HoopsHype.com NBA Blogs - Seth Ferranti

Dwyane who? Dirk what? Duncan why? KG where? Nash how? In the mighty, mighty world of the NBA, the league that boasts the world’s finest athletes, the debate can rage on forever. Who is the best? The most exciting? The most dominating? Ask a hundred people and you might get 50 different answers. But here we call it like it is. And we expose suckers for what they are – suckers. Not to say any of the above are suckers, but when it comes down to it the debate of who’s the best really centers on two players. Kobe vs. LeBron.

The Black Mamba vs. The Chosen One. The Assassin vs. The Prodigy. Could you imagine a one-on-one game between these two? Where is the video game? Remember the Larry Bird/Dr. J one? Well, LeBron vs. Kobe would kill that. These two would dominate (each other), gesticulate (wildly), articulate (each dunk), contemplate (each move) and pronunciate (each highflying trip to the rack). And for real there is no stopping either one. They can do whatever they want whenever they want. They are both really that good and really that exciting. Kobe with his 81-point explosions and LeBron with his Jordanesque playoff games and triple-double trouble. But the most important thing about them is their will to win and make the players around them better. And just like Mike, they are doing it.

LeBron took a ragtag group of castoffs to the Finals. Retreads like Damon Jones, stiffs like Zydrunas Ilgauskas and underachievers like Donyell Marshall. Kobe has been getting to the playoffs with undrafted dudes like Smush, busts like Kwame and projects like Bynum. Could these guys get a little help, please? I’m sure they both would be battling in the champion­ship if they had some help. LeBron seems like a mainstay in the East and now that Kobe wants to be traded who knows where he’ll wind up.

There’s always been players like Nash, who come along and elevate the play of their teammates (Russell, Magic, Stockton, Isiah, Bird). But to do it like Mike, you have to not only elevate your teammates games, but you have to dominate yourself – as in physically, mentally and spiritually – by infusing your will to win into your teammates while at the same time making an undeniable impression that you are indeed the best player and athlete on the court. No easy feat. That’s why there’s only been one Mike. But if anyone can duplicate what he did, the overall greatness in every aspect, it’ll be Kobe or LeBron.

Kobe at 28 and in Lakerland is getting fed up. He wants that championship solo with no Shaq. Kobe is too proud to ride someone’s coattails and claim it as his own. He wants to be the star and have a supporting cast tailor made for him – hence the trade demands. Where will he end up nobody knows. But hopefully with some players to make an impact and a run at the title. And LeBron at 22 is playing remarkable averaging 26 ppg and almost 7 rebounds and assists per game. He’ll probably never average a triple-double, but who since Oscar Robertson has? As long as the Cavs maintain their advantage in the weak East and place some shooters around LeBron like Boobie Gibson, King James will have his shot at a champ­ionship. Because just like Kobe, he can put a team on his shoulders and his team through a playoff series like he did against the Pistons. Remember we just witnessed it and never mind the Spurs shutting him down, they were clearly the superior team. LeBron needs help. But also like Mike, he needs to step it up a little more. No excuses.

Kobe has three rings, but they probably matter little to him because he knows in his heart he was just Shaq’s caddy. Think if Jordan came in and played with Bird or Magic, it just wouldn’t be the same as him doing it by himself with all dudes under him. Kobe never liked being Robin to Shaq’s Batman and LeBron has been solo since the jump with an assortment of second fiddles who never matched Pippen to his Jordan. Boobie Gibson is nice, but can he sustain that level of play for a whole year?

With Kobe making trade demands, his future is uncertain. But he knows Odom, Bynum, Farmar and Walton are not championship caliber teammates. Birth of these superstars must be surrounded by complementary players who can hit a shot. They need a Paxson, a Kerr, a Wennington. But also both of them need to take it upon themselves and make some of their teammates into those guys by inspiring confidence just like LeBron did with Boobie.

