Bonzi Wells to the Rockets

ESPN.com's Ric Bucher wrote about it early Thursday morning and the Houston Chronicle's Jonathan Feigen wrote about it a few hours later: the Houston Rockets have agreed to terms (2 years, $4.5 to $5M) with free agent guard / forward Bonzi Wells. The second year of the deal is at Bonzi's option which means Bonzi will decide to be a free agent again next summer.

This signing gives the Rockets another low-post scorer. Plus, Bonzi is a solid rebounder, too. Clearly, he's been a head case in his previous NBA seasons; but, this one-year deal means Bonzi will have to play his butt off in order to improve his chances of signing a big money free agent contract next summer.

Time will tell which will happen first: Rockets' head coach Jeff Van Gundy getting fed up with Bonzi's attitude or Bonzi getting tired of JVG's coaching.

Come money time (the last five minutes of the ball game) I see the Rockets' "five on the floor" being Bonzi, Tracy McGrady, Yao Ming, Shane Battier, and whoever JVG decides is the best fit: Rafer Alston, John Lucas III, Vassil Spanoulis; or Luther Head.
The only person who's upset with this signing is probably Rockets' shooting guard Kirk Snyder. Oh well, Kirk. Life is hard.

Statement from David Stern and NCAA President Myles Brand

"Today, key stakeholders in the sport of basketball, including leadership of the NBA and NCAA, met to discuss ways to address issues facing basketball, particularly at the youth level. Participating in discussions with us were representatives of USA Basketball, the Amateur Athletic Union, the National Federation of State High School Associations, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and athletics apparel companies adidas/Reebok and Nike.

"Today’s meeting was a continuation of a series of discussions that have taken place over the last year. We identified a number of areas of common interest and have formed a working group that will study these issues in greater detail. We are exploring options for a broad-based inclusive structure to address the identified needs of youth basketball. The group will report back early next year with recommendations and next steps.

"The group was unanimous in its view that we focus not only on basketball skill development, but also on the social and educational development of youth basketball players throughout the United States."

I'm curious to learn what the actual results of these meetings will be...

Update: TheHRR, Sept. 23.

Within the next few days, the Houston Roundball Review will add new blogs. Actually, my plan is for this blog to begin focusing solely on men's basketball. However, a new blog will be created which will focus solely on women's basketball. My reasoning for this change is to allow hoop fans to subscribe to the RSS feed(s) of their choice because not everyone is a fan of both men's and women's basketball.

The Rockets (and the NBA, for that matter) will have their annual Media Day on October 3. Barring unforeseen events, I'll attend Media Day. I'll post a few interviews on the new HRR's mp3s blog.

Thursday, I noticed the ESPN sports ticker reported the loss by Team USA's Women's Team to Russia in the semifinals of the 2006 World Championships; however, the ticker has not yet reported today's win by the USA over Brazil (99 to 59) to capture the bronze medal.

Go figure.

I suppose ESPN feels the Team USA's Women's Team only deserves recognition when they lose rather than when they win. Team USA finished 8 and 1 in these World Championships; and, the only time ESPN's sport ticker reported a final score from any of their games was the one defeat.

Rockets announce 2006 - 2007 Broadcast TV Schedule

The Houston Rockets will open the regular season on FSN Houston with an 8 p.m. game on November 1 against the Jazz at Utah, which was announced as part of the team’s 2006-07 local television schedule.

Overall, FSN Houston will broadcast 65 games with another 19 contests televised locally on KNWS TV51. All seven of Houston’s preseason games are included in the local package, which also tips off on FSN Houston on October 10 at 7:30 p.m. vs. the Memphis Grizzlies.

Houston will also be featured on national television a total of 21 times. TNT will broadcast three Rockets games during the season, while ABC will air two contests. In addition, seven Rockets games will be broadcast on ESPN and another nine will air on NBA TV.

Bill Worrell returns for his 22nd season of calling play-by-play for the Rockets. Joining Worrell again this season will be Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer and Rockets legend Clyde Drexler as analyst during home games and all playoff contests, while former Rockets forward Matt Bullard returns to handle the analyst duties for the team’s away games.

