HOOP May/June 2012

Jeremy Lin

LeBron James

Kobe Bryant

AN OFFICIAL NBA PUBLICATION

No Doubt About It*

Kevin Durant Is the MVP

* AS FAR AS WE’RE CONCERNED

Dwyane Wade

MAY/JUNE 2012

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WARMUPS

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Sometimes basketball can be painfully simple: Penetrate into the paint, draw the defense in, and then ďŹ nd an open teammate whose defender has vacated him. Despite his rookie status, Klay Thompson understands this premise as Dominic McGuire plays the beneďŹ ciary.

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WARMUPS

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NBA players are taught from a young age to never take their eyes off of the ball. As All-Stars, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Steve, know this all too well, never averting their gaze upon the sphere, even as they’re headed for the expensive seats. Case in point: Notice how no one sitting courtside is even looking at the direction of the ball—clearly not NBA material.

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WARMUPS

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It was a former Sun who unfurled the infamous “Hocus Pocus” blindfolded dunk during the 1992 Slam Dunk Contest, but Jared Dudley wasn’t paying homage to Cedric Ceballos during this play. The Suns forward was having a wardrobe malfunction, likely a result of a Piston inadvertently pulling his headband down. Still, we’re sure Cedric was proud.

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feel cool, feel confident adidas personal care for men developed with athletes

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WARMUPS

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While it looks like everyone is in “Awe of Wall,” as John Wall flies up to catch the oop, the spoiler is that Wall actually wasn’t able to convert. Oops.

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SOUTH BEND, INDIANA IS WHERE I’M FROM. A UNITED STATES MARINE IS WHO I AM. Every day I protect my home and yours.

HONORING THE COMMUNITIES WE PROUDLY DEFEND.

Visit Marines.com/WhereImFrom to hear our stories.

Get a limited edition wallpaper and watch a new video. Scan this QR Code with your mobile phone’s QR Reader OR text MARINE to 74139.

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may/June 2012 FeaTures

The Gameplan

42 1-2, Who Knew?

There was a ridiculous $500 million dollar lotto jackpot this year and the odds of winning that were miniscule at best. Even more unfathomable is the possibility of an undrafted, twice-cut former NBA D-Leaguer from Harvard and a second-round pick from Stanford sharing a backcourt for the New York Knicks. Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields beat the house and now run the World’s Most Famous Arena.

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50 By and Large It took some time and much growing—well, not literally, as he entered the League as a strapping 7-footer—but Andrew Bynum has paid off the Lakers’ patience in him quite nicely. He became a first-time All-Star this season and is continuing the great lineage of great Lakers centers.

Merit and Worth

With so many deserving players vying for the MVP, we went with our gut choice, the guy who stood out as the best baller from day one through the final buzzer of the last game, who improved with each passing game, who led his team to wins and put them in position for a championship. Kevin Durant, our MVP.

58 Setting the Tone

50

Since Tim Duncan arrived in San Antonio, the Spurs have revolved around him for over a decade. But after many battles and four championships, Duncan has gradually moved into a supporting role. In his place is Tony Parker, a lieutenant to three of those titles who’d like nothing more than to send off his old general with one more ring.

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64 Piecing the Puzzle

Poster

Championship teams are not born; they’re made.

Every team employs their own strategy of building a contender but ultimately, assembling them requires a combination of skill in evaluating personnel, smarts in managing and juggling the salary cap and a bit of luck during the draft and staying healthy.

Hard to believe, but Blake Griffin makes our poster debut; Bill Russell has 11 rings and the other side.

39 24 Seconds with Lou Williams He might come off the bench, but this sixth man supreme answers our questions like a starter.

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HOOP

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tHe GamepLan Departments

16 The Point 21 Jumpball

Head2Head: The duel between the best duos in the NBA; numerology: The 123s of the NBA; First Five: Jeff Teague, C.J. Watson, Paul George, Nikola Pekovic, Ty Lawson; Brack-it: Best all-time signature celebration; Dance Life: Michelle of the San Antonio Spurs Silver Dancers; transition Game: Brad Miller; Celeb row: Wale; Know your newb: Iman Shumpert.

82 Call-Out

85 Check It

Saying goodbye to a few faces in the NBA and two numbers get the rafters treatment.

