Manu Ginobili may be a winner, but he’s losing his hair.
Had we not just finished Complex’s 100 Best Sports Moments of the 2000s (click here if you missed it), we definitely would have included the historic moment when San Antonio Spurs guard Manu “Batman” Ginobili finally acknowledged that he’s been playing with a bald spot for several seasons and cropped it close. Yes, men discussing other men’s hair is precious, but in the NBA a badass ‘do is vital to intimidating opponents, and guys who look like balding old men get no respect. Years back, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Clyde Drexler, and Karl Malone all learned this and shaved their heads. Now Ginobili is setting the example for a new generation. Here are five current players we bald-spotted who should follow his lead…
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Last night, the new NBA season jumped off, with players rocking a whole new crop of sneakers. To get some real-life player perspective on the latest performance basketball kicks, we recruited three local players to hit the court in new releases from adidas, Jordan, Nike, Pony and Converse.
Keep reading to see what our team of testers—including RON JACKSON (6’2”, 245, PF/C), DO KIM (5’8”, 135, PG), and JUSTIN MONROE (5’11”, 155, SF) thought of the Nike Air Max LeBron 7, the adidas TS Commander, the Jordan Melo M6, and more. Game on…
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We have to admit, we’re slightly jealous of you. NBA 2K10 dropped yesterday (as did NBA Live 10) and while most of you broke night playing it, we’re at work. But now it’s your turn to be jealous because while you sat at home enjoying your brand new 2K10 game (and your now weed plate 2K9 case), we were kicking it with 2K rep Derrick Rose of the Chicago Bulls. Rose is not a man of many words, but who needs words when you’re Rookie of the Year? His stats do all the talking.
Since we obviously couldn’t challenge his real-life game, we had to check his gamer credibility. We chatted Derrick up about NBA 2K10, his thoughts on the unlockable player Kanye West, and his team’s plans for next season. If you haven’t already purchased NBA 2K10, peep Derrick’s trailer after the jump. Oh and make sure you’ve got 60 bucks in your wallet, because yeah, it’s that good…
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It’s kinda fitting how the covers for the two major NBA video games worked out this year. 2K Sports recruited Kobe Bryant—he of the defending champion L.A. Lakers—to rep for NBA 2K10. As for NBA Live 10? Well, EA Sports enlisted Orlando Magic forward Dwight Howard, the star of last year’s NBA bridesmaids. And that about sums up the state of the competition between the two franchises in 2009-10. The 2K series has dominated basketball gaming for almost the entire decade, while Live has struggled to keep pace.
But don’t count Live out just yet—EA has essentially acknowledged the weaknesses of its recent NBA offerings by proclaiming this year’s edition as the franchise’s comeback. And it looks the part: NBA Live 10 (which drops today on 360, PS3, and PSP) has been rebuilt from the floor up, with more realistic gameplay and sim features as well as “Dynamic DNA,” which wirelessly updates player and team info throughout the season. Over the summer, we visited the EA Canada headquarters near Vancouver to get an early look at Live 10 and chat with its cover athlete. Read on for Dwight Howard’s candid responses to The Complex 7 as well as a look at the Live trailer and Buy It Now links…
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Bruce Bowen has no recollection of kneeing anyone in the nuts.
Whoever said, “God made dirt and dirt don’t hurt” never got kneed in the balls by Bruce Bowen. The NBA feels considerably cleaner today now that the former San Antonio Spurs guard has retired to spend his days kicking school kids in the shins. Known for his three championships and five-time NBA all-defensive team play cheap shots, Bowen infuriated opponents for the better part of a decade with dirty moves that could have ended careers (and should have ended his). In honor of his retirement, Complex revisits and rates his filthiest plays. Watch ‘em with your Wet Wipes!
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Nike Basketball churns out the dopest commercials every season like it’s nothing. What do you expect, though—with million-dollar budgets and practically every NBA star trying to be down, why not enlist big-name directors and pull out all the stops for some dope-ass ads?
We peeped Nike’s latest clip and it’s another sureshot, featuring Kevin Durant, Mo Williams, Rashard Lewis, and Andre Iguodala as Compton-style rappers (word to the immortal DJ Quik). It made us think of all the past Nike hoops ads we enjoyed growing up. We narrowed a list down to the 10 best Nike Basketball commercials ever (note: Nike only, no Jordan Brand) so check the videos below and see if your favorites made the cut….
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J.R. Smith reps Bloods, sweat, and tears on his home court kourt.
When a media type reports that an NBA player may be gang affiliated, we typically assume that the reporter snitch is just some jealous old white dude whose diaper is bunching up because he hates seeing a young black man making more money than he’ll ever see in his miserable lifetime. Sometimes, though, the journalist has actually seen Gangland on the History Channel and knows what they’re talking about. Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith (seen above either throwing up a Bloods gang sign, or impersonating a velociraptor) has raised eyebrows recently with his posts on Twitter, a powerful weapon used by gang members to build social networks. Like a true Piru, or someone who missed a couple key days of Sesame Street growing up, Smith has been omitting c’s, which stand for the rival Crips gang, and replacing them with k’s, which stand for potassium on the periodic table.
So, we’re pretty sure that Smith is a straight up knucklehead who’s gonna get himself in deep shit with NBA Commissioner David Stern, who long ago gave up whoo-bangin’ and doesn’t want it anywhere near his league. But what about other players who’ve been known to throw up hand signals for the homies? Complex reads between the signs to determine who’s gang affiliated and who’s not…
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Yesterday, it was announced that a game of H-O-R-S-E would be added to the NBA’s All-Star Weekend. Our first thought: It’s about E-F-F-I-N’ time. Sure, the dunk contest is actually kinda dope again and the 3-point shooting competition’s “money” balls always make trifey chuckle, but who doesn’t love a game of H-O-R-S-E? (We see you, Catherine the Great!)
The participants haven’t been announced (as long as it’s not Wally Szczerbiak, we’re cool with it), but if the L takes cues from these classic equine roundball contests (ayo!), they can’t go wrong…
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Little excites us less than the NBA regular season'it’s long, boring and basically meaningless'but what the hell, we’ll watch tonight’s opening round: DeShawn Stevenson’s son LeBron James vs. the defending champs, The 40-Year-Old Freshman Greg Oden vs. Black Mamba, and, uh…Milwaukee vs. Chicago. That’ll hold us off until February’s All-Star fuckery in Phoenix.
An NBA-related item that actually is worth following from beginning to end is The Macrophenomenal Pro Basketball Almanac: Styles, Stats, and Stars in Today’s Game, a new book from the FreeDarko blog. Out on Nov. 18, the hardcover combines FreeDarko’s b-ball nerd-dom with awesomely funny illustrations. Imagine an ego trip book on the NBA, and bingo. Find out more at the book’s new web site, or check out two spreads from the book below…
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Just what L.A needed, another star. Sure, most people know him for his on-court talent, but off-court, Baron Davis keeps it light. We caught up with the Clippers’ new point guard for the November edition of our column “The Shotcaller” (See the full article here ), where he talked about his fun-loving personality and plans for a post-NBA acting career with Steve Nash.
Acting career, you ask? Yup. The dude has personality. He might wanna break into Hollywood one day, but for now he’s racking up YouTube plays by starring in entertaining videos that put Diddy blogs 1-29 to shame. Check out BD’s breakdown of his four favorite clips below…
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