With Kobe and LeBron’s ability to get to the rack at will, take anyone off the dribble at anytime, play great defense and be the superstars that they are under intense pressure day in and day out, they are clearly the two best players in the league today. But as to who is the best, that is open to dis­cussion. For me, though, I’ll go with LeBron because he just led a similar Cavs team to the Finals while Kobe’s Lakers can’t get out of the first round.

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Slam Magazine called him the King of Cali streetball. And for real this dude has been doing it nationwide. The kid from California with the sick handle has played on the And1 tour, played against the best in the country every summer at UCLA as a Magic Johnson All Star, played in the CBA, NBA summer league and the NBDL. He’s shared the court with NBA players like Paul Pierce, Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Sam Cassell and Derek Fisher. He’s also played overseas in the Bolivian League, where he was named MVP and earned the nickname The Roadrunner for his speed and quickness with the ball. The 6-foot point guard is like that and his game has a NYC-ish flair. And you know the LA native was down with the Showtime LA Lakers of the 80’s, but let him tell it.

“My name is Jay Brantly and I’m old enough to remember when basketball was a team sport and when Showtime ruled the league,” says the South Central, Los Angeles native. “Magic Johnson and the Showtime Lakers during the 80s era of NBA basketball were my basketball idols when I was younger. I liked their fast-break, run-and-gun style of play. I try to replicate that same style on the court today.”

The name J. Boogie was given to him because people always said that he looked like he was dancing on the court or boogin’ down. His quickness and speed allow him to blow by opposing players and get to the basket easily. Spectators are often left speechless and amazed by his ballhandling skills and tricks.

“My game is flashy, but at the same time has substance to it,” Jay says. “I model my game after the Showtime Lakers’ style of play, where it is enter­taining for the crowd while still using fundamentals. I learned by playing in the parks and at various courts at the beach – legendary streetball court Venice Beach is one of them.”

And Jay started balling young learning the game from his family and other dudes from the neighborhood.

“My uncle Kenneth and my cousin Vincent taught me how to play when I was around 3 years old. I really got into playing basketball when I was younger through pickup games at Hawthorne Park,” Jay says. “I began playing ball at Rancho Cienega Park, located in the Crenshaw District of LA, when I was 7 years old. At the age of 9, I learned the fundamentals of the game.”

And from there Jay went on to star at Granada Hills High School.

“I attended Granada Hills High School. My senior year I was voted 1st Team All-Los Angeles, All-City and Valley Player of the Year. I was also selected for the 2nd Team All-State and received honorable mention for the High School All-American Team,” Jay says.

That senior year he averaged 24 points, 11 assists and 3 steals per game including a 52-point game vs Montclair Prep. After high school Jay attended Southern Idaho Junior College for two seasons and then transferred to UNLV, where he played for the Runnin’ Rebels for two years averaging 10 points, 6 assists and 2.4 steals per game.

Jay didn’t get drafted but briefly flirted with the NBA.

“I played in the NBDL and when I attempted to enter the NBA I was told by NBA insiders that I was not what they were looking for.” Jay says. “They wanted a big guard. At the time I was like 5-foot-11. Like any other basketball player, you aspire to make it to the NBA, to be seen by millions and to make millions. But I am happy with what God has given to me now. I get to play the game that I love and still positively affect people’s lives with my talents.”

And Jay has affected people in many ways.

“Streetball has always been a part of my life,” he says. “Before all the And1 mixtapes – which I was on volumes 2-4 – and their tours I was balling on the blacktop. I’ve played with my idol, Magic Johnson, on his traveling team also.”

So like Slam Magazine said, J. Boogie is the King of Cali streetball. But Jay wanted to give back more to his community, he wanted to do more for the kids. First he started the Running J’s program to work with kids and to enrich and bring confidence to youth’s lives. Through the program, Jay holds clinics for kids where he teaches them basketball and life skills. And from that Jay has moved forward to create the LA Hooptainers, an entertainment basketball group for the new era of basketball that consists of streetball legends and celebrities that tour the country combining hip-hop and basketball. They are known as the modern day Harlem Globetrotters and their website says, “The Hoop­tainers are here to change lives and to make a positive imprint in someone’s future.”

“In conjunction with Macleem Sports Wear, we have been touring to several different countries,” Jay says.

