Vancouver Metro Basketball League

By Andrew ‘Soda’ Wadden

Each NBA season starts off chalked full of surprises. The NBA off-season makes for many changes around the league, whether that’s players changing teams, coaching changes or in-coming rookies, the first few weeks of an NBA season always create stories that keep our attention throughout the season. Is this rookie for real? Can they keep winning come January? Who’s the MVP?
Here’s five surprises from this season to keep an eye on.

The blazing Heat!

Off to a 5-1 start, the Heat for lack of a better word are on fire. This Heat team has shown that they can beat the basement with easy wins over the Knicks and Pacers. They can keep pace with the middle rung of the East beating both the Bulls and Wizards and they can take down a West powerhouse with a big win against the Nuggets. Yes, Dwyane Wade has this team on his back averaging 28 points per game-good for fifth in the league, but they’re also getting production from Jermaine O’Neal (14 points & 7 rebounds), Michael Beasley (12 points & 5 rebounds) and Udonis Haslem (11 points & 10 rebounds). New-comer Quentin Richardson and young point guard Mario Chalmers are also chipping in. A healthy Wade on his own could lead the Heat into the playoffs backdoor of the weak bottom half of the East, but if the rest of this Heat team can stay healthy and productive they could find themselves in the upper echelon with the likes of the Celtics, Cavs and Magic come playoff time.

These Suns are Hot!

Like the Heat in the East the Suns are lighting it up in the West, much to many peoples surprise. The Suns are 7-1 and have their high-octane offense back up and running, averaging a league best 110.87 points per game. Six guys are averaging double figures in scoring and Steve Nash is playing like an MVP again. It’s good times for the Suns at the moment. Don’t be fooled though. Of the Suns seven wins, five of them come against teams that didn’t make the playoffs last season. They do have big wins over the Heat and Celtics-both wins coming on the road, but they did lose to the Magic badly, a 22 point spanking. This Suns team will need this hot start to maintain them through the rough stretches they will face in the coming months. Unlike the Heat who have the weak bottom half of their conference to keep them a float, the Suns don’t have that luxury. They won’t be able to take even a game off in the tight West. It should be fun to see if  Captain Canada can keep the peddle to the medal and keep his Suns squad in the race of the wild West.

Young Money!

Whenever someone coins themselves a nick-name it always makes me chuckle. Actually a lot of things that Milwaukee Bucks rookie point guard Brandon Jennings has done over the last year has made me chuckle. Choosing Europe over university got me snickering. Instead of staying in the States with a chance to play for his choice of any the top university programs, the 18 year-old Jennings chose to head to Europe to  play the European pro-game with grown men, where ‘Young Money’ found out quickly that he had lots to work on. Fast forward to the NBA draft. Jennings gets beat down in pre-draft work outs by fellow rookie point guards Tyreke Evans and Jonny Flynn. Jennings slips to tenth, drafted by the Bucks, where just after he’s left the podium he’s caught on camera spouting off about how he’s going take Bucks veteran point guards Ramon Sessions and Luke Ridnour out. More laughter. Jennings never does get to go head-to-head with Sessions as the Bucks shipped him to Minnesota. Brandon did however beat out Ridnour for the starting job and is backing up all the talk he did prior to the season. Jennings leads all rookies in scoring with 18.4 points per game and his 4.4 assists per game are second to just Stephon Curry in Golden State. So who’s laughing now? It does help that fellow rookie Blake Griffin is out of action, but even if Griffin was healthy he would have a hard time putting up close to 20 points per game like Jennings is. We’re finally getting to see the real ‘Young Money’ come to life. Jennings is the early leader for rookie of the year and now finally earning his self-made title. Now let’s see if he can get the Bucks some wins. Now that’s a laughing matter!

‘We’re sitting here, I’m supposed to be franchise player, and we in here talkin’ bout retirement.’ Retirement?

Of course this classic quote from Allen Iverson was about practice and not retirement, but this what Iverson is now contemplating. Upset with his role as a bench player/sixth man, Iverson has left the Grizzlies due to what we’re being told as family issues. Can this be considered a surprise? Depends on how you look at it. Does Iverson complaining about sitting on the bench come as a surprise? Not at all. Everyone knew that A.I. wouldn’t be able to sit. Here is the former best player in the entire league being asked to sit on the bench! What did Allen expect though? The Grizzlies signed him because the price was right. A few million for a former MVP would translate into ticket sales. A no-brainer business decision for a franchise that is struggling at the gate. The Grizzlies didn’t really need Iverson with the amount of young talent they already had. OJ Mayo, Rudy Gay and Mike Conley will testament to that. It looks as though Iverson is realizing that he is just a prop to roll out for a few minutes a game so the Grizzlies fans can marvel in the fact that they have Allen Iverson, even though he’s far from the man he used to be, playing for a team that doesn’t have a hope in making the playoffs. I think the reality of where Allen’s career has gone is the real ‘family issue’ he’s currently dealing with. The big surprise of this whole ordeal would be if he actually does come back and play the whole season. Retirement would not come as surprise. Not with the amount of pride Allen Iverson has for himself.

