NBA

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is North America's premier professional men's basketball league, composed of thirty teams from Canada and the USA. It is an active member[1] of USA Basketball (USAB), which is recognized by the International Basketball Federation as the National Governing Body (NGB) for basketball in the United States. The NBA is one of the four major North American professional sports leagues, which also includes the NHL, the NFL, and MLB.
The league was founded in New York City, on June 6, 1946 as the Basketball Association of America (BAA).[2] The league adopted the name National Basketball Association in 1949 after merging with the rival National Basketball League. The league's several international as well as individual team offices are directed out of its head offices located in the Olympic Tower at 645 Fifth Avenue in New York City. NBA Entertainment and NBA TV studios are directed out of offices located in Secaucus, New Jersey.

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal

Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal (born March 6, 1972), frequently referred to simply as "Shaq", is an American professional basketball player, rapper and actor. He is often regarded as one of the most dominant players in the history of the NBA, where he currently plays at center for the Phoenix Suns. O'Neal has won four NBA Championships, three with the Los Angeles Lakers and most recently in 2006, with the Miami Heat.

LeBron Raymone James

LeBron Raymone James (born December 30, 1984 in Akron, Ohio) is an American professional basketball player who plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). James, commonly nicknamed "King James," was highly promoted in the national media as a future NBA star while still in at St. Vincent - St. Mary High School, and was named Ohio's "Mr. Basketball" three times. At the age of 18, he was selected with the first overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft by the Cavaliers and signed an unprecedented US$90 million shoe contract with Nike before his NBA debut. He has since set numerous youngest player records. During his first season, he received the NBA Rookie of the Year Award and in the following four seasons received All-NBA and All-Star honors. He has led the Cavaliers to consecutive playoff appearances in 2006, 2007, and 2008; in 2007, the team advanced to the Conference Finals for the first time since 1992 and the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.
James is listed as a small forward, but often handles the ball and runs the Cavaliers' offense as a point guard would. James is also a member of the United States men's national basketball team winning the bronze medal at the 2004 Olympics and redeeming that result by winning the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics. He finished second in the league's Most Valuable Player balloting in 2006.

Dwyane Tyrone Wade

Dwyane Tyrone Wade, Jr. (born January 17, 1982) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Miami Heat in the National Basketball Association (NBA). His nicknames include "Flash" and "D-Wade". Wade was named 2006 Sportsman of the Year by Sports Illustrated. Despite the unorthodox spelling, Wade's first name is pronounced as Dwayne; often in print media, it is misspelled as such. Wade has established himself as one of the more well-known and popular players in the league. He had the top selling jersey in the NBA for nearly two years, as he led the NBA in jersey sales from the 2005 NBA playoffs, until the mid-point of the 2006-07 NBA season.
After entering the league with little fanfare as the fifth pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Wade has become one of the more accomplished young players in the NBA today. Having made the All-Rookie team in his first season and the All-Star team the following four seasons, Wade led the Miami Heat to their first NBA Championship in franchise history in his third pro campaign. He was named the 2006 NBA Finals MVP as he led the Heat to a 4–2 series win over the Dallas Mavericks.

Carmelo Kiyan Anthony

Carmelo Kiyan Anthony (born May 29, 1984) is an American professional basketball player for the Denver Nuggets, of the National Basketball Association. As a freshman in college, Anthony led Syracuse University to a 30–5 record and the school's first NCAA championship in men's basketball. He was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2003 NCAA Final Four and MVP of NCAA East Regional. He was also named the consensus national Freshman of the Year and was a unanimous choice as the Big East Conference Freshman of the Year. Anthony was selected as the third pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, and named the 2005 Rookie Challenge MVP.

Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago, Illinois, playing in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was founded in 1966 and is generally regarded as one of the NBA's most successful franchises. They are currently playing their home games at the United Center. The team is well known for having one of the greatest dynasties in NBA history during the 1990s, winning 6 championships in 8 years with two three-peats. Those championship teams had players such as Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman and coach Phil Jackson. The Bulls won a record 72 games during the 1995–96 NBA season and helped spread the popularity of the NBA around the world. The 1998 NBA Finals, the Bulls' final championship appearance, was the most watched championship series in NBA history.

