1991 was the first year that I got heavily into this thing called the NBA -- a pursuit that was destined to change my life irrevocably. The excitement surrounding the league back then was phenomenal.

You had Michael Jordan at the helm, providing ridiculous highlights on an almost nightly basis. The baton had been passed to him by Larry Bird and Magic Johnson, both of whom were on near to their last NBA-legs, for various reasons. Outside of these ridiculously famous superstars, the likes of Clyde Drexler, Dominique Wilkins and Isiah Thomas were putting in super-human offensive performances on the wings, whilst Patrick Ewing, David Robinson, Hakeem Olajuwon, Brad Daugherty and Rony Seikaly were legitimate big men in a mould we don't see today.

Meanwhile, we had a 1991-92 rookie class that included future stars Larry Johnson, Dikembe Mutombo, Kenny Anderson, Steve Smith, Terrell Brandon, Dale Davis and Australia's own Luc Longley. Hawks rookie Stacey Augmon, the Plastic Man, was setting highlight reels alight, alongside Nique in the ATL. And just around the corner, we had the imminent arrival of Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning and Christian Laettner in what was to be a star-studded 1992 NBA Draft.

Karl Malone, Charles Barkley, Chris Mullin, Shawn Kemp, Kevin Johnson, Mark Price, Scottie Pippen, John Stockton, Tim Hardaway, Dennis Rodman. And I'm only just getting started. The league was ridiculously talented and full of the type of players that you'd pay to go and see play -- and entertain. 

The league of today, by contrast, seems to have a minimal amount of legitimate stars. The ones that do exist are often petulant or overly self-focussed. They show little real personality, as they are too busy manicuring their public image and "personal branding". You know who I'm talking about.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, if you disagree, but I can't see how the NBA of the current era even remotely compares to what we witnessed in the early 1990s. Watch this video of the top 10 dunks of 1991-92 and tell me otherwise...

The Los Angeles Clippers took out game three of their first round NBA Playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies; and Chris Paul's son showed off his acting skills in the post-game press conference. Here he is putting on Blake Griffin's game face:

Everyone knows that video game simulations mean little in reality. But, they can be fun.

For many a year the likes of 2K Sports and EA Sports have been using the NBA 2K and NBA Live franchises to predict the outcome of real-life NBA playoff scenarios. This year, Owen Good at top video games website, Kotaku, has used NBA 2K12 to predict the outcome of the 2012 NBA Playoffs.

According to the simulation, we do have a couple of upsets ahead of us -- one of which being that the Denver Nuggets will take down the Los Angeles Lakers in six games, winning the last four in a row. 

Unsurprisingly, the predicted Finals matchup is between the San Antonio Spurs and Miami Heat... however, according to NBA 2K12, if Metta World Peace (aka Ron Artest) had not been suspended, the Lakers would not only take down the Nuggets in the first round, but progress to the NBA Finals against the Heat.

We'll see.

Another world; another era. Basketball was such a different game back in the 1960s. The sport was not as reliant on brute strength or elite athleticism, but moreso around grace and strategy.

Check out the video below, as the Cincinnati Royals take on the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the 1966 NBA Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. The Celtics won the match 112-103, giving them the nod in the Best of 5 series, 3-2. They went on to win the NBA title, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers in the Finals after a 54-26 regular season.

That Celtics squad consisted of the likes of John Havlicek, KC Jones, Sam Jones, Don Nelson, Bill Russell and was coached by legendary Red Auerbach.

As you can see, the style of play was vastly different... and of course, there was no three-point line! 

Meanwhile on the other side of the court were Hall of Famers Jerry Lucas and league legend Oscar Robertson, who averaged 31.3ppg, 11.1apg and 7.7rpg that season. You may not know Lucas, but he was one of only two players to average a 20-20 that season, along with Wilt Chamberlain. Bill Russell was never a big time scorer, despite averaging 22.8rpg himself that season, along with his 12.9ppg. 