Taking it to the max.

Does it come as a surprise that Raptors power forward Chris Bosh is the most efficient big-man in the NBA right now? Well that’s what the Rap’s franchise player has displayed through this early stretch of the season. Bosh, along with Dwyane Wade and LeBron James, is one of the stars that will be available to the highest bidder this off-season. Bosh has found another level in his game and is showing that he’s worth a max-contract with the numbers he’s putting up. Fourth in the NBA is scoring (29.0) and tied for fourth in the NBA in rebounding (11.6), Bosh is showing that he has the ability to be the man to mold a team around. James and Wade have proven this already-though one can argue this, as James has yet to win a ring. With or without a ring the two of them are worth the maximum with a doubt. Not sure the same could have been said for Bosh leading into this season. It would come as a surprise if CB4 can keep up the pace he’s on while helping lead his new-look Raptors squad back to the playoffs. If Bosh can keep his stats up while making the playoffs, watch the teams line-up when it comes to making a pitch for Bosh this summer.

Here are the Top Ten Scorers from Week Six.

Hardeep, Vancouver United – 38
Clayton Crellin, Canada One – 34
Chris Horwood, Velvet Hoop – 33
James Hudson, EA Sports – 32
Taylor Cherris, 3D – 31
Navi Sekhon, Canada One – 30
Jason Boering, Heart, Hustle & Soul – 29
Mark Tasic, Heart, Hustle & Soul – 25
Igor Dutina, Sonic Boom – 23
Jason Dmyterko, Ballhawgs – 22

James Hudson - Vancouver Titans, Vancouver Metro Basketball League

Velvet Hoop (3-3) 79 – EA Sports (3-3) 77

This was the game of the night as these two teams battled right down to the wire. Down four points in the dieing minutes, EA got a massive three-pointer from James Hudson cutting Velvet Hoop’s lead to just one, 77-76. Velvet’s main man Chris Horwood squashed EA’s comeback attempt with two huge free throws in the final seconds, giving his squad a very solid 79-77 win. EA actually held the half time lead 38-35, but went cold in the second half allowing Velvet to go on a 16-5 run midway through led by some solid defense from Trevor Shaw that gave Velvet the lead, which they never relinquished. Horwood was on fire all night dropping a game-high 33 points, while on the EA side Hudson couldn’t be stopped putting down 32 points including six threes. Ben Schellenberg scored 18 for Velvet Hoop while Matt Mahar added 15 for EA in a losing cause. EA’s star Mike Baxter had a rough night scoring just 13 points before fouling out with just under five minutes to go in the game.

SWAT (4-2) 77 – Team Ice (1-5) 68

It wasn’t the prettiest win for SWAT but it was a win none-the-less. Ice started off the game on an 8-0 run before SWAT gathered themselves off the floor, going on a 21-9 run led by some stellar drives from point guard Chris Peerless and some tough inside work from Grady Halley taking the 21-17 lead just 10 minutes into the game. Ice stayed in the game with their signature ball movement and good outside shooting, but SWAT with it’s considerable size advantage held a ten point lead going into the half. Ice stayed in the game in the second half led by Taize Powell who scored eight of his 11 points in the half, but SWAT would hold Ice off with some solid inside work from sensational forward Nick Paret who dropped 10 of his 15 points in the second, helping his squad earn the 77-68 victory. Peerless led all scorers with 19 while Nerad Lojojpur was the high-man for Ice with 15.

Heart, Hustle & Soul (6-0) 84 – Sonic Boom (3-3) 61

On paper this game looked to be the game of the night as these two squads are very similar teams. H.H.S. saw things much different. Led by the dynamic duo of Mark Tasic (25 points) and Jason Boering (29 points), H.H.S. put this one out of reach early taking a 23 point lead going into the half. The second half saw the Boomers come back to life, jumping out on a 15-2 run to cut the H.H.S.’s lead to just 10, but H.H.S. would counter with a 14-6 run of their own that would bring their lead back to 18 points which they never let go. Boering led all scorers while Boomers star Igor Dutina led his squad with 23.

