Carlos Arroyo agrees to terms with the Chicago Bulls

He's baaack! According to Puerto Rico's El Nuevo Día newspaper, the Bulls and Arroyo agreed on a 1-year, 1 million dollar contract. Arroyo would be Derrick Rose's backup.

He doesn't figure to play many minutes behind Rose, that is, if they signed him to be merely a backup PG. Arroyo can play the SG spot for a few minutes, so it'll be interesting to see how he is used in Chicago.


Source: http://www.elnuevodia.com/vuelvearroyoalanba-609452.html

PRIDE (J-Drama Review)

PRIDE

This Drama, which originally aired in 2004, tells the story of Satonaka Halu and his goal to be the best hockey player ever. It is at its heart a romantic story, but the comedy and sports scenes put this Drama well above most other in the genre.

Satonaka Halu believes Love is nothing but a game, having suffered abandonment at the hands of the most important woman in his life (his mother), who left her children to be with her lover. So when he meets the lovely Aki, a traditional values type woman, who waits for her man for years without wavering, no matter where he is, Halu decides to play the Love game with her. He offers her companionship until her lover comes back, at which time Halu will gladly say good-bye and let the lovers reunite.

At the same time, Halu continues training like a maniac to become the best hockey player ever and nothing will stop him from achieving that goal. Or so he thinks.

What would happen if Halu (also meaning spring) were to fall for Aki (autumn)? Would this love be a distraction from his main goal? If Aki fell for Halu, wouldn't that mean she stopped waiting for her true love, making her a modern woman, erasing her traditional values? And what is the role of Aki's true love Natsu (summer)?

Pride explores all of these themes and incorporates them into the title: How far do we take our pride for the things we love?

If all of this isn't enough for you, know that the supporting cast is quite good and there are a variety of side stories for each of them, from the poor Goalie who has a very dark past and pretends to be rich to impress the woman he loves to Halu's former and current coach and their relationship with one woman.

This is a very well written and well acted drama, which I recommend to everyone. You'll laugh, cry, and root for the Blue Scorpions, all the while listening to Freddie Mercury and the great band QUEEN.

If you are interested in this J-Drama, you can find it here: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/torrents.php?search=Pride&type=⊂=View+all&sort=


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Meet the Puerto Rico National Team

STARTERS:

Carlos Arroyo, PG: Best player on the team. At 6'2, he's a decent-sized point guard. Possesses good, if not great speed, although he can break ankles at will (just ask Amar'e Stoudamire). Is more of a shoot-first point guard, but has the court vision to put up 12 assists on any given night.

NBA prospects: 6th man caliber (could start at PG for a few teams).

Rating: 8.5

Larry Ayuso, SG: Best shooter on the team. At 6'1 1/2, he's a short shooting guard. However, when he's hot, he's on fire and not even a 6'7 NBA guard can stop him. He's starting to show his age, however, and this will likely be his last stint with the national team.

NBA prospects: Could crack a 12-man rotation on shooting skills alone, but is too short and lacks the handling skills necessary to stick in the NBA.

Rating: 8.0

Carmelo Antrone Lee, SF: Do it all small forward. Can shoot the three, block shots and rebound. Lacks athleticism and toughness, but opens up the game due to his shooting ability.

NBA prospects: None. He's a jack of all trades, master of none kind of player and lacks the athletic ability to play in the NBA.

Rating: 7.0

Ricky Sanchez, PF: Another 3-point shooter. Can play the SF and PF positions. Forces the other teams' big men to follow him to the arc, thus opening the lane for Arroyo and PJ Ramos. Decent athleticism and good handling for his size.

NBA prospects: Could be a rotation NBA player; possibly a 7th or 8th man.

Rating: 7.8

Peter John (PJ) Ramos, C: Has great size (7'3) and surprisingly light feet. Good athleticism and decent offensive skills. Not much of a defensive player at this point in his career, although he's only 23 years old.

NBA prospects: Played for the Wizards as a 3rd string Center a few years back. Could be a 2nd string Center today, and maybe a starter at some point.

Rating: 8.0

6TH MAN:

Angel Daniel (AD) Vasallo, SF: Has good size (6'7) and is athletic and strong. This guy would have been a draft-day steal during the 2nd round, yet no one picked him. He will be the starting SF on this national team for years to come.

NBA prospects: High. Could be signed as early as this year. Looks to be a good rotation player (6th or 7th man).

Rating: 8.0

Other Notables:

Guillermo Diaz, SG: A little short (6'3) but EXTREMELY athletic. Has a freakishly high vertical and can penetrate at will against any type of defense. Decent three-point shooter. Still somewhat raw offensively and a little selfish.

NBA prospects: Very High. Signed by the Clippers a few years back, but released. Has been playing in Europe. Could be signed as early as this year. Could be a starter or 6th man like Leandro Barbosa (very similar skill-set).

Rating: 8.5

Daniel Santiago, C: Good size (7'1) but lacks athleticism. He complements PJ Ramos well, possessing the defensive and passing skills to Ramos' offensive skills. Has great chemistry with Carlos Arroyo.

NBA prospects: Low. Played in the NBA for a few years and could make a decent backup Center, but earns a better living and plays more in Europe, where he's likely to stay.

Rating: 7.8

Filiberto Rivera, PG: A little short (6'1) and skinny but quite fast and with good handling skills. Can also shoot the three.