Kenny Smith’s Aim High Foundation...

...Presents The 2nd Annual Hurricane Katrina Relief Weekend
New Orleans, La, September 23 – September 24, 2006

The Aim High Foundation and Title Sponsor, Harrah’s New Orleans, along with JetBlue, NBA Cares, W New Orleans, Akademiks, Republic New Orleans and Dream New Orleans will host The 2006 Kenny Smith Hurricane Katrina Relief Weekend.

All proceeds from the weekend’s charity events will be donated to specific organizations and foundations in New Orleans with special attention this year focused on the 7th ward and its residents.

In New Orleans the rebuilding is underway but the city and its citizens still need our support. For this reason, Kenny Smith is hosting his 2nd annual Katrina Relief Charity event in New Orleans on September 23rd and 24th. Kenny along with invited NBA players - Chris Paul, Baron Davis, Alonzo Mourning, Mike James, Kenyon Martin, NBA legends - Kiki Vandewhege, Wayman Tisdale and others will participate in a weekend of fundraising events and community outreach projects.

The Kenny Smith 2006 Hurricane Katrina Relief Weekend boasts a two-day calendar of exciting programming to reassure the country that New Orleans has rebounded and that this unique American city is back in business. Tickets are available to the public for the weekend’s fundraising events including an Improv Comedy Show Saturday night at Harrah’s followed by an After-Party at Dream New Orleans. And the weekend’s main event is a Celebrity Poker Challenge on Sunday at Harrah’s Casino where a silent auction will take place from 3pm - 6pm featuring exclusive sports memorabilia such as Dwyane Wade autographed Game-Worn Shoes, an autographed Yao Ming Houston Rockets Jersey, an autographed Reggie Bush Saints Jersey and more!

By far, the biggest item of the weekend will be a customized SUZUKI motorcycle to be auctioned off by Kenny Smith himself on Sunday night at Republic New Orleans during the Poker Challenge After-party.

In addition to the fundraising activities, Kenny and participating celebrities will make a number of trips into the New Orleans community including a Habitat for Humanity build in Musicians Village, a Feed The Children event, and visits to the Dryade YMCA and St. Augustine H.S. in the 7th Ward.

Tickets are available for purchase at the Harrah’s Box Office for the Improv and Poker Challenge.

Houston's Penders Inducted into NE Hall-of-Fame

Congratulations to Tom Penders, the head coach, of the Houston Cougars' men's basketball team, on being inducted into the New England Basketball Hall of Fame.

Yesterday, the New England Basketball Hall of Fame announced that Coach Penders will be among its class of inductees on October 6 at the University of Rhode Island.

UHCougars.com

Rice Owls get a verbal from Williams

The Rice Owls have picked up a verbal commitment from Jasen Williams. RCS Sports (www.RCSSports.com) is reporting Williams a 6'1", guard from Nimitz HS chose Rice over Tulane, Oral Roberts, Stephen F. Austin, and Southeast Louisiana. The decision came within hours after Williams and his parents took an official visit to the campus.

Within a four month span, Williams went from basically unknown around the entire state and barely a top 50 listing in the city to recently earning a #49 statewide listing from Texashoops.com and #15 among the entire Greater Houston area by RCS Sports.

According to Jim Hicks of RCS Sports, Williams' commitment is the 11th thus far from the Greater Houston area. Last year, a record 40 players from the Greater Houston area received scholarships to Division I colleges / universities.

Mike Singletary Commits to Tech

Mike Singletary is headed to Big 12 country.

No, not the Hall-of-Fame linebacker; the 6'5" senior wing player from Kingwood High School.

According to Jim Hicks of RCSSports.com, Singletary has committed to play his college basketball for Texas Tech and legendary head hoops coach Bob Knight. While many of the other schools in Big 12 weren’t recruiting Singletary as aggressively as they were in past months, the Red Raiders remained as persistent as ever. Last week, Singletary took a visit to Oklahoma State. Less than 24 hours after returning home, Red Raiders' head coach Robert Montgomery Knight was in Singletary's living room conducting a home visit. Welcome to Lubbock, Mike.

