Game Notes/Scouting Youth Olympics- AUS vs. CHINA

Game Notes: Australia vs. China Mens. Pool Round.
By Hursty:
Welcome to the Youth Olympics!
It’s a 5pm tip here at Sydney University. The Uni is the home of the Flames-the local WNBL team here in Australia.

You'll notice a lack of pictures here- I apologise for that. Even though I was sitting in media seating, nobody has access to photography for a few days as it gets caught up in copyright and technical legalites. Hopefully, I'll be able to post some in a few days time.

A few minutes before tip-off it’s not exactly a packed house , probably only 450 to 500 people, but it has a good feel to the place and there’s always a strong atmosphere. It’s no MSG or Staples Centre but I’d say the place would be the equivalent to an upper-class high school gym, or a small college stadium.

China’s Muhao Li stands at an impressive 7’1 (possibly 7’2). The first thing I thought of when I saw him was almost Chris Rock like ‘daymn!’. Give the kid a few years and 30+ pounds and he’ll be a beast. There's 2 other kids around 6-10 and 6-11 for China as well...guess you get a lot to choose from if you have 3 billion people.
All of China’s players can throw down dunks in warm-ups. A few kids put down some basic alley-to self-oops off the glass and the crowd ‘oohs’ and ‘aah’s’ appreciatively. It’s like in Glory Road. Sort of. Everyone who can dunk for China is doing so as violently as possible, trying to intimidate the Australians, of whom only four or five can throw down consistently. Zhiming Shan just barely misses a between the legs alley. It spins around for a second before rolling out. He shows off some more with a double-clutch and semi-windmill jam as well as one of those old skool Stevie Franchise helicopter dunks- the one that looks like a double pump, but becomes a reverse by the time he lands.
After the national anthems and exchanging of gifts… it’s time to ball!

Starters:
AUSTRALIA-
4- Jackson Aldridge-PG
5- Hugh Greenwood-SG
7- Anthony Drmic- SF
14- Samuel Rowley-PF
15- Daniel Trist-C

CHINA-
4- Hongfei Shi- PG
6- Zhiming Shan-SG
8- Pu Wang
10- Mingxin Ju
15- Muhao Li-C
Li gets proceedings going on an offensive board. Ju follows with and1 for China. Good on the freebie.
Aldridge for 3. Good.
China is playing faster even with a taller team. They’re pushing the temps with a full court press.
2 fouls called on Shan early-He doesn’t have any trouble guarding Aldridge in the open court but he gives up cheap fouls in the process of trapping.

And 1 for Wang. 8-3 early. China lead, and Australia is missing early, often and EASY shots. Lay up for Greenwood. Great reverse by Rowley on Li. Rowley’s about 6’6 210+ pounds and he’s absolutely dwarfed by Li. Imagine how Aaron Books feels having to go up against Yao Ming every practice.

Nice find by Aldridge for a Rowley bucket. 3 assists for Aldridge early. He’s showing good composure and he’s holding tempo well for the Aussies.
It’s 11-10 China leading with 5:48 in the 1st. High-Low with Rowley to Trist who gets a bucket. Aus. Is making their shots now. So is China.
Greenwood draws a charge and its 15-14 Aus, lead. Zihao Guo checks in.
Guo puts Aldridge on skates with a spinning floater-good. Move of the game so far.
China leads 16-15 with 3 to go and four personal fouls for both teams. Next one and its in the penalty for both. Time-Out China.

Remember: This is International rules, just like in the normal Olympics. So, 10 minute quarters and 5 fouls to get to the bonus and free-throws for every foul after that.
China in a trap out of the TO. They foul unnecessarily and Aldridge goes to the line. Good, good. China goes into a dribble handoff game - It isn’t working. 2 straight turn- over’s for them.
Aus are up 19-16 and China calls Time-Out. 5 fouls for both teams now.

