Vancouver Metro Basketball League

By Andrew ‘Soda’ Wadden

The Vancouver Metro League consists of many players with many different stories and backgrounds. Some have tales of playing basketball professionally. Some were legends in college hoops, and some ruled the courts while in High School. Most however, can’t claim to have Michael Jordan on their resume. For the Metro League’s Michael Smit, working alongside the MJ legacy is just another day at the office.

Smit and his team at Academy, including fresh-to-the-Metro-League Greg Washington, have been working closely with Jordan Brand for several years now, creating the digital media for Jordan Brand shoes and clothing. Academy, alongside Nike’s long time advertising partner Wieden + Kennedy and Vancouver-based marketing company Blast Radius, has come up with several different campaigns that are both product driven, but also consumer driven, with a keen sense of what matters to the consumer. Nike and Jordan Brand have always been one of the world’s top companies in understanding street culture and creating pop-culture icons out of their keen advertisements. Remember the “Bo Knows” commercials back in the early nineties with Bo Diddley and Bo Jackson?  What about Spike Lee as Mars Blackmon? “Is it the shoes?” Nike and Jordan Brand are consistently keeping the consumer wanting more, thanks in part to the efforts of Smit’s Academy team and their partners.

One of Smit’s and his team’s latest campaigns for Jordan Brand featured Mars once again, but this time as you! Hard to explain so let me show you.

Become Mars

Jordan Brand needed an ad campaign for the release of the new colorways from their Jordan Spizike shoe series. Academy, alongside Wieden + Kennedy and Blast Radius came up with the “Become Mars” campaign that has been massively successful on both the “Become Mars” microsite and through their IPhone App .

Working this closely with the Jordan Brand has seemed at times all too surreal for Smit, but he knows that at the end of the day, Jordan is a client, and “you can’t get caught up being a fan at work”.  A client who just happens to be a global icon.

Just last week Jordan Brand launched a national campaign featuring Dwyane Wade called \”Nightmares Never Sleep\”. This campaign is for the release of the Jordan 2010 shoe. The commercial was written and produced by Wieden + Kennedy and showcases Wade (Jordan Brand’s newest addition), in a horror flick style setting, where Wade becomes possessed and terrorizes his opponents as only D-Wade can. It’s a slick campaign that features one of the nicest new shoes to come out in the Jordan Brand line. It’s a great product with great advertising. On the digital side of things, Academy’s team produced several mini-games, interspersed with original video content, to put the viewer in the mind of the terrorized opponent. As the site says, the Nightmare wants your Facebook, your webcam, and your Twitter.  Be careful!

Smit plays for EA Sports and is a veteran of the Vancouver Metro League. Mike believes that Vancouver direly needed a league like the VML as the outlets for quality basketball are few and far between once someone’s High School or College careers are finished. Smit’s a baller since a young kid, is now living the dream, literally. He works professionally with the Jordan Brand, Nike, and a number of other exciting clients, which in his own words is “amazing”, and recreationally getting to ball in one of Vancouver’s top basketball leagues, in his words is “pretty awesome too.” Yes it is!

For the record, the Become Mars microsite is really, really cool. Peep it out and Become Mars! I did.

Check it…

The NBA All-Star game is two weeks away with the rosters set and the ready to go. As you probably already know the fans vote for the starters, a right the NBA has given their fans, so I won’t even mention the obvious flaw in that system *cough Iverson cough*. Nevermind, I said it.  Despite AI getting the start in the East’s backcourt, it’s  hard to argue the rest of  starters the fans voted in. However,  I have my list of starters I feel deserved to be starting in at the ginormous Cowboys Stadium in Dallas on Valentines Day. These are the guys who’re leading the charge with their teams and their individual stats. Throw out the positions in terms of Western forwards. If your 7′0″, you can play the five. 6′10″, you can play the four. It’s an All-Star game, not a coaches match-up nightmare. Here’s your strategy. Put your five best players on the floor. Run and shoot, A LOT. Not rocket science.
Ok, here’s my starting line-ups for the East & West All-Stars from this season.

East

PG -Rajon Rondo (Celtics)

Rondo is the Steve Nash of the Eastern Conference. Plays the pick and roll with perfection, can create his own shot with ease, keeps his dribble alive, drops dimes, gets to the line, plays defense, ok he’s got Nash there. Rondo does it all and is having a break-out season that has everyone recognizing. First time selection for a future perennial All-Star.

SG – Dwyane Wade (Heat)

No brainer here. Amongst the tops in the league in scoring, and basically the guy keeping Miami in the thick of the playoff hunt in the East. An obvious fan choice.

SF – LeBron James (Cavaliers)

Well duh!

PF – Chris Bosh (Raptors)

Toronto’s big-man clearly deserved the starting role this year. CB4 has the Raptors playing some good ball and is among the leagues top scorers and rebounders. In 48 games played this season, Bosh has 35 double-doubles, leaving him in second to Dwight Howard’s 36. A career year for the Raptor’s leader, one of All-Star starting caliber.

C – Dwight Howard (Magic)

The most menacing force in the paint in the entire NBA, Howard will be a lock as an East All-Star starter for many years now.

West

PG – Steve Nash (Suns)

At 35, well 36 by the time the All-Star game rolls around, Nash is having what is arguably another MVP season. Arguably. If not for a guy named James, Nash would get serious consideration. Whatever the case may be, Nash seems to have more left in the tank and will be interesting to see how many years he’ll have left after his two-year contract he signed last summer expires.

SG – Kobe Bryant (Lakers)

Like I said with James, duh!

Ok, here’s where my starters get interesting. I took in consideration for position, but let’s face it, it’s an All-Star game.
SF – Carmelo Anthony (Nuggets)

The fans and my obvious choice here. Melo is leading the league in scoring and has been playing some of the best ball of his career. Perennial All-Star.

PF – Kevin Durant (Thunder)

Snubbed by the fans for playing in Oklahoma. The only reason for Durant not getting starting votes. KD is one of the NBA’s most lethal scorers, who has his young Thunder squad on the fringe of the Western playoffs. Like Rondo, a  future perennial All-Star.

C- Dirk Nowitzki (Mavericks)

Disco gets snubbed as a starter, despite having another lights out year. Dallas is in the hunt in the West, with Dirk leading the charge. An obvious mistake by the fans.