Henson now on NBA.com

Philippine Star sports columnist Joaquin Henson made his debut on the National Basketball Association (NBA) website nba.com yesterday as a member of the select NBA Blog Squad.

Henson was invited by NBA official Julian Segui in a long distance phone call from New Jersey to join the Blog Squad made up of writers, coaches and players who are asked to share their views on the league in the website.

Six bloggers are featured daily on nba.com. Henson’s initial contribution appeared with blogs from former Orlando Magic coach and ABC-TV sports analyst Doc Rivers, former Women’s National Basketball Association star and NBA TV commentator Rebecca Lobo, Israeli journalist Yaron Talpaz, Chicago Bulls guard Jay Williams and Spanish writer Rafael Alique.

The NBA Blog compiles contributions from a select group on an ongoing basis in on-line journals on the league’s official website.

In Henson’s exclusive Blog, he is described by the NBA as "a popular Philippine sports columnist and broadcaster for more than 30 years (who) has covered five NBA Finals on-site for Philippine TV, nicknamed the ‘Dean’ for his scholarly approach to the game (and) has received several awards, including the first-ever Olympism Award from the Philippine Olympic Committee (in 2003) for excellence in journalism."

The NBA website accounts for over six million unique visitors and nearly 58 million hits each month. Fans spend a combined total of 7.8 million hours on the site monthly. Half of the website hits are from the US. Nba.com is the first and only professional sports league website to offer language-specific international web destinations. Its nine global destinations are Brazil, Canada, China, Spain, France, Germany, Japan, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

The Philippines ranks No. 8 among the top 10 countries outside the US visiting nba.com. The top 10, in order, are China, Canada, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Spain, Australia, Germany, the Philippines, Japan and France.

Henson’s appearance on the website provides access to his writings for millions of NBA fans all over the world. He is the only Filipino invited by the NBA to join the Blog Squad.