This past weekend, Singletary flew up to Lubbock one day hoping to get the opportunity to make all those other Big 12 schools pay dearly for not being visible within the past few weeks.

“Ohhh man, they’re gonna get theirs,” exclaimed Singletary referring to the rest of the Big 12 schools. “I can’t wait to show ‘em”.

In addition to landing their first Houston based All American since former Madison HS star, Sean Gay (1984), Texas Tech also got pledges this weekend from All State players John Roberson (Plano HS) and D’walyn Roberts (Duncanville HS). Plus, don’t forget about the commitment received from recent Cy Falls HS grad, Darryl Ashford (currently attending a prep school on the East Coast).

Team USA's Women's Team Deserves Recognition

I'm not stupid. I know women's basketball is a minor blip on the radar screen in American sports. However, I would like to know why the final scores from the 2006 Women's World Championships involving Team USA's Women's Team are not posted in the ESPN sports tickers on tv?! After all, ESPN's sports crawlers did show the final scores for Team USA's Men's Team.

Time zone differences cannot be a factor. The Men's World Championships were held in Japan -- a 13 or 14 hour time difference; but, those scores (practically up to the minute) were shown in the sports ticker. The Women's World Championships are taking place in Brazil -- a 2 or 3 hour time difference -- yet, those scores are not shown. Why not?

ESPN2 did air the men's games while NBATV (live) and FSN (tape delays) are showing the women's games. Could that be the difference?

It's not like the final scores are unavailable either. The Associated Press provides the final scores and game summaries as well; so, what's so difficult about showing the final scores of Team USA's games in the sports ticker?

These women are representing the United States just as their male counterparts did; and, they deserve to be recognized for their victories and achievements.

Top Ten and Unranked...huh?

I'm not a fan of preseason polls in college football or in college basketball. The only good things from preseason polls are they're good conversation starters and they allow teams to toot their own horn to their fans and the media.

I'm on the contact list for the Oklahoma Sooners' women's hoops team; and, I received their latest press release today which noted the Sooners were ranked number 3 in Athlon's preseason women's college basketball poll.

Congrats to the Sooners.

However, when I glanced at the top 25, I noticed Athlon ranked the Baylor Lady Bears 10th. That's strange...Last week the Lady Bears weren't even listed among the top 25 teams in Lindy's preseason poll.

How could that be? Top 10 in one poll and unranked in another poll. How's that for irony?

Here's Athlon's Top 25 preseason women's college hoops poll:

1. North Carolina
2. Maryland
3. Oklahoma
4. Stanford
5. Ohio State
6. Duke
7. Tennessee
8. Georgia
9. LSU
10. Baylor
11. Arizona State
12. Vanderbilt
13. Connecticut
14. Kentucky
15. UCLA
16. Purdue
17. BYU
18. Rutgers
19. California
20. Bowling Green
21. DePaul
22. NC State
23. Louisiana Tech
24. Texas A&M
25. Western Kentucky

Rice Owls' 2006-2007 Schedule Announced

Basketball fans and NBA scouts will have 15 opportunities to see Owls shooting guard Morris Almond play at Autry Court this season.

Almond, a CollegeInsider.com All-America a year ago, is the leading 2007 C-USA Player of the Year candidate after being named first team All-C-USA in 2006. In 2006, he led the league in scoring at 21.9 ppg and he set a league record by averaging 25.1 ppg in 14 conference games. His 21.9 scoring average ranked 15th in the nation a year ago. He also led the team in rebounding last season at 5.8 rpg.

Take a look at the schedule and mark your calendars...

N4 Incarnate Word (exhibition)
N11 Paul Quinn College

NIT Season Tip-Off
N14 vs. Gonzaga - Spokane, Wash.
N15 vs. Colorado State/Baylor - Spokane, Wash.

