Here are a couple of good basketball-related Q&A’s in the piece:

(5) How applicable are powerlifiting exercises for elite basketball players? Do you think powerlifting is overly excessive for basketball players, in that basketball is largely a finesse-driven game?

I work with lots of basketball players and none of them do powerlifting routines, as they are way to extreme for the usually tall, lanky player. However, the squat, bench press, and deadlift exercises are very effective to help a player develop size, strength, speed, and power. Sets, reps, intensity, frequency, and tempo are all different for different ages, genders, and ability levels. When these lifts are appropriately used, they also prevent injuries.

(6) What tips can you give to basketball players seeking to increase their vertical leap?

The vertical leap can be improved with explosive power training exercises like Olympic lifts, plyometrics, and dynamic stretching. The squat also aids in developing leapers, as it teaches good extension (thrusting) of the hips. The more an athlete can lift over his/her body weight, the easier it is to overcome their own gravity against the ground. The greatest leapers I have ever trained all squat 1.5 times their weight. Donnie Brown squats more than triple his weight and can jump 42 inches.

Each of my NFL clients at Elias Sports Management has only one body.  And if they go out there on the field and royally screw it up, they’re done… game over… their NFL dream has ended.

As for myself… I can gain one hundred pounds and not worry about losing my job, because I’ll still have my mouth to keep me going (as long as someone doesn’t come around and stuff something in it – HA!).  But my guys… I gotta be veeeery protective of them, because if their body is hobblin’ around, we all might find ourselves in a huge heap of trouble if the condition isn’t properly handled.  That’s why when one of my client’s is hurting, I have to be there for him to make sure he receives the proper medical attention he needs, or else he’ll potentially be at risk of not being able to play football at all anymore and then I’ll be down a client.

Since everyone thinks football is such a macho sport, they assume that players should be able to suck it up and play while they’re injured.  Well, that’s about the most naive belief I’ve ever heard of.  If you’re a player in the NFL who’s making five million dollars a year to play a GAME and some bad luck blows out your knee, you’re gonna be stuck in a pretty rough situation.  You can either take your time to rehab your injury with the utmost care, or you can rush your recovery, return to the field prematurely, and then potentially re-injure the same knee so badly that it ends your career.

With that scenario firmly implanted in your mind, you can probably now understand why playing with an injury is a dumb idea.  If you’re a client of mine who’s hurt, I’m going to make sure you’re as healthy as can be before you return to the game, because I’m not going to risk my client losing his dream job or myself losing one of my dream clients.

I’ll never forget the time one of my clients had an ankle issue that slowing him down.  I had my idea of how I wanted him treated and the team he played for had theirs.  It was during a period in his career when he was really trying to make everyone a believer in him, so to be out of the game for an extended period of time really wasn’t something he felt comfortable doing.  Quite simply, he just flat-out didn’t want someone else to come along and take his place while he was out of action.

Thanks to the NFL’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, which allows players to get a second medical opinion on their injuries, I had my agency’s in-house Medical Director, David Elias (aka my brilliant brother – what up, “Big Dog!”) hook him up with one of the top ankle specialists in the world, who ultimately recommended a different line of treatment that would cause my client to be able to return to the game at 100% in a timely, not rushed, fashion.

As far as the team’s recommendation goes, they wanted to run with a treatment that was, in our opinion, a bit on the risky side, but would have gotten my client back on the field much quicker.  Yet even though our two parties had differing opinions on our guy’s circumstances, the team was more than happy about our desire to seek a second opinion, because not only would it potentially help us in our search for the best remedy, but it could also potentially affirm the team’s initial diagnosis.

Just a few days after an impressive 32 point, 9 assist performance against Chauncey Billups and the Nuggets, Brandon Jennings dropped an insane stat line. 55 points on 21/34 from the field (62%), 7/8 from 3pt range (88%), 5 rebounds and 5 assists with 4 turnovers. What makes his 55 point performance even more impressive is that he failed to score a point in the first quarter, went for 29 in the third, and most important of all, led his team to a victory.

Jennings’ difficult time in Europe has been well documented. From getting kicked out of practice for not working hard enough, to meager playing time and scoring output, many skeptics deemed his choice a failure very early on. However, Jennings apparently learned a great deal in his year abroad. While his flashy style and controversial public comments have painted one picture of Jennings, his actions and performance in the NBA have displayed something very different thus far.

When top scorer Michael Redd went down with yet another knee injury, many said “here we go again” for the woeful Bucks. However, Jennings apparently was not one of them. He has picked up the scoring load, shown poise and leadership, helping to guide his team to a 5-2 record with a 4 game win streak. He is also leading his team in points (25.6) and assists (5.1). Jennings is also adding over 4 rebounds a game, 1 steal and shooting nearly 50% from the floor and 57% on 3pt.