NBA prospects: Low. He was a star at UTEP a few years back, and is similar in size and playing style to Josh Gibson from the Cavaliers. However, he lacks the recognition necessary to make it in the NBA.

Rating: 7.6

The Rest:

Christian Dalmau, SG: MVP of the 2009 Puerto Rican League (BSN) Finals. Good size (6'5), good handling and good shooting. He's just a step too slow.

NBA prospects: Low. He has all the tools necessary to be an NBA rotation player, but has always been a little slow. Whether it is due to a lack of motivation or knee problems we might never know. Wasted potential.

Rating: 7.5

Angelo Reyes, PF: What do you get when you combine Charles Barkley and Lamar Odom? An overweight weed-junkie who can really rebound and likes to fight. In other words, Angelo Reyes.

NBA prospects: None. Who wants a player like that in the NBA? Well, maybe the Grizzlies, who seem to be stockpiling head-cases.

Rating: 7.0

Luis Villafañe, C: A third-string, filler Center. I believe he's a full time employee at some store like Best Buy or Walmart and plays baketball on the side. Sweet gig.

NBA prospects: You're kidding, right?

Rating: 6.0

NOTABLE ABSENCE:

Jose Juan (JJ) Barea, PG: Extremely fast, quick first step, good ball-handling skills and a very good three-point shooter. Can run an NBA team. Would be the team's best player (over Arroyo).

NBA prospects: Plays for the Mavericks.

Rating: 8.7

Mavericks Shafting JJ Barea like there's no Tomorrow!

First, Dallas did whatever it could in this year's NBA Draft to land Rodrigue Beaubois, a point guard.

Second, Dallas pays Jason Kidd a gazillion dollars for 3 years.

Now, they basically tell JJ Barea: "Hey kid, we probably won't use you much this season, but you know what? just in case we do decide to arbitrarily use you at some point, we're gonna need you to not represent your country even though we know you're already healed up."

Nothing. Left. To. Say.

Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/stories/082009dnspomavsshort.f9140511.html

PJ Ramos agrees to terms with Rockets

Peter John Ramos had not been playing with the PR National team in the past few exhibition match-ups leading up to the Tournament of the Americas and had been in Houston, participating in private workouts.

Apparently the Rockets liked him enough to extend his workout a few more days, and finally, yesterday, came to an agreement with the 7'3 Center from Puerto Rico.

With Yao Ming retired, I mean injured, and Dikembe Mutombo making children and adults laugh all over the world, this could mean a good 20-30 minutes of playing time for PJ "Jar Jar Binks" Ramos.

Source:

http://www.vocero.com/noticia-29385-peter_john_firmar_con_houston.html

Carlos Arroyo Auto-tuning his way out of the NBA

Carlos Arroyo has decided to enter the packed Reggaeton scene, with his first single "Oculto Secreto" (Hidden Secret). He doesn't sound bad at all, taking into account the obvious "T-Pain" auto-tune effect, of course.

Now if only he could dedicate as much time to practicing B-ball, he could have signed an NBA contract for this year already. Instead, he's doing this for PR's national team:

Welcome to Crazy! and BUZZER BEAT Intro

As I stated in my Blog description, this will be a crazy combination of Japanese, Puerto Rican, sports (specially basketball) and legal issues.

I always wanted to start a Blog about one of these topics but never could choose one of them. So I guess I decided to go with all of them.

So what will be the first topic covered in this Blog? It combines Japan and Basketball, and not only that, but also one of my favorite things about Japan: J-Dramas.

For those of you that don't know much about J-Dramas, they are the equivalent of American serialized television; a tad more coherent than a sitcom yet much shorter than most American shows. The typical J-Drama lasts one season of about 10-11 episodes and might get a TV special or a movie about a year later if it was well-received.

Anyways, what's so great about these J-Dramas? Well, for starters they are a great way for an enthusiast of Japanese culture to expose himself to the language and culture.

Furthermore, these shows are relatively short, so you will never really waste too much of your time in the event the show were to suck, unlike with American shows like Heroes or Lost, where after you invest dozens of hours you feel obligated to finish watching the show even if it starts to suck, because otherwise the hours you spent watching already will go to waste.

Finally, and this is the most important thing about J-Dramas: They are fun like 90% of the time! Seriously, if I randomly watch 10 J-Dramas I usually end up liking 9 of them. They are just inventive, quirky yet dark, romantic yet silly, and a whole lot of fun.

Having said that, I want to introduce one of the J-Dramas I'll be reviewing in this Blog: BUZZER BEAT.

Every few years a Japanese creative head decides to combine sports, young male idols and romance resulting in surprisingly enjoyable dramas. From H2 to Pride, these dramas teach viewers about the sport all while pulling at their heartstrings.

Buzzer Beat is no different. It stars Yamashita Tomohisa as a professional basketball player in a Japanese corporate league and deals with everything from the plummeting economy and the low level of prestige basketball enjoys in Japan to love triangles and squares and Violin concerts; all this while presenting decent, if not very good, choreographed basketball scenes.

I'll be reviewing this whole series episode by episode starting soon, but for those who haven't started watching it yet and want to try it out, just check out http://www.d-addicts.com and do a torrent search for the title.

If you know knowing about Japanese language and still want to watch it, just grab yourself the subtitles from d-addicts as well. (Here: http://www.d-addicts.com/forum/viewtopic_76350.htm )

Keep an eye out for Episode 1 review soon, and I hope you enjoy this Frankenstein of a Blog.