“And where I’m going is Germany. To play basketball.

“For 8½ months.”

On July 20, German second-division club Paderborn Baskets announced the signing of Hillesland, the former Fighting Irish baller who missed out on the 2009-10 season due to injury. “So?” BallinEurope can hear you saying. “Another obscure American player goes to another obscure European team … why should i care?”

Well, because Hill has started up a blog entitled “Z Over There” to record his experiences in the (to him) exotic land where he’s relating his Pulp Fiction-esque takes on the little differences in Europe and the measurement of body fat by German doctors.

Zach has only gotten up a few posts thus far, having just arrived in the German burg he insists on calling “The Pottery Barn” – apparently while comedy writing skills are highly esteemed in the Notre Dame liberal arts school, foreign languages are not; Zach, it’s pronounced kinda like this, not so difficult – but his posts are consistent in frequency and worth some hearty LOLs already.

Let’s hope Hillesland keeps up his personal experience blog (so, so few folks do, don’t they?) and best of luck to the Z in Paderborn this season. And remember kids: Never kick the bread!

(image courtesy SITV.com)

Who wants more Gilbert Arenas? Hey, who doesn’t? But after Agent Zero shut down his Washington Post-hosted “Gilbert’s Blog” last year, internet missives from probably the greatest jock-blogger ever have been non-existent and Arenas himself has kept a low public profile.

Yesterday, however, Zero’s fellow Washington Wizard JaVale McGee went on Twitter to state that Arenas will again indulge in tweeting – if he reaches 1,000,000 followers (a mark which should heretofore forever be known as “The Ashton Kuchter Line”) *first*.

Right, then, Ball in Europe readers: Your mission is clear. Go here, follow the Wizard and hope that magic Kuchner line is approached. (As of this writing, the dude has only 2,171 followers – time to break out the European support, eh?

In fact, the thing about the guys I have to guard, Wade, Hamilton, T-Mac, is that I can anticipate what they do as I have seen them play so often. This has helped me very much when I took Wade down to 12 points only. I don’t fear them at all. I feared defending Ricardo Greer of Nancy more than taking on Dwyane Wade.

I saw that I put him in trouble when he voluntarily hit me with his elbow in my face. That made me laugh: I was happy because this meant that I was doing well.

It seems like Nicolas has really entered the NBA right now, but there is one guy that can put him in big trouble though.

By the way, the day when I really struggled, when I had to fight but I could not do anything, it was against Peja Stojakovic. Believe me: he is unstoppable, he shoots too quick.

[I] was impressed that the visiting locker room of the O2 arena was three times the size of my apartment, had a spa that could fit ten people, twelve bikes so every player could warm up at once (I guess that is important??), a plasma TV, and some other things alluding to the obscene amount of money put into the building.

I will also mention that 160 million dollar arenas do not come equipped with strong toilet seats. One of the guys broke it during its inaugural use. Who knows, maybe it will be good luck, like when people smash a champagne bottle against a ship before its first trip. And no, I will not divulge who. He is a sensitive one and might be offended!

So of course, the question remains: Who was the delinquent? To give you some hints, the following are the “official” weights of some of Adam’s teammates: Darren Fenn, 112kg; Dirk Mädrich, 116kg; Darius Hall, 120kg. I have some doubts about the figure listing Hall at only 120kg, because when you check out his highlight clips on YouTube, he really looks like the possible toilet seat breaker.

Euroleague.net has also presented its new Euroleague blogger, Ricardo Greer. Well his first post could have been used as one of our upcoming Euroleague Team previews and doesn’t have that much funny to report, except maybe this:

…we’re all going to have fun, but I know one guy who might have more fun than anyone in the league: our new center Rod Benson. He’s already famous for his blogs back in the States, and we’re all running round here saying “Boom Tho” all the time, to get with his movement. Maybe I can’t blog head-to-head with Rod, who’s got an incredible imagination, but I’ll do my best.

Well said, Mister Greer, so let’s check what the founder of the Boom Tho movement has to say … Well, nothing special, indeed, except a nice road trip video with a very important croissant story.

But not only do Euroleague players blog. Hundreds of US-born players are active as professionals in Europe and those active in the lower European divisions particularly face problems that some top stars could not imagine. Brandon Adair is one of these players; he’s currently with the Schwenningen Panthers in the fourth German league and he talks about the current problems that his team is up against.