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98 Stepback

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Looking back at the start of Chicago’s second threepeat.

may/June 2012

spin moves: Jared Dudley knows what he likes to do off the court; Goods: We have no doubt you’ll like our choice selects of gadgets, especially the latest iPad and the HTC One; Gear: What NBA players will be wearing during the playoffs and a breakdown of the teched-out Hyperdunk+; Wear: The weather is getting warmer, so should your shoes and garb.

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100 Final Exam Dirk Nowitzki might need to enroll in summer school.

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HOOP

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TV t ONLINE t MOBILE

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TO ORDER CALL YOUR CABLE, TELCO OR SATELLITE PROVIDER TM & © 2012 Turner Entertainment Networks, Inc. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Copyright © 2012 NBA Media Ventures, LLC. All rights reserved.

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THE PoiNT “How could you ever vote against LeBron?”1 Someone2 asked me that when I told him about our cover choice.3 He is right. I liken it to picking someone other than Magic or Bird during the ’80s. Or anyone not named Michael Jordan in the ’90s. I’d imagine it was the same way during the ’60s when Wilt/Russell battled for big man supremacy while Oscar Robertson was laying out the blueprint for LeBron and the Kareem-centric ’70s. Those guys were so dominant4 that it’s unimaginable to pick anyone else for an individual award. But it happened,5 even then.

Guys have transcendent seasons,6 transforming the overall swagger of a team. And no, those seasons might not have been better than the standard-bearers, but they were noteworthy achievements. Their single-season greatness lifted their teams to greater heights warranting recognition.

The problem with greats, and using LeBron as an example, is that we’ve gotten accustomed to his performances and unfairly measure him at such lofty standards, he’s bound to only fall short, making a lesser candidate appear more enticing.7 Which brings me back to Kevin Durant. Is KD better than LeBron. No way.8 Is he the MVP?9 That aforementioned overzealous friend of mine: “Explain KD over Bron!”

I will.10

On a side note, the new Hyperdunk+ that will be available this summer11 is a must-cop for all serious and even casual ballplayers. When they were first introduced back in February, I was wowed. Through the years, I’ve seen my fair share of new and dope footwear, but they were all still just shoes. No, the Hyperdunk+ isn’t jet-propelled nor do they lace themselves,12 but they are game-changing. You can read about how Nike did it on page 91, but the crazy thing is how they will allow you to quantify and measure your game with friends and others around the world. It’s too bad my balky knees has dampened my vertical leap13 and stymied my quickness.14 Needless to say, my Nike+ basketball stats will not be shared over the Interwebs.

Volume 40, No. 2

Editor-in-Chief Ming Wong #2 Design Director Kengyong Shao #31 Assistant Editor Phil D’Apolito #14 Online Editor Darryl Howerton #21 Editor-at-Large Jeramie McPeek #4 Copy Editor Trevor Kearney #8 WNBA Editor Lois Elfman #40 Senior Writer Michael Bradley #53 Contributing Writers Russ Bengtson #43, Myles Brown #37, Christopher Cason #24, Jon Cooper #10, Jim Eichenhofer #12, Anthony Gilbert #1, Brian A. Giuffra #17, Melody Hoffman #34, Andy Jasner #27, Holly MacKenzie #32, Brett Mauser #25, McG #93, Jeff Min #12, Rob Peterson #9, Earl K. Sneed #23, Duane Watson #7 Illustrator Matt Candela #52 Retired Numbers #6, #11, #13, #30, #99

Professional Sports Publications 519 8th Avenue, New York, NY 10018 Tel: (212) 697-1460 Fax: (646) 753-9480 Executive VP Operations Jeff Botwinick Executive VP, Business Development Martin Lewis Executive VP, Sales Steve Farkas Executive VP, Sales Mitch Gibbs Executive VP, Team Relations Dave Gerschwer Executive Administrative Director Julie Wong Manager, Marketing Services Aron Sawyer Production Manager Jaime Ziegler Production Assistant Tara Malloy

NBA Publishing/NBA Photos Executive VP, and Executive Producer, Production, Programming, and Broadcasting Danny Meiseles Senior VP, Multimedia Production Paul Hirschheimer Senior VP, Entertainment & Player Marketing Charlie Rosenzweig Senior VP, Marketing Communications Mike Bass Senior Director, NBAE Production John Hareas Executive Vice President, Global Merchandising Group Sal LaRocca Vice President, Licensing Mary Pat Gillin