There is no question that we surely will see players choose the path of Brandon Jennings by going to Europe as opposed to their requisite year of college. There also certainly will be those who are not fit to make that jump. Hopefully we do not see a rash of “advisors” steering players who should be playing college basketball, towards the overseas payday for their own monetary gain; however, it may in fact be a good move for some players.

Maybe it takes a year of sitting on a bench in Europe, getting treated like any other professional player and having to work hard, rather than walking around a college campus like a celebrity for a year. Maybe it is too stressful for some to be labeled the next Jordan, Kobe, LeBron, etc. every night on ESPN during March Madness. Maybe, for some, this really is a successful path to choose.

While it is still too early to grade the Jennings experiment a complete success, I would venture to say that he is off to an exceptional start and proving a lot of doubters wrong. Somewhere Sonny Vaccaro is smiling.

When I was first contacted in July by Bob Apprill of DARI Sports, I was not sure about his product.  The email I received from Bob seemed like a whole lot of gibberish.  I am happy that I followed up on that initial communication, however.  Here is part of what he said:

I represent DARI Sports (darisports.com), who has developed a new method to perform biomechanical analysis. This process has been developed specifically for athletes for the purpose of evaluating and increasing performance. Although there are various kinematic methods in place, we provide dynamic kinetic data never before achieved. Traditional methods involve the use of a force plate, and are relatively inaccurate. DARI’s analysis produces incredibly precise, and applicable, data in a much more concise manner. Although revolutionary, there are already several professional and collegiate athletes taking advantage of this new technology.

It sounded pretty interesting, and Pete Parise agreed to being a test subject for the new technology.  Just before Parise was tested at the Athletes Advantage facility, DARI Sports was visiting the University of Tennessee and collecting data on Freshman runningback, Bryce Brown.

On the morning of October 31, Pete Parise was the man being studied.  At first glance it looked like something out of a video game, with Pete in a 32 point reflective spandex suit, surrounded by cameras and laptops.  Over a two hour period, the researchers at DARI put Parise through a series of tests from biomechanical evaluation, to a movement based athletic test and a sports specific fatigue program.  Parise would throw, then the staff at DARI would fatigue him and then repeat the process.  While throwing, DARI’s motion-capture system recorded every movement made by Parise from the beginning of his pitch to the end.  The cameras immediately sent the information in 3-D format to the laptop recording all the information.

After the testing, Ed Smith of Athletes Advantage stated, “The progressive fatigue protocol to demonstrate the effects of fatigue on throwing mechanics was unique and beneficial to our athletes.”  The staff at Athletes Advantage received a detailed report of the findings.  These findings will further assist in Parise’s off-season development.

In a world where every athlete is looking to gain the smallest advantage over their competitors, the tools that DARI Sports provides can serve as a great value.  This is especially true as athletes are getting smart about staying away from performance enhancing drugs that have a great risk of jeopardizing their careers and their lives.

I would like to thank Bob Apprill and the rest of the team at DARI Sports for making this testing event possible.  For more information about DARI Sports, head over to their website: darisports.com.  A picture of Pete throwing during his testing is below.

You have heard of Brandon Jennings.  He had problems attaining the requisite scores to go to a D1 school and decided to play his first year out of high school overseas.  His struggles were documented, but he was still a lottery pick of the Milwaukee Bucks.  There were many doubters.  He has shut them up thus far.  Through five games, Jennings is leading the Bucks in points-per-game (18.4), assists-per-game (4.4), and minutes-per-game (31.6).  Doubters have become believers, and it has made the NCAA nervous that young players will read up on the Brandon Jennings Experiment, deciding to play overseas for a year, pocket that money, and then hopefully be a lottery pick in a future draft.  Not so fast..

While Brandon Jennings may have “cheated the system”, there are those that believe he will be a rare exception.  They look at someone like Jeremy Tyler, who has not yet tested his luck in the NBA or its draft, but has been struggling mightily overseas in Israel.  Tyler left the states a year younger than when Jennings left; he left before he completed his senior year of high school.  His coach in Haifa is not too fond of him thus far, calling him lazy, out of shape, naïve, and immature. I find it interesting that after only two games, Pete Thamel of the New York Times can already confidently say,

The Milwaukee Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings skipped college and had rocky moments while playing last season in Rome. But they were nothing compared with Tyler’s.

What does this tell us?  Not much, yet.  Tyler still has a lot of time to prove himself overseas.  And let us not forget how much criticism Jennings received before becoming a solid player in the NBA.  It seems like some of our memories are very short.  I think it is way too early to call Tyler a bust.  However, if Tyler is unable to thrive in Israel and does not pan out in the NBA, then perhaps Jennings will be looked at as a fluke success story, and Tyler’s story may dissuade others from following his path.