Ball4Real

Ball4Real was created by former members of the AND1 streetball team and Lisa Fusco, former general manager of the AND1 Mixtape Tour and present Ball4Real CEO. The players and Fusco were all part owners of the tour. The 2007 team consisted of the players who defected from AND1 and some new players.
The group toured through 2007 in arena size buildings, but attendance was low, and the group disbanded in February of 2008, with many of its players joining the Ball 4 Life Tour.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The Cavaliers first began play in the NBA in 1970 as an expansion team under the ownership of Nick Mileti. Playing their home games at Cleveland Arena under the direction of head coach Bill Fitch, they compiled a league-worst 15–67 record. The team hoped to build around the number one 1971 draft pick Austin Carr who had set numerous scoring records at Notre Dame, however Carr severely injured his leg shortly into his pro career and did not recover sufficiently to become a great pro player.
The following seasons saw the Cavaliers gradually improve their on-court performance, thanks to season-by-season additions of talented players such as Bingo Smith, Jim Chones, Jim Cleamons and Dick Snyder. Cleveland improved to 23–59 in their sophomore season, followed by a 32–50 record in 1972–73, and a small step backwards to 29–53 in 1973–74. In 1974, the Cavaliers moved into the brand-new Richfield Coliseum, located in the cornfields thirty miles south of downtown Cleveland in Summit County. That season, the Cavaliers finished with a 40–42 record falling just short of a playoff berth.
In the 1975-76 season with Carr, Smith, Chones, Snyder, and newly acquired Nate Thurmond; Fitch led the Cavaliers to a 49–33 record and a division title. Fitch received the league's Coach of the Year award as the Cavs made their first-ever playoff appearance.
The Cavs won the series against the Washington Bullets, 4–3. Because of the many heroics and last-second shots, the series became known locally as the "Miracle of Richfield." However, hampered by injuries, particularly to Jim Chones, the Cavs proceeded to lose to the Boston Celtics in Eastern Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs.
Cleveland won 43 games the next two seasons (1976–77 and 1977–78), but both those seasons resulted in early playoff exits. After a 30–52 season in 1978-79, Fitch resigned as head coach. The following season, after going 37–45 under Fitch's successor Stan Albeck, original owner Mileti sold his shares to minority owner Joe Zingale.

Streetball

Streetball is an urban form of basketball, played on playgrounds and in gymnasiums across the world. Usually only one side of the court is used, but otherwise the rules of the game are very similar to those of professional basketball. The number of participants in a game, or a run, may range from one defender and one attacker (known as one on one or man-to-man) to two full teams of five each.
Streetball is a very popular game worldwide, and some cities in the United States have organized streetball programs, such as midnight basketball, as a way for young people to keep out of trouble and avoid problems such as juvenile crime and drugs. Many cities even host their own weekend-long streetball tournaments. Hoop-It-Up and the Houston Rockets Blacktop Battle are two of the most popular. In recent years, streetball has seen an increase in notoriety and exposure in media due in part to television shows such as ESPN's "Streetball" and "City Slam", as well as traveling exhibitions such as the AND1 Mixtape Tour and Ball4Real.