Ming Wong #2

Manager, Global Media Programs Felecia Groomster Senior Directors & Senior Official NBAE Photographers Andrew D. Bernstein, Nathaniel S. Butler Vice President, NBA Photos Joe Amati Director, Photos Imaging David Bonilla Official NBAE Photographer Jesse Garrabrant Senior Photo Editor Brian Choi Photo Coordinator Kevin Wright All NBA photos appearing in this magazine, unless otherwise indicated, are copyright of NBA Entertainment. All WNBA photos appearing in this magazine, unless otherwise indicated, are copyright of WNBA Enterprises. All NBDL photos appearing in this magazine, unless otherwise indicated, are copyright of NBDL Enterprises. HOOP is published monthly, December through June, by PSP. © 2012 Professional Sports Publications. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or part without permission of publisher is prohibited. To subscribe to HOOP, call (800) 829-3347.

PRINTED IN THE USA

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BONUS POINTS 1. Not a direct quote. The original was filled with more expletives, anger and astonishment that I left out.

2. You know who you are.

3. In full disclosure, the cover was originally supposed to be someone else.

4. 26 total MVPs from that legendary group.

5. Moses Malone snuck in two MVPs during the ’80s and one in 1979.

6. Moses Malone’s 1983 season and Charles Barkley’s run in ’93 come to mind.

7. They also fall prey to the he’ll-win-it-next-year syndrome.

8. At least not yet.

9. The cover speaks for itself.

10. Turn to page 72.

11. You’ll be seeing them on the feet of LeBron and other Olympians in London.

12. You just KNOW that Tinker Hatfield has a pair of those underneath his desk.

13. At my best, my “vertical leap” was good enough to hurdle this magazine. Barely, at that.

14. Mental agility counts, right?

HOOP

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Numerology

The 123s of The NBA

NathaNiel S. Butler; KeNt SMith; DaN lippitt; rocKy WiDNer (2); DaviD SherMaN/NBae/Getty iMaGeS

105 > 100

on the 50th anniversary of Wilt Chamberlain’s 100-point game, the Philadelphia 76ers as a team outscored Wilt’s magical night on 3/2/62, 105-100. Comparatively, the 76ers collectively went 42of-89 from the field (Wilt: 36-of63) and 13-of-16 from the line (Wilt: 28-of-32).

0-20

on the flipside to Gordon’s 45-point/0rebound game, Marcus Camby pulled down 20 boards with 0 points in just 24 minutes on 1/27.

Camby didn’t break any ground with that feat.

The last person to grab at least 20 boards without a point? Camby. (20 and 0 on 12/5/07)

Detroit’s Ben Wallace broke the NBA record of most games played by an undrafted player when he played in his 1,054th game, besting Avery Johnson.

Retiring after this season, Wallace will hold the distinction unless current runner-up Raja Bell can eventually eclipse him.

1,054

Jeremy Lin set an NBA record by scoring more points (136) over his first 5 starts, besting Shaquille O’Neal’s 129. Lin also set a record for most turnovers (36) over first 6 NBA starts.

136

On 3/17, Kevin Garnett became third player in NBA history to collect 20,000 points, 10,000 rebounds and 5,000 assists, joining Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Karl Malone.

45-0 On 3/21, Ben GOrdOn nOtched 45 pOints. nOt a histOric achievement unless yOu cOnsider that Only three Other players— Jerry stackhOuse, damOn stOudamire and kOBe Bryant—have scOred 45 Or mOre pOints with 0 reBOunds. Oh, and GOrdOn alsO tied an nBa recOrd By GOinG 9-Of-9 On three-pOint shOts.

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20K/10K/5K Club

18/20/17

3/4/12 Rondo Rondo’s triple-double line of 18 points, 20 assists and 17 rebounds on 3/4/12 made him the first player since Magic Johnson on 4/18/89 to record a trip-dub with at least 17 in each category. The last player to have a triple-double with numbers as high as Rondo in each category was Wilt Chamberlain, who had 22 points, 25 rebounds and 21 assists on 2/2/68. * numbers as of presstime HOOP

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head 2 head

durant/Westbrook vs. James/Wade When LeBron James took his talents to South Beach to team with Dwyane Wade, it formed one of the best duos in NBA history, but slowly brewing in Oklahoma City was a budding tandem in Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Who’s the best NBA power couple?