N18 North Texas
N20 Oregon

N22 NIT Season Tip-Off Semi-finals - New York, N.Y
N24 NIT Season Tip-Off Finals - New York, N.Y

N25/27 at Utah

D2 UT-Permian Basin
D6 Lamar
D20 Prairie View A&M

Shamrock Office Solutions Classic
D28 vs. Belmont Moraga, Calif.
D29 vs. St. Mary's/Western Carolina

J2 Vanderbilt
J6 at Princeton
J10 Tulane
J13 at East Carolina
J17 Houston
J20 at UCF
J24 UTEP
J27 at Tulane
J31 at Houston

F3 East Carolina
F7 Southern Miss
F10 at SMU
F14 at UAB
F17 UCF
F22 at Memphis
F24 SMU
F28 at Marshall

M3 Tulsa
M7-10 Conference USA Tournament - Memphis, Tenn.

Home Games in Bold.
Tournament / Classic in Italics.

UH's Lanny Smith and the Lady Coogs' Schedule

I spoke with Houston Cougars' senior guard Lanny Smith at Saturday's football game between the Cougars and Tulsa; and, Lanny told me he's going to redshirt this season. Following the surgery on the broken big toe in his left foot, Lanny is wearing a bulky, cumbersome boot and walking with crutches. Lanny told me he is scheduled to see the doctor this Thursday to learn how the bone is healing; however, barring a medical miracle, Lanny told me he's going to sit out this season and take a medical redshirt and return to the basketbll court for the 2007 - 2008 season.

Before the football game, I stopped by Lady Cougars' Joe Curl barbecue grill to eat some of Coach Curl's good food: ribs, hot dogs, sausage, etc. The coaching staff had a few copies of their 2006 - 2007 schedule for people to pick up; so, I grabbed a copy.

I've known about their non-conference opponents for a few months; but, the conference schedule took longer to finalize.

Here's the schedule.

October
29 Lake Truck (exh) Hofheinz Pavilion 2:00 pm.

November
10 Houston Jaguars (exh) Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
14 Texas Tech Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
19 Duke Durham, NC 1:00 pm.
22 TCU Fort Worth, TX 7:00 pm
26 Michigan State Hofheinz Pavilion 2:00 pm.
30 West Virginia Morgantown, WV 6:00 pm.

December
2 Marshall* Huntington, WV TBA.
6 Cal-St. Bakersfield Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
15 #Prairie View A&M Los Angeles, CA 5:00 pm.
16 #USC Los Angeles, CA 4:00 pm..
19 Miami Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
21 Charlotte Charlotte, NC 6:00 pm
30 Colorado Boulder, CO 8:00 pm.

January
2 Rice* Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
5 Tulane* New Orleans, LA 7:00 pm.
7 UTEP* El Paso, TX 3:00 pm.
10 East Carolina* Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm
21 Rice* Autry Court (ESPN2) 3:00 pm.
25 Tulsa* Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
27 SMU* Hofheinz Pavilion 2:00 pm.

February
1 Tulane* Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
3 UTEP* Hofheinz Pavilion 2:00 pm.
9 Central Florida* Orlando, FL 6:00 pm.
11 Southern Miss* Hattiesburg, MS 1:00 pm.
15 Tulsa* Tulsa, OK 7:00 pm.
17 SMU* Dallas, TX 2:00 pm.
22 Memphis* Hofheinz Pavilion 7:00 pm.
24 UAB* Hofheinz Pavilion 2:00 pm

March
1 C-USA Tournament Tulsa, OK TBA.
2 C-USA Tournament Tulsa, OK TBA.
3 C-USA Tournament Tulsa, OK TBA.
4 C-USA Tournament Tulsa, OK TBA.

# - Women of Troy Classic (USC)
* - Conference USA game.
All home games in BOLD.
All Game Times are Central.

Tommy Griffin Commits to LSU

According to Jim Hicks of RCSSports.com, Tommy Griffin (5'9, point guard, Houston Madison HS) has verbally committed to attend LSU.

This past weekend, Griffin took an unofficial visit to Baton Rouge and took in the football game vs Lafayette, along with famed alumni Shaquille O'Neal and recent lotto pick Tyrus Thomas.

Last season, Griffin opted to concentrate solely on basketball and averaged nearly 18ppg and earned first team All District honors after leading the Marlins in points, minutes, assists, and steals. (FYI, only three crabs in all of Greater Houston earned 1st team All District.) Griffin was also one of very few Class of 2009 guards who started for a sneaker sponsored select team on the 17s circuit. Griffin was selected to the All Tournament team after helping the Houston Hoops win first place at the prestigious Main Event tournament held this past July in Las Vegas. He was also invited to play in the Nike All American Camp this past summer.