Harlem Globetrotters

There is no clear consensus as to the very beginnings of the Globetrotters. The official history [1] contains several details which seem contradictory, such as the team being organized in 1926 in the Savoy Ballroom, which opened in 1927.[2] What is clear is that the genesis of the Globetrotters takes place in the South Side of Chicago in the 1920s, where all the original players grew up. Most of the players also attended Wendell Phillips High School. When the Savoy Ballroom opened in November 1927, one of the premier attractions was the Savoy Big Five, a basketball team that played exhibitions before dances. In 1928, several players left the team in a dispute over bringing back other players who had left the team. That fall, several players led by Tommy Brookins formed a team called the "Globe Trotters" which would tour southern Illinois that spring. Abe Saperstein became involved with the team, though to exactly what extent is unclear. In any event, by 1929 Saperstein was touring Illinois and Iowa with his basketball team, called the "New York Harlem Globe Trotters". Saperstein decided to pick Harlem as their home city since Harlem was considered the center of African-American culture at the time, and an out of town team name would give the team more of a mystique.[3] After four decades of existence, the Globetrotters played their first "home" game in Harlem in 1968.
The first star player of those early Globe Trotters (the name would be merged into one word later on) was Albert "Runt" Pullins, an adept dribbler and shooter. Soon he would be joined by 6'3" Inman Jackson, who played center and had a flair for showboating.[4] They would originate the two roles that would stay with the 'trotters for decades, the showman and the dribbler.[5]
The Globetrotters were initially a serious competitive team, and despite a flair for entertainment, they would only clown for the audience after establishing a safe lead in the game. In 1939, they accepted an invitation to participate in the World Professional Basketball Tournament, where they met the New York Rens in the semi-finals in the first big clash of the two greatest all-black professional basketball teams. The Rens defeated the Globetrotters and went on to win the Tournament, but in 1940 the Globetrotters avenged their loss by defeating the Rens in the quarterfinals and advancing to the championship game, where they beat the Chicago Bruins in overtime by a score of 37–36.
The Globetrotters beat the premier professional team, the Minneapolis Lakers (led by George Mikan), for two years in a row in 1948 and 1949, with the Lakers winning later contests. The February 1948 win (by a score of 61-59, on a buzzer beater) was a hallmark in professional basketball history, as the all-black Globetrotters proved they were on an equal footing with the all-white Lakers. Momentum for ending the National Basketball Association's color line grew, and in 1950, Chuck Cooper became the first black player drafted by an NBA team, the Boston Celtics. From that time on the Globetrotters had increasing difficulty attracting and retaining top talent.
Tony Peyton was the last living member of the original Globetrotters. He was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1996. He died in Midland, Texas, on July 23, 2007, at the age of eighty-five.

Miami Heat

The Miami Heat (known as the HEAT on official team publications) is a professional basketball team based in Miami, Florida, United States. The team is a member of the Southeast Division in the Eastern Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team is owned by Micky Arison and coached by Erik Spoelstra, with Randy Pfund as the General Manager.
The team was founded in 1987 as an expansion franchise and have had notable NBA stars such as Alonzo Mourning, Glen Rice, Tim Hardaway, Jamal Mashburn, Shaquille O'Neal, and Dwyane Wade throughout this tenure. The Heat have also had success in making it to the playoffs as they've made it in 12 out of 20 seasons. In addition, the franchise won its first NBA title in the 2005-2006 NBA season against the Dallas Mavericks.

Los Angeles Lakers

The Los Angeles Lakers are a National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Los Angeles, California. The Lakers play their home games at Staples Center, which they share with their fellow NBA team, the Los Angeles Clippers, and their sister team, the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA.[1]
The Lakers' franchise was founded in Detroit before moving to Minneapolis, where the team got its official title from the state's nickname, Land of 10,000 Lakes,[2] and won five league championships within the various leagues before locating to Los Angeles. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Lakers popularity soared, which helped them become one of the most successful franchises in the NBA with superstar players Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and coach Pat Riley winning five titles in that span, with three championship series against their arch-rivals, the Boston Celtics. The Lakers are notable for having (at the end of the 2007–08 season) the most wins (2,905), the highest winning percentage (61.5%), the most finals appearances (29) of any NBA franchise, and the second most championships (14, behind the Boston Celtics' 17).[3] The Lakers are generally regarded as one of the NBA's most successful franchises. They hold the record for the longest consecutive win streak (33) in U.S. professional team sports (also an NBA record) beginning on November 5, 1971 and ending on January 7, 1972. The franchise has only missed the NBA playoffs five times