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Floor Game: What separates James/Wade from Durant/Westbrook is this category. As good and possibly better the OKC pair are and will be, they still have some catching up to the all-around skills that “Crockett & Tubbs” display. It’s common knowledge that LeBron is the most complete player statistically since Oscar Robertson and a freakish blend of Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan, able to play and excel (in spurts) all five positions. His partner is almost as good, equally adept at setting the table. On the break and in transition, this two-man break has no peer and could possibly be the best ever: two guys who are equally deadly as a finisher or passer with panache to match. If they could master the pick ’n roll, their lone halfcourt weakness would be addressed.

Durant/Westbrook are no slouches. Both are still developing beyond dropping points. Durant, in particular, has been taking up more of a playmaking role on offense. On the other hand, Westbrook, who has demonstrated a passing eye in the past, has looked to score more. They are also a nightmare in the open court, but still, they are a notch below James/Wade.

russell Westbrook GuArd, 6-3, 187 pounds oklahoma city thunder

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Scoring: There’s no shortage of points when discussing this quartet. You have four-time scoring champs within the group (Durant x 2, LeBron, Wade) with Westbrook fully capable of attaining one himself.

Between the four, there are plenty of ways to put points on the board. James/Wade combines to shoot a combined 53 percent while getting to the line (and making them) at a high rate. Durant/ Westbrook are just as aggressive getting to the charity stripe, aren’t far behind in shooting percentage at a tad below 49 percent and most importantly, they put up more points, much of it coming from the three-point line where they dominate the Heat duo in percentage and attempts. Still, James and Wade are more consistent and efficient, and boast an 18-ppg scorer in Chris Bosh on the roster, whereas the Thunder pair are called upon to shoulder more offense. Despite the big scoring output from the OKC duo, we have more confidence in the Heat tandem to put up points when it matters.

Advantage: James/Wade

Advantage: James/Wade

kevin durant forwArd, 6-9, 235 pounds oklahoma city thunder

Westbrook

Wade James 1-12 stats as of press time

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SPG

FG%

3PT%

FT%

PER

50.2

11.5

12.8

3.5

52.8

27.5

78.5

60.7

51.6

8.9

12.6

3.1

48.6

34.0

82.9

50.6

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Durant

PPG

HOOP

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3

Round

Defense: Durant and Westbrook have not yet forged their defensive reputation but certainly possess the tools to make it happen. Durant has the arms that would make him the envy in a game of Red Rover, and on the basketball court, it comes in handy for playing the passing lanes and disrupting shots. Westbrook is the quick-stepping guard who is more than willing to pounce on ballhandlers, but can be a bit overzealous at times.

Neither guy, though, is very physical nor known to be a stopper. On the flipside, both James and Wade have been known to clamp down on opposing players. Not since Michael Jordan/Scottie Pippen have two perimeter players wreaked as much havoc on defense, preying on the slightest miscue, turning turnovers into highlight fastbreaks.

As much has been said how the two have not fully meshed, defense is an area where their individual skills have combined well.

Wade is a matchup problem against almost all guards while James has the ability to guard 1 through 4 (and even the occasional 5). Combined, they put a lot of pressure on opposing offenses.

LeBron James forwArd, 6-8, 250 pounds miami heaT

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Leadership: Typically, leadership comes with wisdom and experience, two areas that the older Miami duo hold the cards to. However, Durant and Westbrook have the advantage of growing up together on teams that are just as green as themselves, making them de facto leaders with everyone knowing their role and falling into place from day one. While this on-the-job training might not work for all, it’s benefited the Thunder since the assembled team has been indoctrinated in Durant and Westbrook from the beginning. They might be young and look like they’re having a good old time, but don’t let the exterior fool their seriousness in becoming NBA champs. James came from the same leadership school as Durant/Westbrook and he leads while keeping the troops loose and having fun. Wade, on the other hand, is more old school, having learned under Pat Riley and guys like Alonzo Mourning and has the added benefit of having the seniority and Finals MVP to command respect. The two-headed approach has yet to clash and questions will abound until they can prove it with a title, but there’s no doubt which players run the show in South Beach.