Tuesday was another scheduled practice. Everyone showed up, everything seemed to be OK. Next thing you know, the coach calls a meeting for the players, and he starts talking to them (I do not know German) I do not understand a word he is saying, but it seems to me that he is not happy. Well, after my teammate translated it for me, it comes to find out that he is NOT under contract. The organization has come to a verbal agreement with him, but he has not been able to sign anything because they have not come up with the papers. THEN, another shocking moment, only 3 players have signed a contract for this year. Me and two other players. Everyone else is under “verbal agreement” which does not suit well with the coach. He wants to coach this team, but he wants to coach the team with no off the court issues such as contract problems. …

We had a team/club meeting on Thursday about the problems both the players and coaches have. I had the joy of sitting there in the room for about an hour listening to a language that I did not understand. I enjoyed sitting there looking at everybody’s faces to see if they were getting disgusted or having a good time. The actual meeting room was business-like. Also, it was in the shower room with chairs.

If you want to know how the situation develops, I would recommend you read Brandon’s blog, as it is quite interesting and his writing style is pretty funny, too.

Let’s start with the only “official” Euroleague blogger so far, Davor Kus. The Cibona guard describes why he and some other top Croatian players have returned to Cibona; it’s all about pride.

We will try to come together as soon as possible, because togetherness will have to be the identity of this team. It’s all connected with Croatian pride and the very important step we took at the Olympics. We had as our biggest strength a really good connection between the players, and now we have to do same thing in Cibona. The atmosphere is good, the fans are more interested than ever. It’s a good base to start from, but of course we have to prove it on court. We are all hungry now to accomplish something big with Cibona.

Well, it is all nice and interesting what Davor has to tell us, but it is greatly different from the problems Gabe Muoneke had to handle. The Nigerian forward was signed this summer by French team ASVEL but in the meantime has already been replaced by Amara Sy.

Rather, I’ll just tell you what my old agent (we’re still friends) and all my close friends said when I told them I was considering France (normally for young upcoming careers not really established, but my family in Francafone-ish and well… the money) and this is what they’re offering. Everyone I asked said the exact same thing, “Check the contract again. France doesn’t pay like that.”

What do I know? I’m a Euro neophyte. The echoing statement was, for that much they will give you such a hard time and if you don’t play like Kobe Bryant they will look for a way out of it. Ignorance is bliss my tailpipe. If I had known, they could’ve offered a million.

It began when I got there. “Wow, you’ve lost a lot of weight.”

Normally, club officials are afraid that the players arrive with too much weight and unprepared after the summer holidays. But here it was different. You know why?

They said I’m not the player that played for Nigeria vs. France in 2006. 2006. Well, they got me on that one. I’m not the player I was in 2006, I’m the player I was six months ago with Tau … in 2008. I left the dumbbells in Japan.

Wow, this looks like nice scouting by the French organization. A quick search on Google would have helped them avoid the weight surprise.

Gabe Muoneke in 2006

Gabe Muoneke in 2008

Another neophyte to Europe is one of the most famous US bloggers, Rod Benson. The athletic power forward signed recently with the French Euroleague team SLUC Nancy (hey, France again). And the least one can say is that Rod has adapted quickly to the French nightlife.

There was only one drink left on the table. Clearly it belonged to me and everyone looked at me like I had been informed of the rules, now it was time to play the game. I started shaking my head as I saw the teeth marks on the birthday boys finger. I told them I didn’t need my finger bitten to kill my drink. I kill drinks like lions kill gazelles.

The sweet old restaurant owner was suddenly not so sweet or old. He reached for my hand and I tucked it away. Suddenly, there were four people fighting for my hand — a fight I could not win. Teeth plunged into my index finger and I knew that my only way out was to drink the drink. I took that bad boy like I was Frank The Tank. As soon as the glass was empty, my hand was once again mine.

Nice drinking games that they have there in Nancy. And it really seems that Rod is not as familiar with the French habitudes.

After the game, there was the official French National Team after-party, which was actually my first nightlife experience in France. Right off the bat I realized that arriving at 11 p.m. meant that I was arriving way too early. All the French guys arrived at like 1 a.m. I later realized that the fact that I can’t speak French, coupled with loud music and noise, means that there is almost zero reason for me to open my mouth at a club. I did a lot of talking to myself, dancing with myself, and kickin’ it — with myself. It was kinda awkward being the only person who knew, and danced, the entire Soulja Boy “Crank That” song.