Thoughts:
KICKS! Lots of hyperdunks out here tonight. Most of the Chinese team have the same colour combination shoe- all of them appear to be hyper dunks, except for a single pair of LeBron’s. Australia has Nike’s, Adidas and pretty much every popular shoe style around. The afore-mentioned LeBrons, Hyperdunks, possibly a pair of Kobe’s and a pair of Jordan’s. Nice to see the variety out there.
Shi with a steal and make. He’s easily the shortest player on the floor and he’d be around 5-10 or so.
26-21 Aus at quarter time. Both teams getting freebies by the end of the Q. Aldridge played really well, and probably has 20 pounds on opposition point Zhiming Shan.
Things get testy between 12 for china and 5 for aus-offensive foul China!
Aldridge hits a 3 on the shot-clock buzzer. 31-23 Aus.
Anthony Drmic for Aus drains a 3, Gao for China almost gets and 1 on the other end. Yep-yep. 34-26.

China is killing themselves with offensive fouls. As I type that, that’s the 5th offensive already. Trist air balls from 4 feet after a clear look at the hoop….38-26 with 6:35 to go in the 2nd.
Shi air balls a 3. Aldridge throws up a botched alley-oop half court attempt to Rowley but an offensive rebound put-back by Greenwood makes up for it.
Aldridge with a floater….And1 and its 44-26 Aus lead with 4:51 to go in the second. Aldridge is lighting China up like some old school fireworks.
Shi splits the triple team and gets a dish to 14. NICE play.
Aldridge bails out Aus AGAIN with a 3 from at least a foot outside NBA range. He made it look almost effortless. 51-28 Aus after another China turnover. And another one after that and it’s becoming a blow-out already.

Rowley is charged wth the personal going the other way and its 51-31. China in an extended trap on pick and rolls. Um, about that- David Hussey bangs down a 3 and Aldridge draws a charge 10 seconds later. I said it earlier- offensive fouls are killing China right now.
Ball movement, missed shot, ball movement-make is the story for Aus right now. Easy baskets from the perimeter and in the paint. Mark Jackson would be pleased ‘gotta get it done’.
Hussey with a strong dribble drive and pulls up for a high arcing jumper- good-and 1. Missed the FT. He gets the rebound anyways and goes to the line for 2 more. 62-33 with 8 seconds to go. Good on the 1st. good again. Makes the second.

64-33 Aus lead at the half.

Notes: Although Australia is shorter at the 4 and 5 spot-easily- it’s their physicality that is changing the game. Pushing guys off the block and away from the bucket is really slowing China down. Making them rely on the 3 ball more often than it seems they’d like. So instead of shooting it from downtown, they force it inside and wind up turning it over. Again. And again, and again.
Jackson Aldridge has 17, 3,3 at the half and he’s drawn 10 fouls. Hussey has 9 and almost everyone is on the board for the Aussies. No-one is in double digits for China but Shang Gao has 9. China’s assist total? 3. Yes 3. All coming from point guard Hongfei Shi- who also happens to be shooting 1/7 from the field with 5 turnovers- he usually ends up with the ball and is forced to try and make plays…so in this instance the statistics don’t do him justice. Australia has 16 assists and 10 Turnovers’ with 7 steals while China has 3 assists, 20(!) turnovers and 3 steals. Height has almost been a non-factor for the Aussies so far as they’ve been able to press and force errors for easy buckets. Superior point guard play by Aldridge has been a major difference between the two as well. The bigs for China try hard but are forced off the block too easily by smaller guys and they don’t get the ball in good spots-although they do have good hands and even all of them are very athletic.

2nd half:
Drmic for 3… good.
Trist with a 15ft jumper. He’s got 14.
It’s all one out stuff for China and Aus is taking advantage- 6 easy points to make it 73-35.
Gao for China goes C2C for a tough lay-up.
Double foul called on Zhu for China and Rowley for Aus. 7 minutes to go and the physicality is being ratcheted up…pressure cooker baby.
China is in foul trouble all over the place. 6.40 to go in the 3rd and next foul Australia is in the bonus. 75-38.
Backdoor cut and 1 for McCaron. He leaves the freethrow short though.
The music is very eclectic from the MC. One minute it’s Rihanna and TI, the next it’s almost metal.
Zhu for China just fouled out. Terrible offensive foul call though-Aussie kid was holding his shirt the whole play.

Li U for China just blocked/pinned/ripped Wroe. China then proceeded to miss three sitters…still, it was block of the game by far. Wroe got put on his backside.
Time- out Aus 85-44 with 2:55 remaining in the third.
Just noticed that Shi for China has this weird plastic strap band around his waist. Nobody else seems to be wearing anything of the sort.