Tommy's mother (Paula) is from Baton Rouge and her mother (Tommy's grandmother) lives in Baton Rouge.

Congrats to Texas A&M's Women's Hoops Team

As the HRR members already know, I'm planning to cover the Texas A&M Women's basketball team this season for a few reasons:
1. they're an up-and-coming team;
2. they have a few players from the Houston area;
3. College Station is not far from Houston;
4. I like head coach Gary Blair's coaching style and his personality;
5. it's Big 12 Women's basketball!

Well, as of today, I have a sixth reason to add to the list:
For the first time in school history, the Texas A&M women’s basketball team has earned a spot among the nation’s elite heading into the 2006-07 season with a preseason top-25 ranking by Lindy’s Basketball Annual.

Selected No. 15 in the publication’s preseason poll, the Aggies return their starting five from last season’s 23-9 NCAA Tournament squad. A&M finished the year ranked No. 20 in the final Associated Press Top 25 Poll.

“This is a very exciting time for A&M basketball,” Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair said. “We return all of our starters from a year ago and have a very good freshman class coming in. Season ticket numbers also went up and expectations are high for our program. We prepared to win last year and we expect to win this year.”

A&M was one of only two Big 12 Conference schools, including No. 6 Oklahoma, to be represented in the preseason poll by Lindy’s. All 25 schools advanced to the NCAA Tournament last season.

This marks the first preseason national ranking and highest national ranking ever for the women’s basketball program. Previously, A&M was ranked a school-best No. 18 in The Associated Press Poll during the regular season on Jan. 24, 1995.

Last year, the Aggies were ranked in the AP Top 25 Poll for the final six weeks of the season after a 10-year absence. It was their first appearance in the national polls since a No. 25 ranking on March 11, 1996.

2006-07 LINDY’S PRESEASON TOP 25 POLL
1. Maryland
2. North Carolina
3. Stanford
4. Connecticut
5. Tennessee
6. Oklahoma
7. Duke
8. Georgia
9. Rutgers
10. Ohio State
11. Purdue
12. LSU
13. Arizona State
14. Vanderbilt
15. Texas A&M
16. USC
17. New Mexico
18. Kentucky
19. BYU
20. Michigan State
21. Bowling Green
22. St. John’s
23. Louisiana Tech
24. Iowa
25. Cal

UH Men Announce 2006-2007 Schedule

Basketball season is getting closer and closer!

College teams are beginning to announce their 2006 - 2007 basketball schedules on a daily basis.

The Houston Cougars announced their schedule today; and, clearly, Coach Tom Penders' and his Cougars are set to face some top level teams.

Take a look:

University of Houston 2006-07 Men’s Basketball Schedule
Date Opponent
N 13 at Rhode Island
N 18 Monmouth
N 22 Grambling
N 25 at Saint Louis
N 29 Prairie View A&M
D 2 at VCU
D 17 at Arizona
D 21 #Charlotte
D 22 #Valparaiso or Creighton
D 23 #San Francisco, Hawaíi, Wyoming or Nebraska
D 30 UNLV
J 3 at Kentucky
J 11 *Memphis
J 13 *SMU
J 17 *at Rice
J 20 *at Tulsa
J 24 *UCF
J 27 *at Marshall
J 29 Saint Louis
J 31 *Rice
F 3 *at UTEP
F 7 *at SMU
F 10 *East Carolina
F 14 South Alabama
F 17 *UAB
F 19 *at Southern Miss
F 21 *Tulane
F 25 *at Memphis
F 28 *at UCF
M 3 *UTEP
M 7-10 •Conference USA Tournament
Home Games in Bold;
*-Conference USA Opponent; #-Outrigger Rainbow Classic, Honolulu, Hawaii; •- C-USA Tournament at Memphis, Tenn.

Disappointing Series thus Far

The Detroit Shock have lost two of the first three games of the 2006 WNBA Finals to the Sacramento Monarchs by a combined 44 points. In those two losses, the Shock committed 47 turnovers!