Advantage: James/Wade

Advantage: James/Wade

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dWyane Wade GuArd, 6-4, 220 pounds Bruce yeunG/nBae/Getty IMaGes

miami heaT

Clutch: The thing that makes both duos so dangerous with the game on the line isn’t so much the individual ice that flows through each player’s veins. It’s the fact that on the floor with them wearing the same uni during these crucial situations is someone who is just as capable delivering the big blow. Teams can double- and triple a Kobe Bryant because the Lakers’ second option is infinitely more preferred to an opposing defense to shoot the ball. With OKC and Miami, a swing pass out from James to Wade or Durant (or vice versa) to Westbrook is just as bitter to swallow.

LeBron’s lack of “hero ball” (exhibit A: most recent All-Star Game) opens him up to criticism, but think about it this way: Few command as much attention as him and few have better ability to create something for teammates. Wade has proven his worth in the 2006 Finals and on many occasions following that. Durant/Westbrook is still climbing that ladder, but they are scaling it at the same rate James/Wade ascended to their current plateau.

Advantage: James/Wade

The VerdicT

While the score may read 5-nil in favor of the Miami duo, it’s also one where even being debated with them is a sign of respect for Durant/Westbrook. James/Wade is in such a class by themselves that the slightest discussion with any other is comical. The fact that we saw it fit to make a comparison says volumes about the Thunder tandem. We typically hedge a bit about the future growth and potential, but in the case of Durant/Westbrook it warrants it. They have played their entire careers together and with both being inked up for the long haul, we could be seeing a sixth sense develop with the two in time, much like other long-running twosomes.

HOOP

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FIRST FIVE

BY CHRISTOPHER CASON #24

Jeff Teague became a household name in last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals against the Chicago Bulls, holding his own1 against MVP Derrick Rose. The 19th pick in the 2009 draft seemingly came out of nowhere to give the Hawks a boost from the point guar dposition.

Atlanta Hawks Coach Larry Drew describes the series as a stepping stone for the 23-year-old and while he still wants to see more consistency on a nightly basis, he knows Teague’s talents add a dynamic to the roster that need if they are to improve as a contender.

“When he’s playing at the top of his game, he just makes us a better ball club,” says Drew. “His speed and quickness2 is just something we don’t have and when he’s playing like that, it just makes us effective.”

For Teague, the series against arguably the best player at his position was a chance to show he belonged and he used what he learned from that series to fuel his drive to improve in the offseason.

“Just being a complete player, trying to make the three-point shot with more consistency and other than that, just get stronger,” says Teague.3 “I always knew I was fast and could get to the rim but just trying to make my teammates better is a big thing for me.”

This playoff season, there will be no surprise playoff splash for Teague, but he’ll also be the unquestioned starting point guard for the Hawks.

0 – Guard - Atlanta Hawks

JEFF

TEAGUE BONUS POINTS

1. Teague played sparingly in the previous series against Orlando, but because of a Kirk Hinrich injury, he played all six games in the Semifinals against the Bulls, averaging 38 minutes per game and dropping three 21-point games in the series.

2. Teague is leading the team in steals at just under two (1.8) per game while averaging 12.3 ppg 3. Teague’s younger brother (Marquis) starts and plays for the Kentucky Wildcats and father (Shawn) and uncle (John) played for a young Rick Pitino at Boston College. Shawn ranks first in BU history with 201 career steals and second in assists at 662.

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and 4.3 apg.

HOOP

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END THE DEBATE. 15 LEGENDARY TEAMS. ALL OF TODAY’S SQUADS. ONE BIG QUESTION:

WHICH IS THE GREATEST TEAM OF ALL TIME?

#NBA2KDEBATE

NBA2KDEBATE.COM

OUT NOW

© 2005-2011 Take-Two Interactive Software and its subsidiaries. All rights reserved. 2K Sports, the 2K Sports logo, and Take-Two Interactive Software are all trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. The NBA and individual NBA member team identifications used on or in this product are trademarks, copyrights designs and other forms of intellectual property of NBA Properties, Inc. and the respective NBA member teams and may not be used, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of NBA Properties, Inc. © 2012 NBA Properties, Inc. All rights reserved. “PlayStation” and the “PS” Family logo are registered trademarks and the PlayStation Network logo is a trademark of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. KINECT, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox LIVE, and the Xbox logos are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies and are used under license from Microsoft.

Wii is a trademark of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo. The ratings icon is a trademark of the Entertainment Software Association. All other trademarks are property of their respective owners.