Watch the original triple-double master, Robertson, drop 37 points in this same game:

We're currently in the early stages of the 2012 NBA Playoffs but for many domestic leagues around the world where the season is over, the focus right now has shifted to the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

With that in mind, let's take a brief overview of what is to come in the mens tournament. Since the team rosters -- and even some of the competing teams themselves -- are yet to be finalised, this will be a high level preview of what is to come. As the Olympics approach, we'll get into more detail with predictions and in-depth comparisons.

Format

Firstly, let's examine the format that will be taken on by the tournament. There will be 12 teams involved in the Olympic tournament, with them being split into two groups of six teams.

A round-robin is played in each group initially (ie each team plays each other once), before going on to the knock-out round where the four highest placed teams from each group go on to battle for the medals. In other words, the two worst teams from each group are knocked out, effectively eliminating those teams that are not up to the same standard, but got through due to the nature of the qualification tournaments and regions.

Competing nations

Of the twelve competing nations, only nine have been decided to-date.

• Great Britain will feature in the Olympics, as the host nation, after a long absence from impact in international basketball. With the likes of forwards Luol Deng (Chicago Bulls), Joel Freeland (Unicaja Malaga) and head coach Chris Finch (Houston Rockets), Team GB may surprise some on their home court.
• United States are the clear favourites, as always. Whilst markets for basketball betting at the Olympics are not yet open, as far as I'm aware, there is every likelihood that Team USA will be unbackable. USA qualified for the Olympics via winning the 2010 FIBA World Championships in Turkey. Their team will likely be largely similar to that which won Gold in Turkey and Beijing, with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade (both Miami Heat), Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), Kevin Durant (Oklahoma City Thunder), Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls) and Kevin Love (Minnesota Timberwolves) making for a formiddable core.
• Tunisia make their way into the Olympics as the winners of the 2011 FIBA Africa Championship after beating traditional African heavyweights Angola in their first ever Championship victory. Whilst Tunisia will likely be present at the Olympics just to make up the numbers, the experience for the likes of 25-year old 7'1" captain Salah Mejri (Antwerp Diamond Giants, Belgium) will be invaluable. 
• Argentina and Brazil are the two entrants to come out of the 2011 FIBA Americas Tournament (held in Argentina in September 2011). Both are stacked with NBA talent and are traditionally strong competitors right down to the medal stages. Argentina in particular won the 2004 Gold Medal, along with the 2008 Bronze and have a very strong history in basketball. Key players for Argentina include Manu Ginobili (San Antonio Spurs), Carlos Delfino (Milwaukee Bucks), Andres Nocioni (Philadelphia 76ers) and Luis Scola (Houston Rockets). Whilst Brazil's success in Olympic and World Championship medals came during the 1940s - 1970s, they do boast Tiago Splitter (San Antonio Spurs), Nene Hilario (Washington Wizards), Leandro Barbosa (Indiana Pacers), Anderson Varejao (Cleveland Cavaliers) in their ranks. However it is uncertain how many of those NBA-experienced players will represent at the Olympics.
• Australia are the representatives from the 2011 FIBA Oceania Championship, after sweeping the three-game series against New Zealand. The disastrous news for the Boomers is that they will be without NBA centre Andrew Bogut, who will be recovering from ankle surgery, however the fine play of San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills is very heartening. Australia is led by San Antonio Spurs assistant coach, Brett Brown and boast a fine array of internationally experienced big men and wing players.
• Spain and France are the two representatives to fight their way out of the 2011 FIBA Europe Championship, in what is always a tough tournament. Spain of course are the main competitors to the USA in recent years, after winning the Gold at the 2006 World Championships and taking out Silver at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers), Rudy Fernandez (Denver Nuggets), Juan Carlos Navarro (Barcelona), Jose Calderon (Toronto Raptors), Marc Gasol (Memphis Grizzlies) and Congo-born Serge Ibaka (Oklahoma City Thunder) will form the core of the Spanish team, whilst star youngster Ricky Rubio (Minnesota Timberwolves) will miss through injury sustained in NBA play against Team USA's Kobe Bryant. France are led by Joakim Noah (Chicago Bulls), Tony Parker (San Antonio Spurs), Nicolas Batum (Portland Trail Blazers) and Boris Diaw (Spurs). Whilst they are stacked with talent, they have yet to win an international major tournament.
• China enter the tournament as the winners of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship. Whilst they are the power of Asia, they are unlikely to make much noise in London. China is in the unfortunate situation where they have lost superstar Yao Ming to injury, whilst team stars Wang Zhizhi and Liu Wei are aging. They will rely largely on the talents of Yi Jianlian (Dallas Mavericks) and "the Chinese Magic Johnson" Sun Yue (Beijing) for any and all success.
• The three final competing teams in the Olympics will be decided via a qualifying tournament.

