One of the few bright spots in the Indiana Pacers’ slow start has been the encouraging play of second-year center Roy Hibbert. Throughout the preseason and the early part of the regular season, the former Georgetown Hoyas standout has upped all his stats. In his first four games of the ‘09-10 season, Hibbert is averaging 10.8 points, 10.3 rpg and 2.2 bpg. We sat down with Roy a few nights ago, when the Pacers were in town to play the Knicks. Read More »

Saving the biggest for last. As I’ve covered before, this isn’t a typical “best players” ranking. If you see a high school kid listed higher than an NBA All-Star here, nobody’s saying the prep is better than the pro. Instead, I’m looking at the whole picture: Who had an overall better season? Pound-for-pound, who made the biggest impact on their level? Who made the biggest mark on the entire game of basketball? Who made this season his own? So here are my Top 10 — not “10 best” — centers from the ‘08-09 season… Read More »

I’m doing my best to avoid living in the past, and I still don’t understand why Allen Iverson is sifting through role-player money offers from Lottery teams who all want him to come off the bench. One of the best guards in the League (still) is floundering on the free agent market — a player who just one season ago averaged 26 points, seven assists and two steals a night on a playoff team — and he’s being treated like Jannero Pargo.

To answer the question posed in this morning’s Smack, I think A.I. is the victim of an undeserved bad reputation that festered over time and is finally catching up with him. Read More »

Enough of the rumors; Tuesday saw one actual, real-life NBA trade go down (or at least be agreed to in principle) that seriously impacts the 2010 championship race, and another that great impacts the top of tomorrow’s Draft. The Spurs basically stole Richard Jeffferson from the Bucks, sending them Bruce Bowen, Kurt Thomas and Fabricio Oberto. And since Milwaukee will most likely buy out Bowen and he’ll re-sign with San Antonio for the minimum, the Spurs really didn’t lose much here … Jefferson fell off the map playing for the sorry, never-on-TV Bucks last year (19.6 ppg, 4.6 rpg), but he’s still the guy you remember from New Jersey, only a year removed from being heavy in the All-Star discussion. Read More »

There’s a debate going in Major League Baseball circles about re-naming the Cy Young award (best pitcher in each league) after Satchel Paige, the reasons for which you can read HERE.

Taking it to basketball, it’s time to look at some of the NBA’s trophies and consider re-naming them, or giving them a name in the first place. The Finals MVP just got the Bill Russell stamp this year, so that’s not going anywhere. And the Red Auerbach Coach of the Year trophy will never change, no matter how many rings Phil Jackson collects. Read More »

To clarify: Our NBA Fantasy Finals have nothing to do with the stat-driven “fantasy basketball” you play online. We’re taking NBA Finals teams throughout history and pitting them against each other to see what you think would happen. Assume both lineups are healthy, and the older team gets homecourt. Today it’s The Dream and The Glide versus J-Kidd and some guys who made a lot of money off of him … Read More »

In case you missed it the first two times, our NBA Fantasy Finals have nothing to do with the stat-driven “fantasy basketball” you play online. We’re taking NBA Finals teams throughout history and pitting them against each other to see what you think would happen. Assume both lineups are healthy, and the older team gets homecourt. Today it’s A.I. vs. Flash … Read More »

After ranking the top 30 players of the first round, who brought up the rear as the biggest flops of the postseason so far? (Second round included.)

10. Travis Outlaw “Mr. 4th Quarter” needs to show up for the other three. He had a couple crunch-time moments in the Blazers/Rockets series, but Outlaw’s shot was generally off throughout (31% FG, 9.0 ppg). With a $4 million salary that comes off the books in 2010, and the Blazers bringing back a healthy Martell Webster next season, don’t be surprised if Outlaw gets traded. Read More »

Today is one of the saddest days of the year. Not because of the weather, or the fact that I had to re-up on my $81 monthly Metro Card, but because Dikembe Mutombo’s career-ending injury signifies the end of an era. Bigger than the game, take a look back on Deke’s life.

Is Mutombo a first-ballot Hall of Famer?

Cavs/Pistons is one of those series that makes us pine for the days of the first round being best-of-five. By now it’s pretty obvious Detroit is cooked; they showed some heart in cutting Cleveland’s 30-piecing in half during the fourth quarter last night (with Will Bynum as the sparkplug), and maybe they can steal one at home if Cleveland relaxes, but really, we know who’s moving on from this and who’s gonna pop up on Kenny Smith’s “Gone Fishin’” poster … Read More »