NBA To Shake Up 2013 All-Star Weekend

NBA to Introduce All-Star Saturday Night Champion At 2013  All-Star Weekend

The NBA’s All-Star Weekend was lacking in the competition department, and the event’s organizers have come up with a solution to rectify this situation.

According to an official press release from the league, All-Star Saturday Night will now be jam-packed with events that pit the Eastern and Western Conferences against one another.

Each conference’s representatives can earn points by competing in the Shooting Stars event, Skills Challenge, Three-Point Shootout and Slam Dunk Contest—all of which will take place on Feb. 16, 2013, and be broadcast on TNT beginning at 8 p.m. ET.

At the end of the night, the conference with the most points will be crowned the State Farm All-Star Saturday Night Champion.

On top of this, the All-Star Saturday Night conference captain’s favorite charities will receive $350,000 of the $500,000 the insurance giant has allocated to give away as a sponsor (the losing conference’s charities get the remaining $150,000).

This is a great idea to up the level of excitement during All-Star Weekend, an event that was beginning to grow stale for many fans.
It’s also a nice way for players to help raise money for a worthy cause. That should be all the motivation needed for these superstars to make an effort during the contests.

There’s no better opportunity for the league to foster competition between its greatest players than this. It would behoove all participants at Houston’s All-Star Saturday Night events to bring their ‘A’ game, as it will bring pride to their conference, and more importantly, money to those who need it.

While this isn’t the only fix that the NBA’s All-Star lineup needs, it’s certainly a good start and should help make the 2013 event one of the best yet.

Part II- Actual Game Film Of 5th Grade Phenom Playing Varsity

This is one of the more astonishing things I have seen in sports. Check out fifth grader Julian Newman who is a mere 4-foot-5 and starts at point guard for the Downey Christian high school in Florida. Once you check out the video, you will see why this is nowhere near a joke. The little guy seems to run the point effortlessly and has handles which easily rivals any opponent. Downey Christian is a small independent school which operates outside of Florida’s primary governing body for high school sports, hence why Julian is allowed to start.

“Oh yeah, they announced his name and the whole deal,” said Crooms Academy head coach Don Smith, an opponent of Downey Christian’s last week. “Downey Christian is a real small private school and they put a little bit of anybody out there. He’s a little bitty thing, but he’s very talented.”

College coaches have officially been put on notice.

UCLA Leaning Toward Replacing Hoops Coach Howland

Howland’s Status at UCLA in Question

UCLA is currently leaning toward replacing Ben Howland as its head basketball coach, and he could be let go before the end of the season, according to sources.

There is also an indication that UCLA has taken preliminary steps in investigating potential coaching candidates.

The tipping point came a few weeks ago, after UCLA had lost three of five games at the end of November and beginning of December.

Sources are indicating that booster and donation support of Howland has diminished considerably so far this season, and that has been critical in this development.

This is not to say that it’s completely certain that UCLA will fire Howland, however. As long as Howland remains the coach, there is always the possibility that he could turn around the season and be successful enough to make it implausible for the UCLA administration to fire him.

Insiders have indicated that UCLA Athletic Director Dan Guerrero has taken a fairly hard line in his opinion of the state of the basketball program, and that he is expressing a strong sense of urgency to re-establish UCLA as one of the perennial powers in college basketball. The indication is that, if Howland is let go, Guerrero intends to aggressively pursue some of the top coaching candidates in the college basketball world.

Jabari Parker Chooses Duke

It’s time to uncork the champagne bottles in Durham, as 5-star basketball recruit Jabari Parker announced on Thursday that he will be suiting up for the Duke Blue Devils in the fall.

Parker made his decision known on ESPN U in a televised special that is fully indicative of a prospect with his hype.

A top-notch small forward out of the hallowed Simeon Career Academy in Chicago, Parker’s decision came down to five schools: Duke, Michigan State, Florida, BYU and Stanford. In fact, each school had its own hat at the ceremony.