The D.J. started playing some Snoop Dogg and Tupac and soon enough I was the only person C-Walking, too. I kind of felt like I was a mime. I said no words, I made no eye contact, I just moved around by myself while many people drank and watched.

Finally, a woman walked up to me who spoke pretty good English.

“Do you play for the Nancy basket team?” she asked.

“As a matter of fact I do,” I responded proudly.

I felt like I was finally going to get a little recognition. It was about coddamn time, too.

“Can you help me meet Tony Parker?” she asked.

“What?”

“My English is poor. Can you meet me to Tony Parker?”

Well, we wish Rod good luck in his “adventures” in France. And even if today is not July 14th, we’ll stay in the Hexagon as we come to a true hip hop expert: Stephen Brun. The PF who looks more like a young Johnny Halliday than an author of The Source is presenting on a regular basis his new discoveries on “intelligent” hip hop. In his current post, he talks about the MC and Producer Jay Electronica, unfortunately for our international readers only in French.

Unlike any other country in the world, the smart guys running the Swiss league decided that two months of playoffs in a 12-TEAM LEAGUE would be a good idea. Basically the schedule went like this, our last regular season game was March 19th, and the last possible game of the finals was May 31st!!! Are you serious??!! Over two months of PLAYOFFS!! I feel like Jim Mora; don’t worry, you’ll get it later. The point is that not even the NBA playoffs are two months long … so why in the hell is the Swiss league so long? According to league officials, they wanted each team in the series to have one home playoff game on a Saturday, to “make sure fans have a chance to support the home team!” Oh, OK, sure … That sounds like a great idea except for the fact that EVERY TEAM IN THE LEAGUE ONLY HAS ABOUT 200 FANS! Except our fans, the great supporters of Benetton Fribourg Olympic!

There was standing room only in our gym on Saturday, as we won the Swiss Championship over the Lugano Tigers, 73-59. I can honestly say I was really nervous before the game because, as I’ve said before, it’s always tough being the favorite and that target on your back seems to get bigger with each passing game. 

It didn’t help that during warmups we had a 30 minute delay because a player from Lugano who is also one of the best players in Europe, Jo Jo Garcia … haven’t heard of him, yeah that’s because he isn’t that good, and I was being facetious! He really is terrible; to call him a poor man’s Bill Lambier would actually be a compliment, as he just plays like a poor man and broke one of the backboards before tipoff!

He and I actually almost got into a fight at the end of the game, but with two minutes left in the game, I had to remind him that in two minutes he could start his vacation … I guess he didn’t think that was too funny??!

Back to the game: We were in control for most of it; they tied the game at 19, but after that we never looked back. I played pretty well, had 12 boards, a couple of steals, you know, just another day at the office. I didn’t score particularly well, but I did all of the little things as usual to help my team win.

But all of the credit has to go to my teammates and coaching staff. They did a great job all year of making me feel comfortable and making me feel a part of the team. A big shout out to Dave Esterkamp, PPD, Harold, TQ, Doug, Bing, Oli, Malte, Senna, and Stefan! And to Natalie, Dave’s wife, for always cooking for me and making me feel at home! Nat, I’m coming to Columbus for that homemade salsa! I want to congratulate our team captain Harold Mrazek, who played his last game on Saturday and went out as a champion! This guy showed me all year what it means to be a true professional and I owe him a lot – Thanks, H! Also a big thanks to my coaches, Damien Leyrolles, and Mehdy Mary, who by the way is the worst translator ever, love ya Mehdy!

I’ve only been playing in Europe for two seasons and the fact that I won a championship in my 2nd year is really huge for me personally and my career. Now I can always say, “I’M A CHAMPION!” and nobody can take that from me!

I have been reflecting on the season since the game on Saturday, and it’s really funny because now that I’m looking back the season doesn’t seem as bad. And Switzerland isn’t so bad after all, I really have enjoyed my team and everybody associated with BFO! All of the fans have been so supportive, and really helped me out, especially the team’s biggest fan, Anne-Laure. I could have played in a couple of different countries this season and for a while I wished I had, but at the end of the day, you have to realize God puts you in places for different reasons, and I’m glad He put me here.

By the way, I want everyone to go pick up the new June issue of GQ magazine, and turn to page 104! You’re gonna get a great surprise!!!