San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio, Texas. They play in the National Basketball Association (NBA).
The Spurs are one of four former American Basketball Association teams (along with the Nets, Pacers, and Nuggets) to remain intact in the NBA after the 1976 merger and is the only former ABA team to have won an NBA championship, which they have done four times. As of July 2008, the Spurs rank third among active franchises for the highest winning percentage in NBA history.With the 2007 sweep, the Spurs have the highest winning percentage in NBA Finals history. They have only missed the playoffs 4 times as an NBA franchise.
In their 32 NBA seasons, since 1976-1977, the Spurs have captured 15 division titles, which gives the Spurs the most division titles in the NBA during that 32-year span (the Lakers are second with 14). Among the four major U.S. sports, the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees are the only other teams with 15 divisional titles during the last 32 years.

Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics are an American professional basketball team based in Boston, Massachusetts, playing in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team is owned by Wycliffe Grousbeck and coached by Doc Rivers, with Danny Ainge as the general manager. Founded in 1946, their 17 NBA Championships are the most for any NBA franchise, while the 1959-to-1966 domination of the NBA Championship, with eight straight titles, is the longest consecutive championship winning streak of any North American professional sports team to date. They currently play their home games in the TD Banknorth Garden.
The Celtics either dominated the league or played a large part in the playoffs in the late 1950s through the mid 1980s. After the death of their top draft pick Len Bias, just two days after the 1986 NBA Draft, the team fell into a steady decline, only making the playoffs four times from 1996 to 2007. The franchise has recently returned to prominence with the acquisition of power forward Kevin Garnett and shooting guard Ray Allen during the 2007 off-season. On June 17, 2008, the Boston Celtics won their 17th championship, beating the Los Angeles Lakers 4–2 in the 2008 NBA Finals.

And 1

In 1993, AND1 began as a graduate school project partnership of Seth Berger, Jay Coen Gilbert and Abraham Osondu while they were graduate students at the University of Pennsylvania. The company name is derived[citation needed] from a phrase used by basketball broadcasters: when a player is fouled while shooting, and still scores a basket, the referees awarded the points for the made basket "and 1" for the made free throw.[1] Early advertising strategies, used to distinguish their products from others, included other basketball slogans and trash talk, such as "Pass. Save Yourself The Embarrassment".
In mid of 1996, NBA star Stephon Marbury became the first spokesman for AND1 and once had his own name brand AND1 shoe called "Starbury".
In late 1998, a videotape containing streetball stunts was delivered[citation needed] to AND1 by Ron Naclerio, coach of the Benjamin Cardozo High school team in Queens, New York. The tape contained low quality camera moves, poor resolution and nearly indecipherable audio featuring a streetballer by the name of Rafer Alston. At the time, Alston was a student at Fresno State who had entered the 1998 NBA Draft. The videotape would soon be known as the "Skip tape", referring to Alston's streetball nickname "Skip to my Lou".[citation needed] Alston later signed AND1's first endorsement deal.
In 1999 at Haverford College in Philadelphia, AND1 shot their first series of commercials and print ads incorporating NBA players Darrell Armstrong, Rex Chapman, Ab Osondu, Raef LaFrentz, Toby Bailey, and Miles Simon. When the traditional marketing campaign proved unsuccessful, a strategy was formed to use the "Skip tape". It was edited and reprinted into 50,000 copies and over the next eight weeks, distributed across basketball camps, clinics, record labels. The tape would become the first "Mix Tape", and quickly made Alston into a celebrity.[2] When AND1 became a product partner with FootAction, this strategy evolved into a national program. They perform radical spin moves and dunks. They also perform and have their own company. Beginning in the Summer of 1999, a free AND1 Mix Tape was given with any purchase. Approximately 200,000 tapes were distributed in the span of 3 weeks, making this promotion one of the most successful in U.S. retail history. Filmmakers were then sent across the country to capture and find the next streetball legend.[3]