They’ve been to China, Central America and the Caribbean. Jay has also gotten involved in movies.

“I am involved in the filming of Sweetwater,” Jay says of the film that chronicles Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton, a Harlem Globetrotter and one of the first black players signed to an NBA team.

“I will be playing the role of Marquis Haynes, Nat’s teammate during his days on the Globetrotters,” Jay says.

And the streetball legend is staying busy. The LA Hooptainers will participate in the World Streetball Championships this summer.

“The WSBC is a series of full court 3-on-3, no-holds barred single elimination tournaments played in five major cities across the United States,” Jay says. “If you lose, you go home. This tournament will showcase the best known streetball players across the globe.”

Besides that Jay will be hosting the Hooptainer events.

“The events always have an up-tempo style but we play with discipline and honor. Its not like a video game,” Jay says. “For those that can recall the good ol’ days of the NBA, we play exactly how the Lakers played in the 80s. Of course, I’m the MJ of the team.”

Enough said. Check J. Boogie out.

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Long, lean, a slam dunk machine. In the world of prison basketball, you have crash test dummies and then you have players like Ali “B3″ Tatum, who at 6-foot-5 1/2 and 225 pounds might not even know the true extent of his abilities on the court. Dudes on the pound call the 26-year-old from Toledo, Ohio wild. But they don’t even know. The kid has been wild since Day 1. On the court and in life. But one thing is for certain, B3 as they call him (signifying the unit he lives in) can fly. He is not grounded like the rest of us mere mortals. On the basketball court he soars heads and shoulders above the other players. Dudes gotta be careful or they might get some nuts in their face because Ali is taking it to the rim. Because he goes hard in everything he does. In the real world, scouts would have been drooling over this kid’s ability from an early age, but since age 14 Ali has barely seen the streets. He grew up and learned to play ball inside these fences.

“I got juvenile life and spent seven years from age 14-21 in Tico a joint in Columbus, Ohio for murder and attempted murder,” Ali says  matter of factly.

He’s done a couple of bids since for possession of crack cocaine, trafficking in cocaine and assault but now he is serving 42 months in the feds for possession of a firearm. The kid is definitely no angel but that doesn’t stop him from soaring like one on the court. Tomahawk jam, alley-oop, two-handed power slam, reverse slam – they are all in his repertoire and dude can run the floor like a gazelle and of course finishing on the break is his specialty. In traffic or whatever. He doesn’t have to juke defenders because he can jump over them.

“I can do what I feel like doing when I feel like doing it,” Ali says.

And he’s right basically. This correspondent has witnessed him taking over games at will here in the rough-and-tumble world of prison basketball and bullrushing through the paint to the rim.

“I can play any position from the 2 to the 6. Shooting guard, small forward, power forward, center and out of body. That’s the 6th spot.”

And out of body is what dudes on the pound say when Ali has a great game. He had another out-of-body experience,” they say in reference to his unbelievable hops.

“All I ever wanted to do was dunk since I was 15,” Ali says. “And that is what I am known for. It’s like ‘Watch out, he’s coming.’”

Coming he is like a pogo stick. And Ali plays forth win.

“It’s about winning,” he says. “Shuttin’ ya man down and giving the crowd what they came to see. The dunks, the crossovers… My offense is a little and without the traveling and carrying cause, I give the crowd what they want. But my defense is of the NCAA-type where it’s played the hardest.”

Being in the pros was never a dream of Ali’s but he says, “I could play ball anywhere in the air or on water”.

About prison ball Ali says, “Dudes go real hard on the court. It’s a respect thang and a few real men would die for their respect.”

He admits that tempers flare at times on the court.

“Dudes get into their feelings. I do at times. That’s just part of prison ball.”

And to him, “Basketball is a stress reliever. That’s all. I focus on the bigger things in life.”

Yeah, like the NBA – where Ali says he supports KB8 and the Lake Show.

“But really I’m about winning. I got the hops of Vince Carter and its only common sense for me to have the ball in my hands and focus on mines,” Ali says.

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