3Q time: 91-53 Australia.

2 turnovers by Australia to start the 4th. Trist is showing his immaturity with a stupid foul offensively. He just blatantly pushes one of the Chinese players in the back- 2 metres from a referee. Smooth move Dan.
Great offensive rebounding by China, but they still can’t get one to go down.
It’s mostly end-to-end stuff now, neither team seems interested in guarding the other- and that doesn’t look like it’s going to change, regardless of what the coaches want.
A god-awful shot-clock turnover by Australia leads to a Time-Out with 7.07 to go, 97-56….and the Aussie coach is severely pissed off. Play the game fellas- not the clock.
Trist turns his head and almost gets dunked on. Lucky he pushed his back out or he would’ve been on a HUGE poster. Freethrows are good.

Shan gets the basket , but misses the and 1. 99-59 Aus lead with 5.31 to go.
China cuts it to a 38 pt game. Make it 36.
10 for China hits a 3 and its 103-70.
Greenwood double clutches on a pull-up. Smooth.
Aldridge is off with blood. Most interesting thing in the 2nd half. Might be a tooth actually. I’ll get back to you all on that.
Rowley blocks himself at the cup and then gives up a cheap one. It puts China in the bonus as well putting himself out of the game. Good, good. 105-72.
Rowe airballs on a ridiculous looking fade-away from the left block. MJ would not be happy.
Yep Jackson Aldridge has lost a tooth. He’s ok though. China has had two players foul out within the space of 12 seconds. Theres only 15 seconds left in the game.
Game-Over and your final score is 105-76 Australia.

Aldridge finished with 17pts, Trist 16, Rowley had 10 and 10, Greenwood 12, 6 and 4 and Drmic had 11, 4 and 6.
Australia shot 49% from the field and 33% from 3. They had 22 turnovers and 25 assists with 13 steals.
For China Gao had a game high 18 and 7 rebounds. Ju and Shan both had 13.
The Chinese shot 1 from 20 (not a typo) from 3pt line (5%) and 31% from the field while turning the ball over….31 times. 31! And they finished with 8 assists and 5 steals.

I was really impressed with Jackson Aldridge tonight. He dominated on both ends of the cour and didn’t take a possession off-He should be in the college system eventually. Daniel Trist needs to grow up. He looks like a white Kendrick Perkins- always shocked when a call goes against him but he did scrap well and used his body to his advantage against bigger Chinese opponents. Sam Rowley played all five positions tonight. He’ll play the 3 for the rest of his career, but he’s so versatile you could slot him anywhere except centre in a professional league- except Thailand. He would dominate over there at 6’6.

Muhao Li (the 7’1 Chinaman) only played 8 minutes tonight, but he was solid when he did play. He needs to get a real body and the US colleges will come calling. He’s athletic enough to hold his own against every 7 footer in the NBA right now.
Thanks for reading everyone. Big shout out to Justin Walsh and BiL for this opportunity since Ryne didn't even bother to get back to me when I shot him an email about it a week ago.

Peace, Hursty.

PS- I covered the women's game which followed straight after. I'll be posting those notes in 48 hours or so.

Hodge: Out of Australia

So.... I didn't see this one coming. At all. Julius he-of-my-last-few-posts has decided to leave the Adelaide 36'ers on a contract dispute.
Eveything is shady right now, as a press conference only took place a few hours ago local Sydney time....which was very uninforming I must say!
It appears as though it's been a long-running spat with management since he arrived in December though. He wanted his money as soon as he arrived (I imagine it was because he was afraid that the 36'ers would collapse, similair to 2 other clubs have this season) so he got paid upfront for the whole season (which is very unusual obviously).
As I said, things are very shady, but obviously in the next few days, things will come out in the media. His agent is in the USA, so he was unavailable for comment. I'l do a longer, more 'professional' post when the dusts settles, so keep an eye out.

PS- He isn't a cookie or a biscuit, he's VON Waffffeerrrrr!! Yeh I doubted my boys last night, but they got it done against Boston, which I'm very happy about. Hopefully Wafer remembers the make and not the airball 3 a few possessions earlier ;) Maybe things can turn around from here? Boston has lost 6 of its last 8, this was only their second loss at HOME all season too and the Rockets are 14-1 when Yao Ming scores 20+points.