One thing that is certain is that there are a lot of important people paying particular attention to how Tyler fairs in the long run.  Those entities include advisors like Sonny Vaccaro, agencies like Wasserman Media Group, executives within the NCAA, David Stern, shoe companies, and many others.  Personally, I hope that Tyler wakes up and gets his mind right, because as an agent, I love having more options for potential clients.  If a future Jennings or Tyler came to me asking for guidance on what to do, I’d like to have confidence that playing overseas instead of NCAA basketball will not kill his future.

Being a fan of Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) and more specifically, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), I have followed the sport closely and admired the skill and level of the athletes involved and the business savvy of the people in charge. MMA is an emerging sport around the world with the UFC being the number one organization internationally;  it has the deepest talent pool, and the most name recognition. If it were up to me, everyone would share my passion for the sport and I could talk about a pay per view event with the common sports fan like it was a Monday Night Football game, sharing in depth opinions and competitive banter. Instead, I have a few friends who enjoy the sport casually and am left trying to “convert” the others, much like the UFC is trying to do with mainstream sports fans.

To hear UFC president Dana White tell it, if there were four corners on a street and on one corner there was a basketball game, one corner there was a football game, one corner there was a baseball game and on one corner there was a fight; everyone would go watch the fight. This statement might make sense, especially when the UFC can go overseas to England and have an easier time marketing itself than the NFL; but I don’t think people would stay and watch if the fighters were just laying on each other or kicking each other in the leg every 30 seconds or so; I’m sure they’d find their way back to the football game at some point. This is the biggest problem in my opinion the UFC and fans like myself face in recruiting more fans. People love to watch two guys stand up and throw punches at one another. Chuck Liddell became a celebrity and grew the UFC brand by doing just that, but it is hard for a prospective fan of the sport to understand the complexity of the ground game and what goes on. Deciphering a good punch is way easier then noticing a solid display of the rubber guard. Never heard of the rubber guard? Don’t worry, most people haven’t and that barrier can make a technically sound fight look like two guys laying on one another for extended amounts of time. This is bound to happen from time to time, but what if it happened in a highly anticipated main event that you paid $50 to watch?

On April 19, 2009, UFC Middleweight champion Anderson Silva fought number one contender Thales Leites for the title at UFC 97. I had convinced a few friends of mine to come watch the fight with me at a local bar and was doing my best to try and describe the dominant brilliance of Silva’s career to that point, and get them ready for an exciting main event. When the fight did happen; however, the opponent, who must have heard what I thought was going to happen to him, failed to engage Silva and it made for, in my opinion, the most boring 25 minutes of my life (you can compare it to watching the Browns-Bills game earlier this year). Afterward I found myself trying to make excuses for the UFC and told my friends it was a fluke, but needless to say, it has been much harder to get them to come to any more pay per view events on a Saturday night.

Two weeks ago, UFC 104 happened in Los Angeles at the Staples Center. This was a big market event for the UFC,which was traveling outside its comfort zone of Las Vegas, and there were a lot of new fans and money to be made. The main event featured Light Heavyweight Champion, Lyoto Machida against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua for the title. What transpired was much like my experience with the Anderson Silva fight, only Rua, the clear cut winner of the fight, lost in a decision. This left the fans who had watched and the people who had covered the event dumbfounded and it had been an anti-climactic end to a sub par night of fights. Former UFC Light heavyweight champion, Quinton “Rampage” Jackson had this to say about the fight: “I was watching the fight this weekend with the director of the A Team movie, the movie crew & a couple of actors & I never been ashamed to be a part of MMA till now. The UFC looked like (sic) this weekend. The main event was boring. I anticipated that because let’s be real.. Machida is a boring fighter. But Shogun getting robbed like that was pretty cut throat. Then you hear Joe Rogan say you ‘you have to beat the champ to be a champ.’ & that made me think the UFC are full of (sic)!”

Fights like this lose fans, period. A more casual fan buying a UFC event for the first time would be hard pressed to shell out his hard earned money on a pay per view or substantially higher priced seats to an event after an experience such as this. It is hard to put a finger on how to go about making the sport more attractive to potential viewers, but I think the UFC needs to amend its for-the-most-part stellar plan and deliver the kind of quality that is undeniable.

There is a lot of uncharted ground to be covered for the UFC in its quest for world domination. I think for the most part the organization is doing a good job, but lately I would say that it has become complacent in its company mold, and to really shine, it needs to bend it a little. In the coming weeks, I will continue to write about MMA and the UFC, sharing my opinion,s because I have seen the great fights and know how good it can be.  I just need you guys to join the fun.

I am interested in hearing what you guys think and how you perceive MMA on this site, so leave comments and hopefully we can have some fun with a weekly MMA thread.