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CELEB ROW

TRANSITION GAME

Brad Miller

Wale His music is raw, but rapper Wale’s love of basketball is pure. Although it was football that landed him a college athletic scholarship, Wale Victor Folarin also spent time on the hardwood. His debut album, Attention Deficit, got great buzz and landed him some outstanding teammates. Now on the road with his Ambition Tour, Wale never misses the opportunity to play hoops or watch the best in action. His sneaker collection rivals pretty much anyone’s—some of it so rare he keeps it to himself.

You grew up in and around Washington, DC. What do you think of the Wizards?

They’ve got a lot of potential. John Wall is one of the great ones. Sometimes things start off rocky. Some of the best people in sports started off rocky. A lot of people don’t get their break until their fourth or fifth year when they get the right combination of coaches and players around them.

Who are your favorite NBA players?

Kevin Durant, John Wall, Derrick Rose, LeBron James, Kryie Irving, Chris Paul. I think right now the NBA is as exciting as it’s ever been.

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Taking in a game: courtside or box?

Courtside. I like hearing them talk trash to each other. I like to see the plays called. I like to see everything.

Which players have the best on-court shoe game?

Monta Ellis, Gilbert Arenas used to, LeBron, Kevin Durant.

What about off court?

KB [Kobe Bryant] and LeBron. I like what they wear. D Rose too, Jamal Crawford and Amar’e Stoudemire.

Who has the best signature shoe this season?

It’s close, but it’s kind of between Kevin Durant and LeBron. Kevin has so many colors that came out this year.

LeBron hasn’t got as many colors. Plus, I like the shape of the shoe more. I’m a fan of the air bubbles.

When you’re on tour, how do you figure basketball into your downtime?

Trying to get a game in all the time. We’re always trying to play. That’s how we stay in shape.

Do you ever copy moves you’ve seen at an NBA game?

They’d try to copy some of the stuff we do on court. We get away with more stuff when we’re running up and down just playing five-on-five.

Who’s the best: Michael Jordan or Magic Johnson?

Michael Jordan. His name is an adjective. He’s definitely running the show. It’s all Michael Jordan and everybody is after that.

Have you gone to a Nets game with Jay-Z? No, but I’ve sat in his seats a couple of times. His seats are right next to the players.

026

LOIS ELFMAN #40

CRAIG JONES; OTTO GREULE JR./GETTY IMAGES SPORT; ROCKY WIDNER (5); SAM FORENCICH; DON SMITH; NOAH GRAHAM (2); GLENN JAMES; RON HOSKINS; BILL BAPTIST/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

You’ve got a great sneaker collection. What is the rarest release you’ve gotten your hands on?

I’ve got a couple that were pulled that never came out. I can’t even wear them because somebody might get in trouble.

HOOP

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30 TEAMS. ONE DREAM. TO BE THE BIGGEST OF THEM ALL.

The NBA Playoffs April 28 – June 8

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FIRST FIVE In his fifth year in the League C.J. “Quiet Storm”1 Watson has gone from a relatively obscure player on an underachieving team to a key component on a squad poised for a deep playoff run—a journey that started in the NBA D-League,2 followed by a three-year stint with the Warriors and finally, now, with the Chicago Bulls. The long transition from one end of the spectrum to the other has had its fair share of obstacles, but none that the Las Vegas product hasn’t been able to overcome.

“I just wanted to get better each year,” says Watson in regards to his more assertive approach. “That was a big adjustment coming off the bench last year and playing limited minutes and not being able to get into the rhythm of things.3 This year I’m coming off the bench aggressive. I go out there and give it my all in those minutes and just try to make the best out of it.”

For the Bulls’ system, one that relies heavily on one dominant scorer, it’s pivotal for the second unit to come in and provide a surge4 of energy. And it’s Watson who’s been commissioned to streamline that assault. “I’m trying to get my teammates involved and I’m looking for my shot—being aggressive and producing,” explains Watson. “When I’m hitting my shot it opens up a lot more people like Kyle [Korver], Ronnie [Brewer], Taj [Gibson].”

So far this year the Bulls have been hit hard with injuries,5 losing key players6 for long stretches of time. Despite that the team still stands atop the NBA with the best record. “Thibs7 has been keeping us focused throughout the year whether we have the whole team or people out with injury,” says C.J. “I think we’re all focused especially with last year when we came up short from our expectations.”