Peace, Hursty.

Julius Hodge Update

A short while ago, I posted an article on Julius (that garnered 63 comments no less), considering the recognition that the piece got, this is a brief update on him.
Adelaide (his team) beat Melbourne (which is highly regarded as having the strongest starting 5 in NBL history- although their win/loss record does not show this accordingly) 109-91, Hodge dominated the game throughout (yeh I watched) his defensive intensity was fresh to watch (think of a 6'7 KG. Sort of.) he controlled both ends of the court- something he didn't do last year.
Anyways, he had 14 points, 3 boards a block and a steal in the 1st Q and had 20 at the major interval on 9-9 shooting. He finished with a game high 31 and 8- as well as lockdown defense on Ebi Ere (mvp runner up last year, American, very,very good player who should be on middle to weak nba teams bench).
Julius is more of an emotional leader, not just with enthusiasm, but with on court talk, directions and encouragement, which wasn't as obvious as last year. Since he re-joined the team part way through this season, the 36'ers ( yes I already said that the name was stolen) have won 5 of 6.
Julius is definitely putting himself in a position for MVP candidacy (is that a word?)
ps- 'Indiana Jones and the Original Adventures-Lego' could be one of the greatest games of all time. Not quite Mario Kart, but pretty damn close.
pps- Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! :)

Flash Bang: Julius Hodge

Julius Hodge doesn't care what you think. Truly. He's just happy to be here. When you almost die, life takes on a whole new meaning.
Hodge was born in Harlem NYC in 1983. He grew up in the slums of one of the meanest cities in the 1st world. He was born tough.

Hodge was one of the guys that, no matter where he went as an amateur player, he always drew attention.
He was a 2001 McDonalds All American at St. Raymonds High School for Boys, New Yorks 'Mr Basketball' and the NY Daily's 'Player of the Year' and he was Sports Illustrated's 'Athlete of the Month'. By the end of his time at St. Raymonds he was rated the no.1 Shooting Guard by ESPN and no. 5 overall in the nation (*1).

In an interesting move, Hodge chose North Carolina State (what up BET!) over other suitors. Why? He could have gone to Uconn (fresh off winning a 'chip 2 years prior with Rip Hamilton) and become a bonafide star straight away.
See, Hodge has always done things his own way. Not swayed by public influence like other NY guards to the same extent that Steph, Kenny Anderson and Telfair were, he chose NCState because he could leave his own legacy. Something untarnished by predecessors. The last time State had been competitive? 1983. Damn.
http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=bFolL4Is-sU (highlights of the game. 1 minute 30 secs).

Choosing a major program like Georgia Tech (the way Marbury did) was almost like a let off. A slackers choice. Not to disprespect Marbury's choice, but Hodge would leave his own mark. A unique one. Hodge was good enough to go to the NBA from H.S like Telfair. But he never had the same intense hype and hoopla.

Hodge spent four years at State, as a frosh, he was the leading first year scorer in the ACC. He also won the 2002 offensive rebounding award. Named after who? Lorenzo Charles. Who's that? Well, if you'd watched the video you'd know. Charles made the game winning alley-oop dunk to win the NCAA championship.
Next year, he was named all ACC 1st Team and in the process, recorded the 1st Triple Double in Wolfpack history.

Its interesting to note that, prior to Hodge eventually winning the Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year award in 2004, Josh Howard (Wake Forest) did it. And after? J.J. Redick.http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=z4KGMohRbf0&feature=related (Hodge gives UCONN the business- sorry Moose).
Hodge went at pick 20 to the Denver Nuggets in the 2005 Draft just as expected. He filled an urgent need at the 2 guard for the Nuggets (*remember they did not have J.R Smith at this stage) placing him alongside Andre Miller and Carmelo Anthony. Unfortunately for Hodge, he only played 3 minutes a game. Earl Boykins played a large portion of minutes at the two for Denver along with starter Voshon Lenard.

For various reasons- mainly coaching and the emergence of JR Smith after the trade with New Orleans the next year- Hodge fell out of the rotation almost completely. He played only 14 games as a rookie. Eventually in 06/7 Hodge would battle for major minutes with JR off the bench and got his first start against the best shooting guard in the League on January 5th 2007- Kobe Bryant. Funny thing is, most people expected Hodge to get pulled almost immediately or rack up the fouls as Kobe destroyed him. Nope. Kobe had 8 points that game and Hodge had 16 and a win.