Alfred was asked 10 questions and responded with very extensive answers for every single one of them.  Strength and core training is important not only for all athletes, but really for everyone.  As agents, we may find ourselves sitting at a desk or on planes for long periods of time.  Alfred’s wisdom can come in handy for a wide variety of people.  He also provides some good advice on the challenges of starting up a business.

The interview may be read, in its entirety, here.

The end of the 2009 NFL season will allow a number of solid football players to hit the open market. Usually, in the last year of players’ contracts, that player will play hard and put forth a great deal of effort in order to receive a substantial contract the following year. This year, however, some of the big names in the league are not showing teams that they are worth big pay days.

PFTV reported on Braylon Edwards‘ sloppy season and how his year has fallen apart five weeks in. Other players such as Shawne Merriman, Demarcus Ware, and Terrell Owens are having pretty sub-par seasons so far.

After the Brady Quinn failure in Cleveland, Braylon Edwards hoped that Derek Anderson would hit him with some passes……fail. Then, as if his 0 catch game against the Bengals was bad enough, he allegedly punched LeBron James’ friend after the game at around 2:30 AM (this case is still being looked at). Let’s see if he can earn a big pay check using Mark Sanchez’s arm.

Merriman’s troubles started with his injury last year; after returning and looking forward to a promising season, he was arrested on domestic violence charges (this case was tossed). In my eyes, Merriman is still a solid football player – he is only 25 and has a lot of years ahead of him if he can rehab properly. However, his 8 total tackles in 4 weeks has failed to prove me right.

You can blame Terrell Owens’ mediocre season on Trent Edwards (otherwise known as Captain Checkdown), or you can blame it on Buffalo’s solid running game this season, or you can blame it on whatever you’d like. With 8 receptions for 158 yards and 1 touchdown, T.O. has not impressed me this season and to be honest, I have no clue where he could end up next season.

Demarcus Ware has only 16 tackles and 1 forced fumble so far this season. Not horrible, but not good for someone looking to score big in the “cha-ching” department. Manny Lawson of the 49ers has 23 tackles so far and Patrick Willis has 37 tackles, 2.5 sacks and 2 interceptions (Willis is a MLB, though).

It’s all about performing in the NFL. If these guys don’t clean up their acts and get their heads in the game, they will be left with less cash than guys like Derrick Mason, Ronnie Brown, Pierre Thomas and Darren Sharper, who are all playing exceptionally well.

Portsmouth Football Club of the English Premier League has undergone some difficulties under owner Sulaiman Al Fahim. The club has finally reached an agreement with a new owner who will hold a 90% stake in the club. From Saudi Arabia, Ali al Faraj, has made his mark as a billionaire through the work with his company Falcondrone Limited. Under the new regime, the club expects to have at least $50 million dollars pumped into the club, catching them up with some expenses. Portsmouth allegedly had some financial skeletons come out of the closet last week. The club revealed that Portsmouth’s executives and players did not receive their salaries on time, creating some turmoil that is unacceptable in professional sports.

Lionel Messi joined FC Barcelona at the age of 13, where he lit up opponents and scored his way to a massive contract with the premiere squad, eventually earning a starting job.  On Sept. 18^th, Messi chalked up a new deal with the club and never wants to leave, stated the official Barcelona website.  The luminary striker and celebrated Argentinean national player will be under a new contract with the club until 2016. The club has yet to disclose any official amount of money that the new contract is worth, but under his previous contract, this stud was being paid between $10 – $12 million dollars annually. Some Spanish press are projecting that Messi will earn between $15 – $18 million dollars per year with his new contract.

Buyout clauses are common in sports negotiations and contracts.  Buyout clauses are used if a player or team decide to dissolve the contract and relationship at any point during contracted years. It is similar to making a premarital agreement in order to protect both parties involved. For soccer players in Europe, especially with young guns, these clauses are very important considering the amount of attention these players will receive from other clubs during their tenure under contract. The buyout allows a team to purchase a player or buyout their contract for a specific price. In Messi’s situation he had a buyout clause of $220 million dollars in his previous contract. However, turning 22 years old and just reaching his prime, the Argentinean has a new buyout clause of $367 million dollars for his next 6 years.  Seems a bit pricey to pay for a player, but after seeing Real Madrid and Manchester City spend a couple hundred million dollars it may be realistic and necessary.

To put things into perspective, Messi is considered one of the best players in the entire world, if not THE best. Fellow soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo is also considered one of the world’s top performers and set a new record in terms of a buyout clause. Chairman of Real Madrid, Florentino Perez, wanted to protect their new star from any oil sheiks that had him on their mind. Ronaldo and Real Madrid agreed upon a $1,000,000,000 Euro buyout clause earlier this summer, making Ronaldo the first ever billion euro player; his previous buyout was worth $200,000,000 euro. If a team were to buy Ronaldo, they would essentially pay the salaries of the other 66 players under contract with Real Madrid. Now that is some serious dough!