27 am
s says:
nice post Celts!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:40 am
Ross says:
Turkey FTW!
July 31st, 2008 at 8:45 am
slicrick says:
fabio n marco kemp?!!! LMAO, JOKES!!!!! nice post, celts fan
July 31st, 2008 at 8:55 am
Jay G says:
WTF is up with Team USA’s unis……….a floral window pane on the back?
July 31st, 2008 at 9:05 am
Logan Light says:
who are the 2 numbskulls that voted that USA would lose before the Olympics?
LL
July 31st, 2008 at 9:11 am
Kobeef says:
JR Giddens = steal of the draft
I like the Deshaun-OJ comparo. Deshaun was compared to MJ coming out of high school and was certainly an all-world athlete but didn’t have the drive…and maybe not the skill.
That headline is totally hyped. Yao is saying he hates playing against Ron-Ron …..he didn’t get the sentence structure right but that is what he was trying to say.
Bulls have no need for Ben Gordon. Really, think about it, where is he gonna play? Behind Rose and Hinrich? Behind Hughes? You can’t pay a backup $12,000,000 a year (unless your name is Isiah).
For his sake, I hope BG spends this year learning to play the point because he doesn’t have the size to guard NBA SG’s and like you say doesn’t bring anyting but scoring to the table..which is a pretty cheap skill these days (see Ricky Buckets)
July 31st, 2008 at 9:13 am
hadoken says:
rome is burning is gawd awful. does anyone like that show? i’ll watch it only if frank caliendo is playing jim rome. phenomenal.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:32 am
shake&bake says:
I can’t stand Jim Rome. Anyways, when USA blocks a shot, are they stuffing a Turkey? What a terrible joke. I think Mayo is much much more skilled than Stevenson, so I’m not a big fan of that comparison. Plus Mayo isn’t dumb enough to call LeBron overrated. Hmm, how about some Mayo for that stuffed Turkey. Alright I’ll stop.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:36 am
AC says:
I don’t want to be a hater, but on behalf of lame Australian white boys everywhere – dude’s name is “Anstey” not “Antsey”.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:42 am
miamiVIS3 says:
I think that if OJ wound up being a DeShawn or Cat level player that definitley isn’t the worst thing in the world for him but I think he’ll wind up better than that.
July 31st, 2008 at 9:49 am
shake&bake says:
Ron’s response. Doesn’t sound all good in H-Town
http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=3512419
July 31st, 2008 at 10:01 am
isotope says:
I think that Yao comment is made to look worse than it really is. Just the media trying to create controversy. He was asked if he worries about Artest doing crazy stuff and Yao said of course he worries. But he hopes dude aint doing tht no more. He even said he can’t wait to talk to dude.
And of course, they quick to get a response from Ron
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/bk/bkn/5916652.html
July 31st, 2008 at 10:07 am
isotope says:
In many ways, Artest seemed to agree.
“I’m just excited to be reunited with Rick Adelman,” he said. “I don’t care about anything else. If Rick Adelman has Yao Ming, they win championships without even thinking about me. I don’t even want people to think that because the Houston Rockets are acquiring Ron Artest, then that’s the reason they’ll get over the hump. They would’ve been over the hump if Yao Ming hadn’t gone down (last season).
“I’ll come off the bench; I don’t care. Let Shane start, and bring me off as a sixth man or seventh man. I would love to come off the bench in Houston. It doesn’t even matter.”
Asked then if he did plan to join the Rockets, Artest said: “It’s up to Yao Ming. Tracy McGrady called me. I was playing basketball when I heard about it. This is great. This is great for me.”
And it is already interesting for the Rockets.
July 31st, 2008 at 10:33 am
AB_40 says:
ah wathcing luis scola and yao ming try pop lockin would be the most priceless movie on youtube ever haha. Uhmd they’ll prob release singltary and ewing jr. cuzz they contracts ain’t guaranteed till october? or september at least they’re nog guaranteed before one of those months.
The rockets will be just fine. Listening to ron artest and dikembe mutombo talking about pollitics would be a crazy thing as well
July 31st, 2008 at 10:46 am
P_Dizzle says:
LOL at seeing Scola all sh**faced at a party. That dude reminds me of THE COUNT and I would be worried about him sucking my blood.
I bet Mayo ends up being a bust before all is said and done. He’ll have an impact his first 2 years in the league but that’s it. After that he will just be a serviceable player.
What no comment about Gilbert Arena’s new million dollar pool? Cat is putting the Playboy grotto on the East Coast, all thanks to him taking a pay cut to keep Jamison around. LOL
http://blog.washingtonpost.com/dcsportsbog/2008/07/gilberts_pool_the_pics.html
July 31st, 2008 at 11:28 am
the mamba says:
I watched a few usc games this yr and nothing mayo does stands out. He might put up some points this yr, but that may be on a historically bad team. I think the closest this guy gets to an allstar game will be the rookie/sophmore challenge.
