There’s been a lot of developments brewing in the city of Cleveland in the past couple of months, but things weren’t always this way for the place some call the “Forest City”. Before May 22nd 2003, when the Cleveland Cavaliers won the right to the first pick of the NBA draft, Cleveland was a small time team in a small time market most well known for being the background of Michael Jordan’s famous game winners in the Playoffs (The Shot and The Shot II). In fact, the city of Cleveland …

So I was doing my daily roundup of reading basketball news from around the world when I stumbled across this shocking PR release featured on CNN.com. The title reads:
“American Basketball Association (ABA) Joins in $200 Million Global Expansion.”

 
I must admit, I thought that the ABA had died in 1976 when it officially merged with the NBA. When I think of the ABA, I think of the blue/red/white ‘money’ ball (used today in the NBA three point contest), of Julius Erving, and of afros and tight shorts. So I had to …

AEG and NBA formed a partnership back in May of 2008 announcing their plans to build a dozen top of the line stadiums around China. Today, that plan saw its first major victory by selling the naming rights of their soon to be completed Shanghai Arena for around 100 million dollars.
The 18,000 seat arena being built at Shanghai’s World Expo Site is  still underway, being currently jointly built by partners AEG and NBA as well as the Oriental Pearl Group (of the Shanghai Media Group). The $280 million stadium is being constructed around …

The NBA and the CBA have been working together in recent years trying to develop the Chinese basketball level and bring it to new heights. That partnership took another major step in October when the NBA and CBA announced a comprehensive multi-year collaboration to foster coaching development in China.
One part of the new deal will see NBA experienced coaches,trainers, and even nutritionists lecture at the CBA’s exisiting coaching camps. But the more interesting aspect will be Chinese coaches in the making having the chance to travel to the US to …

CBA Salary Cap

One of the biggest basketball developments during this year’s offseason that largely went unreported in the Western media was the CBA’s introduction of a salary cap. The Chinese Basketball Association has been under large scrutiny recently for A) failing to produce top quality Chinese players B) not creating an exciting or marketable product in a country where basketball is loved and C) failing to generate sustainable revenue leading to many teams facing near bankruptcy.
The CBA in turn has introduced a salary cap that it hopes will alleviate some …

While Yao and the Shanghai Sharks have been in the news recently, it is another shark that has grabbed the headlines. Big Shark, as Shaq is nicknamed in China, has recently completed a tour of  Shaolin Temple in Henan - the birth place of Kung-Fu.

Shaq’s interests in kung-fu are well documented – he made a movie called Shaq Fu and it even spawned one of the worst video games of all time. Shaq is also known to practice martial arts in the offseason, and told Titan Sports that he would like …