Qualifying Tournament

The 2012 FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament will be held in Caracas, Venezuela from 2-8 July, 2012. The teams that will compete for the three positions in the Olympics will be:

There are more quality teams in this qualifying tournament than there are available qualifying positions. Russia, basketball-crazy Lithuania, Greece, Puerto Rico and New Zealand are the best shots at progressing.

More previews and analysis to come as the Olympic Games approach. The games will be played from 28 July to 12 August, 2012.

To celebrate their National Basketball League championship victory this past week, New Zealand Breakers forward Thomas Abercrombie and Gary Wilkinson jumped out of a plane. Yes, soaring through the air is what Abercrombie does on the court, but sky-diving to mark back-to-back NBL titles is something else.

These is nothing short of awesome. The current commercial on CCTV (Chinese television) for the 2012 NBA Playoffs features a very cool set of animations. Depicting the team logos of the competing teams, it also shows the star players that will compete for each team, as well as the injured Dwight Howard. Tim Duncan looks like he has used 10 years worth of anti-aging cream. Derrick Rose looks remarkably like Ronnie Brewer. And watching this animation, I could swear that Blake Griffin was Eurasian...  

Other television networks watching this could learn a lot on how to promote the NBA Playoffs.

You may remember the classless way with which Steve Francis entered the NBA in 1999: refusing to play for the Vancouver Grizzlies who drafted him. 

You may also remember the flashy crossover dribbles and dynamic play that made him joint Rookie of the Year with the Houston Rockets, as well as earning him three NBA All-Star Game appearances.

Perhaps you also remember the disappointing end to his career with the New York Knicks, a return to Houston and ultimately a short cameo with the Beijing Ducks in China.

Well, the rap video you are about to watch is more like the start and end of Stevie Franchise's career than the middle part. I entreat you, watch "Finer Things" featuring Steve Francis, through his music label, Mazerati Music...  

Sure, it has all been said before. Drazen Petrovic was an amazing talent -- a superb member of the pioneering group of European players making a mark in the NBA, after stellar international play.

His praises may have been sung here before, but it still concerns me that younger generations of basketball fans will fail to realise what they have missed out on. And every time I watch footage of Petro, my awe re-ignites.

The former Croatian star had a unique ability to put points on the board -- in a hurry. He did it in a way that made the game look fun too. He was one of those guys who slots the ball into the hoop with a sweet mid-range jumper, then follows it up with a dagger three point shot. Just ask Michael Jordan and the Dream Team, against which Petrovic managed to pile up 24 points (a game-high) in a losing Gold Medal game effort at the 1992 Olympic Games. His team may have not won, but Team USA had few answers for the class of the 27-year old shooting guard. (Sure, if the stories are true, MJ, Barkley & Co spent plenty of time on the blackjack tables between games and still managed to win every game, but they were called the Dream Team for a reason).

Whilst Petrovic's early days in the NBA were quiet, where he saw limited minues with the Portland Trail Blazers, a move to the New Jersey Nets saw a bonafide superstar emerge. In his final season in the NBA, before his untimely death in Poland, the Croat averaged 22.3ppg (11th in the league). Despite not being named an All-Star, he did receive the deserved honour of All-NBA Third Team.

There is so much more to the story of Drazen Petrovic. If you are a basketball fan who is unaware of this former star who died in 1993, you need to acquaint yourself with his wikipedia entry and watch his highlights on youtube. In particular, one youtube user "CroPETROForever" comes up with new clips all the time. 

Watch this latest video Drazen Petrovic - Basketball Mozart II and go from there. His prime years were not seen by the basketball world, but the years we did see were of a very high quality.