Vin baker or shawn kemp in italy? Do u guys realize there is the best food in the world there? Watch out…
July 31st, 2008 at 11:48 am
doc says:
Kobe Bryant said OJ Mayo got the total package.As much as yall love Kobe on this site that should be enough.Yeah Mayo aint do nothing at USC except average 20.Dudes be talking reckless.What B-Easy average 26, 3 more baskets.I hope they aint trade my youngbuck Sean with Artest I liked his chances in Sac-town.I dont see where Yao said anything bad about Ron in there either.
July 31st, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Kudabeen says:
I’m willing to bet Yao’s comment was “For the same reasons I like Ron Artest, having played against him I hate him for…” No one likes playing against a bully/bruising player, but they all love playing with one. Yao doesn’t know anything about that part of competition. He gets on his national team all the time about them not going out and playing against the best and getting better. Nothing about Chinese basket ball is as tough as Artest, not even ground they play on…
The rest of his comments are valid. If Ron comes to ball and not to get into domestic beefs, beefs with fans, beefs with beef, then Rockets will be real contenders. Ron sounds like he is ready, but he always sound that way till things don’t go as planned, then you don’t know what’s going to happen…
July 31st, 2008 at 2:07 pm
Three Stacks says:
Australia is awesome. It’s like the nice parts of LA all over, but the people aren’t dicks. This is the civilized portion I’m talking about, not the parts where the Crocodile Hunter used to live.
J-Hodge has some game in him, can’t figure out why he can’t stick with an NBA team.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:12 pm
GEE...hood watch! says:
See more and more as time goes on I am disliking Ming more and more. I wish there was some ban on him being interviewed. Dude just needs to shut-up. How bout he worry about the chemistry of his body playing for a full season than about Ron Ron.
He ain’t even the leader of the team to be making a statement like that. If anybody could or should it’s only Tracy and for that matter I could see Alston commenting before Yao because he even knows more of Artest.
I hope Tracy steps in and tells Yao to shuddup.
Man I so wish Houston could trade Yao for Dwight.
July 31st, 2008 at 2:34 pm
MSkittle says:
Don’t hate on Rome!
July 31st, 2008 at 2:40 pm
GEE...hood watch! says:
I’ll take Stephen A. over Rome any day. Prolly take G.P. over both of them.
July 31st, 2008 at 3:06 pm
daquest?on says:
i would have loved to see that conversation between yao and scola that would have been priceless, i dint know they could understand each other
July 31st, 2008 at 4:14 pm
OKC Hicks says:
Rick Kamla once again proved to be the ultimate d-bag when it comes to sports commentators. By ultimate d-bag I mean the guy who thinks he’s cool but isn’t, and uses every hip reference he thinks he knows to seem younger than he really is. Kamla, I’d rather listen to Helen Keller, which is why whenever I watch Team USA games, I keep the t.v. on mute…
July 31st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Borgs says:
I watched Julius Hodge play one game in the NBL last season, and he put up a trip-dub. I guess there are reasons for undertaking a job as a star in the league of a country not too unlike America. More power to him. He’s obviously getting enough scratch to live comfortably, and he’s been there before, so he obviously finds the circumstances bearable in the least.
Celts Fan acts as if some tragedy has beset Hodge by having to play down under. Let me help with some info:
1) D-Will has made CP3 look human every contest.
2) Funnel-web spiders are exclusively ground-dwellers and burrowers, and strictly non-social. I know a guy who’s lived in Sydney – origin of the most deadly species – for nearly three decades, and he’s never seen one.
Cheers.
July 31st, 2008 at 4:34 pm
Borgs says:
OKC Hicks,
I obviously have a very special, in fact, almost unique, ability in that I am able to withstand Rick Kamla’s commentary. He and Fran Fraschilla were a bit tangential against Turkey, though. I just wish all callers would stick with calling the game as it’s happening, instead of a constant stream of tidbits and other useless gibber.
And, if they’re going to treat the typical NBA viewer like an idiot when it comes to the rule discrepencies, then ESPN (in particular Fraschilla) should be able to demonstrate that they know the difference between a ‘team foul’ and a ‘personal foul’. And when they superimpose the graphic ‘Fouls Allowable’ they should not then list the number of fouls that result in disqualification, only the amount allowable. I ask you, could a monkey do a comparable job?
July 31st, 2008 at 9:22 pm
Billy Sunday says:
If GP gets his tv show i’ll be on it tuff