Sometimes you forget how good Shawn Kemp was. This will make you remember.

“I grew up and wanted to go to Carolina to play basketball, but then I woke up and went to Wake Forest,” said Chris Paul at the NBA Store yesterday as he made an appearance to promote his new children’s book, “Long Shot: Never Too Small to Dream Big.” Growing up in North Carolina, every kid wanted to go to UNC for of one reason, and one reason only: Michael Jordan. Yesterday, CP3 was taken aback as he was presented with a gift honoring his childhood hero. Read More »

After the Hall of Fame festivities ten days ago, reader J.Tobias hit us up wanting to share his personal HOF experience. While the majority of the world was watching from home, J actually made it to Springfield. Here is his story: Read More »

At first glance, the Indiana Pacers have all the characteristics of a bad franchise. They missed the playoffs last year. They were ranked 28th overall in attendance in 2008-‘09. They appear on national TV a whopping three times this season (two of those are NBA TV). And the average basketball fan probably couldn’t name more than three players on their roster.

But the funny the about it is, they aren’t that bad. Read More »

We argue. You decide.

HEDO TURKOGLU (by Ben York) If I’m honest, I’m not a big fan of either Hedo or Rashard. In my humble opinion, I think they are both a bit overpaid, overrated, and over-hyped. However, when comparing the two in order to determine who is better, my money is undoubtedly on Hedo.

During the playoff run for the Magic last year, he was the glue that ultimately held the team together. Rashard would show up for one game, then be completely absent the next. Read More »

When you work in an office with basketball junkies, the conversations sometimes can get very heated about very specific things. For example, yesterday the trivia question floating around out there was seeing if you could name all 14 active NBA players that are in the Top 100 on the all-time scoring list. While there are definitely some obvious ones (Shaq, Iverson, Kobe), there are others that took us a minute to figure out (Finley, Stackhouse, Juwan Howard). While we jokingly put it out there that LeBron could be in the Top 100 despite just playing six NBA seasons, we decided to look it up and see where he stands. The results are kind of amazing. Read More »

While the Cavs figure out what they need to do about Delonte West and possibly keep some Plan B’s in mind, more details of Delonte’s arrest emerged yesterday. Most importantly from a basketball standpoint, Delonte’s first court date isn’t until late-November, about three weeks into the regular season. So it’s unlikely the NBA will take any kind of disciplinary action before then, and Delonte can start the season playing ball and keeping Anthony Parker away from his starting SG job. West is being charged with two misdemeanor concealed-weapon counts, which is about the best he could’ve hoped for … LeBron was in New York yesterday on the latest stop in his summer-long media tour, this time to promote his documentary More Than a Game. Read More »

In Monday’s Smack, we told you about how Duke and Coach K were shaking up the balance of power in the college world by squeezing Indiana out of the picture for Kyrie Irving and luring Austin Rivers (Doc’s son) to campus for a visit, even though he’s officially committed to Florida.

And tonight there’s more. Read More »

Of all the refs in the NBA, Dick Bavetta is by far my favorite. And not just because he almost beat Charles Barkley in a foot race. But because in his 34 NBA seasons, since 1975, he has never missed an assigned game. Unfortunately for Dick, he may be watching the start of the season this year from his couch at home. Read More »

Every NBA team has a go-to guy, and there’s really only room for one. And it’s not always about taking a last-second shot. It’s the guy who regularly gets the ball when things are getting tense in the fourth; the guy expected to calm things down when teammates are getting sloppy; the guy called upon to snuff out an opponent’s rally, or spark a rally of his own; the guy who’s not just supposed to make shots, but make the right decisions. Bottom line: Who do you want the offense to run through when everything is on the line? From #30 to #1, these are the League’s best go-to guys… Read More »