Remember- Hodge was just happy to be alive.
9 months earlier he had come within minutes of dying from blood loss. He was on Interstate 76 (which is in Denver) at around 2am and was the victim of a drive by shooting. A vehicle pulled up alongside him and fired several shots into his car. The perpetrators were never caught....
The ridiculous thing is, that 6 days after his match-up with Kobe, Hodge and Boykins were traded to the Bucks for Steve Blake. Less than a month later Hodge was waved by the Bucks, ending his time in the NBA-for now.

2 years ago Julius (he was named by his older brother) made his way Down Under to Adelaide-known as the City of Churches. The 36er's (obviously the name was stolen from Philly) were struggling. Badly. They had a losing record when Hodge replaced Mike Chappell (who was officially released on the 12th of December 2007) on the 21st of December- 9 days later.
Hodge immediately went on to dominate the NBL (National Basketball League). Even in his first game (which he only saw 19 minutes) Hodge had a modest line of 6pts, 5 boards, 3 assists and a whole lot of dribble penetration. He worked within the team concept- even though he only knew a couple of plays and brought the team within 1 win of 50%.

In his second game, this time against Perth, Hodge was.... interesting. I got to see this game in its entirety on T.V and Hodge had 10 pts, 5 boards and 4 assists- and 8(!) turnovers. The turnovers weren't from poor ball control or offensive fouls, more from a lack of understanding the offense, making a pass to a guy who he thought was about to dive- but instead flared out to the wing. Minor things, mostly from a team standpoint that are adjustable from time.

Again, against Perth, Hodge took over the game- even though his team lost by 21. He blew up, getting his all night long- with 16, 10 and 7. Hodge would come into his own for the rest of the season, drawing double teams and even (against the Melbourne Tigers-eventual NBL champions) a triple team once- its pretty cool to actually see a guy get triple teamed on the halfway line.

Next, against Money Bill Williams' very own Wollongong Hawks, Hodge destroyed everything in sight, with 34 points, 14 boards and 3 steals. They still lost though. This would become a theme for the 36er's. Hodge would dominate the games and put up LeBron like numbers, but the team would still lose. NOTE: This was not his fault. Captain Brett Maher (former Australian Olympian with 500+ games of NBL experience) was injured almost as soon as Hodge arrived and for some reason, the entire bench was non-existent almost the entire season. The other import Lanard Copeland was suspended for games as well- think Ron Artest 2006ish. The 36'ers bench was one of the weakest in the League- and still is.

Hodge- one of my all time favourite NBL players alongside S-Jax, Corey 'Homicide' Williams and Chris Anstey put his stamp on the NBL season with this statline- easily one of the top 5 of the season- 39 points (on 62.5% shooting), 1o rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals and his first NBL 3 pointer. 29th January 2008. A date in NBL history- any of the 5 fans of basketball here in Australia could tell you that.

Hodge would go on to become 3rd Team All League (votes are taken after each week of games)- otherwise Hodge would easily have been 2nd team, probably 1st team. Unfortunately, he was unable to lead Adelaide to the playoffs.

Hodge breathed new life into a dying League. He and Williams almost single-handedly added an integrity and flare to the game that was missing since the Mid 1990's. It's shame to see the degrading of such a beautiful game. It really is.
HOWEVA- The NBL will be a different product after this season. Thank GOD.
Whatever Hodge can contribute to the game this year- after once again replacing a failed import- will automatically be seen as a monumental positive. Dude can flat out ball, and he'll find a home in the NBA in the near future. Bet on it. Remember: He's just happy to be alive.
Peace, Hursty.

PS- No, I don't think that Hodge has forgotten about CP3 giving him the dirty down low. Moose- its ok if you don't understand that right now.
PPS- Hodge was named after Julius Erving (by his brother).
PPPS- Julius gained multiple player of the week honours last year and is expected to contend, not just for the all-star game this year (he'll start) but for MVP honours if the 36'ers can win 60% of their games this year (they suck even more right now than last year).
PPPPS- I dont know why the pictures appear as they do, I can't seem to get them to appear where they should. And videos won't upload. Feel free to educate me on rectifying this.