Sorry it’s taken me so long to post another blog, but I’ve been really drained lately. I guess that’s how it goes at the end of the season. I’m just very mentally drained right now, and on top of that my laptop was broken, and it was the playoffs, yada, yada, yada. I know, I know, it sounds like a bunch of excuses, but unlike the old adage where excuses are compared to rectums, these don’t stink! They’re legit excuses Tobi!! It’s kind of hard to get things fixed in a place where only 1 out of every 10 people you come in contact with don’t speak English. In Switzerland they speak French, Italian, and German, and here in Fribourg, they speak French. Before I came out here, the only French words I knew were, “Voulez vous coucher avec moi ce soir”. So needless to say, my French is very limited.

I just wanna return to my last post and say that I HAVE NO PROBLEM GOING TO PRACTICE!! It’s just the practicing all day that I have a problem with. But I’ve been lucky this year, and my coaches are really cool, and understand the importance of getting rest. Anyway, it’s play-off time here in Switzerland and many other places around Europe as well. We made quick work of the Geneva Devils in our quarterfinal series as we swept them 3-0, and now we have to wait 10 LOOOOOONG days till the semifinals start. Which is great, because now I have more time lay awake at night in my bed and do everything but get a good night’s sleep! Oh well, I haven’t counted the square tiles on my wall in a while anyway, so go figure…This is also the time of year where guys are hearing from their agents about teams and plans for next year. There are two types of guys when it comes to stuff like this, the high maintenence and low maintenance guys. High maintenance guys email, call, or in my case instant message, their agents every day, or every other day to see how hard the agent is actually working. We, wanna, I mean THEY, wanna know stuff like, “How many teams are interested in them for next year?” What countries are the teams in?”, and last but certainly not least, “How much money we talking”? Agents usually know what type of guys they have, and they deal accordingly. With high maintenance guys, I assume many agents have a standard answer to all of those questions, like… “Well, you know everybody loves your game”, or “Hey, the way you’re playin, you’re gonna get BIG money next year!!” They give their high maintenance guys answers like these to keep the calls down from everyday to maybe once a week! But low maintenance guys maybe call they’re agent once during the season, if at all. When agents have low maintenance guys, they usually call or email them once a month to make sure everything is going smoothly with the team. Usually older players are the low maintenance guys who’ve been around the block and understand how the game works. And the younger guys are the high maintenance guys, always buggin their agents.

As the year is winding down, I find myself reflecting on the season and my time in Switzerland. It’s so crazy because I have about a month left, and even though several times this season I was thisclose to jumping out of the window of my apt due to sheer boredom, and the fact that I felt time stopped 26 times this year… Ironically, now it feels like the season flew by, and seems like yesterday that I was just sittin here and saying to myself, “There’s no way I can make it here one month, let alone the rest of the season!” Wait… I think that was yesterday when I was actually said that…

I just want to speak for most American players when I say we do like to practice… Not just 134 times in ONE WEEK!!!! Obviously I’m being facetious when I say 134 times in a week, but hopefully you get the point! Ok, Ok, we know that in order to be good at something you have to work at it. We get that point, but you have to understand where we’re coming from in this argument.
Listen, the two a day practices are little… how do you say…REDUNDANT!! We have come from college, where during the preseason and Christmas break we have 2 a day practices, and to us it has always been looked upon as punishment! During the Christmas break in college, coaches use 2 a days as a way to get back in shape from the break. Or during the preseason, when the games haven’t started yet, they also use it as a form of conditioning. Now as players all we see is more practice means more sprints, more yelling, and dead tired afterwards. And the synonym of all of this P-U-N-I-S-H-M-E-N-T! No, we don’t look at it as developing our game, no we don’t look at it as a time of bonding with our teammates, and we definitely don’t see it as a way to help our shooting!! Because at the end of the day your not going to allow us to take 20 shots a game anyway, so why have us shoot 2,000 shots in 2 hours. Again, let me be the first one to say that we do love our craft and working on your craft is important, but going twice a day from August till June is a bit… What’s the word here, let’s see… REDUNDANT!! Maybe in the preseason, I can understand going twice a day, but not past New Years, sheesh! IF we don’t have it by now, then we’re not gonna get it!!
And unlike European Juniors, we didn’t practice 2 or 3 times a day from the age of 12 on up. We only practiced once, and then we played games. So please excuse us if we feel a little upset that we’re getting treated like junior players. Another coach, we grew watching the NBA and hearing about the lifestyle of a NBA player, and out of all the things we remember, practicing a lot isn’t one of em!!
To sum it up, we always thought when we considered a professional that we wouldn’t have to practice so much and for so long. We thought that it would be just like the NBA, where would practice and have light shoot-a- rounds, and then go back to our mansions. So, we apologize for being lazy, uninspired, ungrateful, and any of the other words you said in your native tongue about us! We will try to do better and support of all of your decisions! As long as at the end of the month our money is deposited into our bank accounts.