In Game two, Detroit turned the ball over 20 times! What the hell is going on! This is the WNBA Finals -- not pick up ball at some playground park!

Granted, Detroit is playing the defending WNBA champs; but, Sacramento is simply taking advantage of all of the mental mistakes made by the Shock players (which a good team is supposed to do).

I want to see two top teams, competing at the highest level, playing top level basketball. Instead, I'm listening to Shock head coach Bill Laimbeer criticizing his players' lack of performance and effort and watching the Shock players going through the motions while the Monarchs are kicking their butts.

Game four is Wednesday night in Sacramento. I hope that game is competitive.

Tweety needs Help

It's halftime of Game 3 of the 2006 WNBA Finals with the Sacramento Monarchs owning a 44 to 33 lead over the Detroit Shock.

The Monarchs' balanced scoring is leading the listless and lifeless Shock. With 11 first half turnovers and other mental lapses, Detroit would be trailing by more than 11 if not for the stellar shooting of Deanna "Tweety" Nolan. Simply put, Sacramento has no answer for Nolan one on one; unfortunately for Nolan and the Shock Detroit's frontcourt players were missing in action in the first half.

Nolan scored 14 (maybe 16) of Detroit's 33 first half points; but, unless she gets help from more than backcourtmate Katie Smith, Detroit will lose Game 3.

Of course, Deanna could score 30 plus in the second half; but, she still needs help from her teammates in order for the Shock to get the win today.

Playing "like the Americans"

For all the negative publicity Team USA has received following their loss to Greece in the semis of the 2006 World Championships, please notice something:
the more international players who compete in the NBA the more the World Championships will become like the NBA.

For example, Argentina lost 96 to 81 to the USA in the bronze medal game. Currently, Argentina has four players who played in the NBA in the 2005 - 2006 season: (Manu Ginobli, San Antonio Spurs; Fabricio Oberto, Spurs; Carlos Delfino, Detroit Pistons; and Andres Nocioni, Chicago Bulls). Toss in Pepe Sanchez who played briefly in the league and Walter Hermann who signed with the Charlotte Bobcats for 2006 - 2007, and you have half of Argentina's National Team competing in the NBA.

During the fourth quarter today, Argentina played the "Americn way": one on one. Ginobli attacked his defender throughout the period without passing to his teammtes. Sanchez posted up the shorter Chris Paul with no pass back to his teammates. Argentina's offense down the stretch was no pass (maybe one pass) and shoot. To sum up, their offense had little to no ball movement.

The cynics would say "Argentina lost because they tried to play like the Americans." Perhaps, those cynics are correct; however, as the globalization of the NBA continues, more and more national teams may see similar results in the future. Whether "playing like the Americans" is a good thing is up for debate...Time will tell.

US loss to Greece Disappointing, not Surprising

I just finished watching Team USA 101 to 95 to Greece in one of the semi-final games of the 2006 Men's World Championships. Though I'm disappointed in the loss, I'm not surprised because I believed Greece would be a very tough match-up for the young USA squad.

Throughout the international games played by Team USA this summer thus far, two of their major weak points were defending the pick-and-roll and limiting dribble penetration in the paint.

Greece excells at both of those skills.

I haven't seen the final stats for the game (yet); but, I'm sure Greece scored a high number of points in the paint off the pick-and-roll. They killed Team USA in the third quarter by effectively running the pick-and-roll time after time.

Since Team USA seemed clueless and / or powerless to stop it, Greece stuck with the pick-and-roll. Why "fix something if it ain't broke"?

Add awful free throw shooting to the porous defense, and, it's a wonder Team USA lost by just six points.

There's no doubt Team USA is more physically talented than Greece; but, Greece has more experience playing together as well as playing under FIBA (re: international) rules.

Gone are the days when America could put together a team in a few weeks and defeat the very good international teams like Greece, Spain, and Argentina without doing the "little things" correctly.

For goodness sakes, will somebody teach Team USA how to make their free throws?! Damn! They were shooting around (a very mediocre) 70% in the Tournament before playing Greece; and, they had to have missed about 14 of their 28 (or so) free throws in this six point loss.