Vancouver United (3-3) 93 – Ballhawgs (0-6) 59

United jumped out the gate guns a blazing taking a 29-9 lead just 10 minutes into the game. Ballhawgs just couldn’t seem to get their game together as United had their way with them taking a 33 point lead into the half. United, led by sharp-shooter Hardeep who dropped a game-high 38 points including seven threes, kept the heat on the ‘Hawgs in the second half cruising to the easy win. Jason Dmyterko did his part for the ‘Hawgs putting in 22 points for the losing side.

Canada One 100 (6-0) – Bullets (3-3) 71

This was the tale of two teams for the Bullets. Playing the undefeated reigning champs, the Bullets were very much in this game in the first half down just eight points, 48-40, going into the break. Bullets, led by Ben Dove who dropped 14 of his 15 points in the first half including four threes helped keep his team in the game. However this game is played in 50 minutes and not 25 which the Bullets found out quickly. The second half saw the wheels fall off for the Bullets as C1 went on a 19-0 run holding the Bullets to no baskets for the first 10 minutes of the half. C1 stars Navi Sekhon and Clayton Crellin led the attack, with Navi tossing a lob off the backboard for Crellin to throw down the thunder dunk in the early stages of the half crushing the Bullets leading to the C1 blowout. Crellin, the Metro League’s leading scorer put down 34 points (24 in the second half) while his teammate Sekhon had a strong 30 for the winning side. Dove led the Bullets with 15 though was invisible just as the rest of his team were in the second half.

3D (4-2) 108 – Team Nike (1-5) 62

Taylor Cherris was the star of the game for 3D dropping an impressive 31 points including seven threes as his squad cruised to an easy win. Nike just couldn’t handle last years Metro League finalists even with the help from league commissioner and SWAT stud Mark Starkey suiting up for the Nikey side. Nike were led by Joe Tozzi who poured in 20 points in a losing effort. Cherris led all scorers while Nate Ashmead supplied 21 for the winners.

By Andrew ‘Soda’ Wadden

The Toronto Raptors are one week into the 2009-10 campaign but somethings from this team seem all too familiar. Four games in and we’ve see four different looks from these new-look Raptors. We’ve seen the dominant Raptors that owned the Cavaliers on opening night, the invisible squad who got handled with ease by a young Grizzlies team, the perimeter defense incapable team that allowed 51 points from three vs. the Magic and the grind it out for the win Raptors that beat up the Pistons last night. Through week one there has been some good, some bad and some ugly. Let’s take a look.

The Good

The offense that head coach Jay Triano wanted to implement since he took over as the Raptors was that of an up-tempo team that would push the ball and score in transition. GM Bryan Colangelo went out this summer and acquired the necessary pieces that would help Triano run this sort of offense. The result so far is good. The Raptors are currently third in the NBA in scoring, averaging 108.5 points per game. Chris Bosh is doing his part, averaging 29.5 points per game-fifth in the league, while Andrea Bargnani is doing work putting in 22 per game. When clicking this team can score in bunches which they proved last night at home to Detriot where they set a team record scoring 44 points in a quarter. With Bosh and Bargnani firing on all cylinders one thing is for sure for these Raptors, that’s their ability to score.

The Bad

Rebounding and overall team toughness has always been a struggle for the Raptors. They acquired Reggie Evans from the Sixers to shoulder the load of grinding it out in the paint, but he’s been out of the line up since the preseason with a sprained foot with still no timetable for his return. Chris Bosh is grabbing his usual 10 plus rebounds but after him and the injured Evans the rest of the team is thin when it comes to a rebounding. The seven-foot Bargnani has never been one to get his hands dirty in the paint nor has 6’10″ new-comer Hedo Turkoglu. The two of them have to start chipping in. Four games in and the Raptors are -2.25 in rebounds per game to the opposition with their opponents averaging 44 rebounds compared to 41.75 from Toronto. This stat must improve.

The Ugly

The Raptors perimeter defense has been horrific to say the least. Opponents are shooting an astonishing .463 from three point land vs. Toronto so far this season. The Magic hit 17 threes against the Raptors on Sunday. Yes, 17. 51 of the Magic’s 125 points came from downtown. That is just flat-out unacceptable. They have to tighten up their rotations on the perimeter and make their opponents work to get those looks or it will be another long season in Raptorland.