Sincerely,

American Basketball Player

The letter and corresponding thoughts do not reflect the feelings of ballineurope.com, or Marcus Sloan. This letter was written in anonymity, and Marcu… err… whoever wrote this was acting on his own behalf. – Ballineurope.com management

To read more entertaining posts of Marcus Sloan just click here.

Well this time of year for most Americans playing in Europe is like “Hump Day”. If you’re team isn’t still playing in the Uleb Cup, or Euroleague, you’re playing once a week, either every Saturday or Sunday. And that makes for long days and even longer nights. For most countries the regular season is about to end and the playoffs are around the corner, which means one thing… ALMOST TIME TO GO HOME!! That’s why I said this time of year is Hump Day, because if you can make it through March, you can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Or it could be the lights from the train that’s comin through the tunnel. Either way your time is almost up!

I find myself waking up each morning and crossing off the day on the calendar, and like my most of my friends playing in Europe, I’ve started the countdown… actually my countdown started August 12th, the day I arrived in Switzerland this year, but who’s counting. “The Countdown” is the number of days you have left until the season is over and you get to go back home. You start to play mind games with yourself and do other little quirky things to take your mind off it, but nothing works. Now before you go and start to think that I’m a typical ungrateful professional athlete, and how I should be so lucky to get to travel abroad in Europe and play a game for a living, here’s my disclaimer… I thank God everyday for giving me the opportunity to play basketball for money, the opportunity to travel and live abroad in Europe, and for giving me CNN as my only English channel on most days! But this point of the season seems like its dragging along at a snails pace. Also the playing one game a week doesn’t help either.

Here’s how your day usually goes leading up to game day here in Europe. You wake up and eat some sort of off brand cereal that has a similar name to your favorite cereal back home, but lacks in the taste department. I.e., Flake Frosties, and my favorite, Cocoa Roos, then there’s Shooting Practice, Regular Practice, Myspace, Facebook, Youtube Clips, Madden games on PS3 or Xbox, NBA.com, Eurobasket.com, Practice, and did I mention practice…

Another side affect of this part of the season is my current battle with insomnia! I can’t remember the last time I got a good night’s sleep. I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve, last week I even left out some milk and cookies! Which made me wonder which one of my parents ate the milk and cookies all those years? Anyway… There are many factors that have led to my insomnialsm; yeah it’s a word… Ok, I just made it up, get over it… The first factor is the 7 hour time difference between Fribourg, Switzerland, and Houston. It’s really tough to stay connected to my family and friends while playing in Europe without talking to them on the phone. Sure emails, and instant messages help, but nothing beats my hearing my mom ask, “Marc, are you eating healthy up there?” or “ Do you have a big coat, you know it’s cold out there?” I couldn’t imagine not talking to my girlfriend about her day at work, no matter what time it is. And usually it’s around 3 or 4 in the morning, but it’s just another sacrifice I have to make to feel like I’m not losing touch of what’s happening back home. The other thing that keeps me up at night is the value of the DAMN DOLLAR!!! Wow, what in the George W. Bush is goin on?? The dollar has struck new record lows against the euro, as of yesterday it was 1:1.53! Basically that’s saying if a jacket in Europe costs 100 Euro, I’m paying $153 for it. So all the guys in Europe who are getting paid in dollars, are getting killed on the conversion. I’m sure next year a lot more guys will be asking their agent to make sure teams pay them in Euro! I know if I come back, I’m sure as hell gonna ask. While laying in bed I try to figure out ways to battle my insomnia, I try counting all types of things, sheep, the # of breaths I take, Kobe’s shot attempts, AI’s tattoos… needless to say none of those work. But I guess the good thing about not being able to sleep is it gives me time to think.Some of my thoughts include;

• How great my mom’s catfish tastes.
• how playing around the world may cause me to miss out on my youth while my friends get to go out and have normal lives back in the States.
• How much I miss my family.
• How hard it is to play in Europe, and have a real relationship with a woman.
• How Barack Obama is gonna beat me to becoming the first black President. Dammit!

I guess things aren’t so bad, I have my health, my family is doing Ok back in Houston, and I do get to play my favorite game for a living… Hey, it could be worse I could have been Client #10!!

