Roman Perez a.k.a. “El Regalo” going to the skillet on me hard at Goat Park on 8/5/09. Kevin Couliau photo.

“Anytime, Anyday” Work-out/Open Run Read More »

This past Wednesday, March 10, 2010, the Nike NRF League staged its annual All-Star Game 3-Point Contest. I won the title in 2007, scoring a record 25 points (out of 30 potential) in the shoot-out, but aggravatingly took 2nd Place in ‘08 and ‘09 to the same dude, my man Lou Miguel. We’re both the two oldest players in the league, and with 20 sharpshooters present in this year’s match-up, cats were counting us out. We wouldn’t have that and still wound up tying in the final round forcing a mano y mano ending. I hit 22 to win it, taking back what should’ve been mine all four years! Props to Lou Miguel, though, and Aron Phillips who wrote a nice post on the event at the Nike NRF site, click here to peep it.

The other night, I watched an advance copy of The Street Stops Here. Pow! It ranks up there with Hoop Dreams, Through The Fire, and On Hallowed Ground as one of the great documentaries made about our beloved sport. It follows the 2007-08 season of St. Anthony’s HS coach Bob Hurley. Peep the trailer below to whet your appetite until it airs nationally on PBS March 31 at 10pm est (check local listings):

Practice with the Puerto Rico Playmakers 12-and-Under AAU squad I spent the first week of February in Puerto Rico, traveling throughout my homeland, claiming it, discovering it, basking in it. While on the tiny island of Culebra, I found this court in the middle of the day at Flamenco Beach . . .

Say word. I shot around by myself and giggled at how the second highest rated beach in the world was only 50 yards away but it played Varsity B in importance once I saw the biddy 8′ rim! Read More »

Bouncemag.com contributor Kevin Couliau shared this video with me about Hervé Dubuisson, a legend of legends of France. Aside from being amazed at how Dubuisson and former Net Drazen Petrovic duked it out from long range, what had me bugging was how the announcer would scream out, “Quack Quack!” everytime Hervé dinged one from deep! It’s hilarious!

Hervé Dubuisson vs Drazen Petrovic
Uploaded by basketnews. – Basketball, baseball, pro wrestling and more sports videos.

Peep this video below to learn more about Hervé total career. Cat had hops, yoked it on a lot of people, and had a summer league run with the Nets franchise himself. Aside from his hairstyle, this dude would’ve been a park favorite Uptown back in the day! Read More »

In 2009, www.purehip-hop.blogspot.com from France asked to interview me about my b-ball perspectives ranging from the difference of the playground and NBA to the legend of Joe Hammond. I invited them to meet up with me while I was shooting around in Foster Projects, Harlem USA, on a rainy summer day.

See if you can name the artist and album that the song at the end is from!

SEEDS Academy scrimmage on my last day in Senegal. This was one of many woop-woops I witnessed!

On Jan. 13, I left NYC for an unforgettable journey to the motherland. The SEEDS Foundation invited me to coach clinics in four Senegalese cities over a three-day weekend as part of its GROW THE GAME program to not only help kids learn how to play ball but more importantly to inspire them to choose education as a route to self-empowerment. The academic achievement of the youth there is staggering; something to the tune of 20% go to high school, 5% go to college, and as a result, 40% of the adult population is illiterate. Factor in malnutrition of children under 5, lack of gross national product to export (i.e.: no oil or diamond trade), and you basically have one of the least developed countries in the world. It’s not as poor as Zimbabwe or Somalia, but in comparison, I’ve been to the most down-trodden favelas of Brazil and would definitely say that Senegal was on another level of poverty. About a third of the population lives on less than $1.25 US dollars a day.

In 2003, SEEDS founder Amadou Gallo Fall (currently VP of NBA Africa and a former scout for the Dallas Mavs) took his own money and created the SEEDS Academy, a non-profit center where teenagers with b-ball promise could receive a better education, as well as a chance at life. Its best-known graduate to date has been Mouhamed Sene, who played in the NBA, but the bigger success story is the number of kids who have finished at the school with standardized test scores over the Senegalese national average, having gone on to colleges in the United States, some even on scholarship, both academic and athletic.

Indeed, Senegal’s greatest natural resource is its people. Read More »

On January 9th, 2010, Nike and Brand Jordan sponsored Elementos, produced by Project 2050, in Rio De Janiero, Brazil. There was a b-ball tournament, dunk contest, b-boy circle, live graf, fusbol action, skateboarding, and no doubt miggety me on the wheels towards the end of the day spinning some soul and rhythms for the heads. Check out this clip from LUB TV of some of the action!

Shout out to Dom Filo, president of LUB and OG Rio DJ first responsible for playing US soul/funk to the crowd there dating back to 1970!