February was a great month! First, my girlfriend came for Valentines Day and stayed for about 8 days, which I might add was the fastest damn 8 days in history. Then the day after she left, my team, Benetton Fribourg Olympic, won the Swiss League Cup!! It was my first championship since my AAU days, and it felt really good to hold those trophies at the end of the game! We celebrated like we won game 7 of the NBA finals. And you have to understand, my teams have always been pretty good, but never championship material!! You know the saying, “Always a bridesmaid, never a bride…” Well I I’ve never even been invited to the wedding!

So it was a big moment in my young career to say the least. And I held on to the trophy all night. I even took a shower with it after the game in the locker-room. I felt like I was cheating on my girlfriend, cuz I kissed the thing all night and even slept with it. Sorry babe! But for what it’s worth, you’re a much better kisser. Now, I know it isn’t the Copa del Ray in Spain, but it’s still important and I’m proud to be apart of a championship team. So I have to give a big shout out to my teammates, D Kamp, PPD, H, E Bing, Doug, Big O, TQ, and my young bucks!Last month the NBA and held its annual All Star weekend in New Orleans. I saw some of the highlights from the game, Lebron did his thing, but Ray Ray really shoulda won the MVP. And Dwight Howard… All I can say is YUUUUUUUUUUULL… Way to Superman that Hooooo! I also saw some highlights of the D league all star game as well, and my boy Keith Langford continues to do his thing. And because Keith did his thing so well this year, he got a nice offer from Angelico Biella, an A1 team in Italy. And that got me to thinking…. And it made me think about the great debate… No, not Obama vs. Clinton, but D League vs. Europe! To some guys the dream of the NBA keeps them going, and so they feel the D League is the best option. But other guys know that the dream of the NBA may keep them going, but it won’t keep the lights on, or pay many bills back home! So here’s my opinion on how the D League maybe could close the gap on Europe.

There are only 14 D League teams, and 10 players on each team, who all make salaries ranging from 13k-24k, depending on playing experience. Ok how about this… What if the D League raised the salaries to 50k for the C level contract, 60k for the B level contract, and 70k for the A contract. The NBA makes BILLIONS of dollars from TV deals, licensing deals, ticket sales, etc, to the point where they could invest some of that money into the D League. But the point I’m making is they have the money to invest in the D League, and just imagine the affect of the increased salaries would have on the league as a whole.

First off the talent of the D league would increase by leaps and bounds. And that’s sayin a lot because the talent is great now. But if the borderline NBA guys (guys who almost get drafted, or had some workouts before and after the draft, high level overseas free agents, etc.) had a chance to make between 50-70k to stay home and play in front of NBA scouts every game, I think at least 65% of the guys would opt to play in the D league. It makes a big difference if you’re averaging 15 and 10 in the D league in front of NBA scouts, or 15 and 10 in Germany or France… it’s a big difference I think! It’s kind of like the reality show Flavor of Love, yeah he’s not the most attractive guy in the world, and he kinda resembles a porch monkey, but if you put in a little work, then you can get your own reality show. i.e. New York. Of course there are always gonna be guys who get offered 100k or more to go play in Europe… those guys are gonna go regardless. But for younger players who don’t really want to go overseas and play, this would be the best alternative. Because guys who just coming out of college, really have no idea about living or playing in Europe, and it’s not as glamorous as people make it seem.(see next blog) And by better players staying and playing in the D League, it will also increase tickets sales. Think about it, if fans recognize players they know or have seen on ESPN, they will be more likely to buy tickets to see those players, as opposed to players they’ve never heard of. And what do ticket sales mean… more revenue for the D league, which is always a plus.

And again, I’m not here to bash the D league, I love the D league and everything it stands for, I think the leadership is great, and the league will get better and better every year. I recently read Dan Reed’s(D League president) blog, who is a really good guy by the way, and he talked about how the call ups are at an all time high(11), average attendance is up 25%, and franchise values have quadrupled in the last 3 years! All these facts are great, and just show how much the NBA is behind its product. But those numbers would be even greater if they ever decide to “C.T.C”! At the end of the day it’s always about money, so guys have to ask themselves what they value more.. The money or the dream??!!

Next up… How playing in Switzerland is like living in a postcard!

Editors’ note: I hope Marcus won’t get sued for “being like Mike”. I never saw a basketball picture with the guy being that close to the Jumpman logo like that!