Those expectations are set even higher this year and as the Playoffs approach C.J. and company are entering the home stretch with an unwavering sense of confidence, one that’ll give them the wherewithal to reach the ultimate prize. “The team wants to get back to that, the Eastern Conference Finals, and make it to the Finals,” says C.J. “That’s our goal to get past that point and make it to the Finals and win it.”

BY JEFF MIN #12

BONUS POINTS 1. Watson’s nickname is also the name of his foundation that benefits underserved youth through educational and recreational opportunities. It’s also his Twitter handle: @quietstorm_32.

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State he played in the D-League for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers where in 16 games he averaged 26.4ppg, 5.3rpg, 5.3apg and 1.38spg.

3. In his first year with the Bulls C.J. struggled to find his place as his scoring average (4.9 ppg) and minutes (13.3) dropped to the lowest since his rookie year.

4. Compared to last year C.J. has improved in every major statistical category including a spike in scoring at 9.9 ppg, the second highest output of his career.

5. In the absence of Rose the Bulls are 10-4, a winning rate of 71.4 percent. The only teams who can boast a higher percentage in everyday standings are Oklahoma City and Miami.

6. So far Rose has missed 14 games, Deng has missed 9 games and Richard Hamilton has missed 31 games.

7. With a win over Orlando on March 19th, Tom Thibodeau became the fastest coach in NBA history to reach 100 wins.

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2. C.J. went undrafted as a senior at the University of Tennessee. Before being called up by Golden

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BRACK-IT

EIGHT THINGS. ONE UNDISPUTED CHAMP.

BEST ALL-TIME PLAYER CELEBRATION Larry Johnson’s “Big L” vs.

Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles’s “Head Bump” When former No. 1 pick Larry Johnson came to the New York Knicks in 1996, LJ actually made the Knicks less colorful. Hard to believe, given that this was a man who dressed up as his own grandmother to sell shoes. But when the Knicks made an improbable run to the Finals in ’99, Larry Johnson got his groove back.

His celebration was simple yet perfect, an “L” made from his massive forearms.

No explanation necessary. This differed from the actions of a pair of rookies in Los Angeles. Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles celebrated big plays by tapping their headbands with clenched fists, a move that many copied but Q and Darius never saw fit to explain. The partnership didn’t last, and here in the first round they get the L.

Dikembe Mutombo’s “Finger Wag” vs.

Chris Andersen’s “Birdman” Chris “Birdman” Andersen puts the “color” in colorful.

Tattooed from his chin to (presumably) his toes, the 6-10 Andersen—7-1 with the hair gel—has been an athletic freak and fan favorite since he came into the League.

And for a man nicknamed Bird, his signature celebration is simple enough—an imaginary shadow bird held high above his head. Still, it’s not even the best celebration in Denver Nuggets history. Because then there’s Dikembe Mutombo, whose finger wag has become more or less the universal symbol for a blocked shot. When the NBA took issue with Deke wagging his finger directly at opponents, he turned to the crowd instead, who ate it up. Consider this another block.

Vince Carter’s “Motorcycle” vs.

Joakim Noah’s “Finger Gunz” Pick one, Unforgiven or Easy Rider. Bulls center Joakim Noah goes Western, pretending he is at the showdown at sundown, blazing away with both forefingers before holstering the pair in the waistband of his shorts. He has even been known to pull his Yosemite Sam act on the bench. The imaginary motorcycle belongs to Vince Carter, who revs the throttle on his way back downcourt in an attempt to rev the crowd—as if whatever gravity-defying feat he just accomplished wasn’t enough. In Phoenix, of course, he would have been upstaged by the Gorilla and his real Harley. Get used to the upstaging, Vince—Joakim moves on.

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BY RUSS BENGTSON #43

Dikembe Mutombo vs. Larry Johnson

WAG GER FIN

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We can sum up this round like this: Larry Johnson’s “L” defined a Finals run; Dikembe Mutombo’s finger wag taunted a generation. There may not have been a single player who suited up in the ’90s who wasn’t rejected and disrespected (word to Clyde Frazier) by Mount Mutombo. The results were all too predictable, too—after being on the wrong end of the wag, a player would get angry, take it even harder the second time, and more likely than not get rejected again. Except perhaps Michael Jordan. After getting wagged on by Mutombo, Jordan eventually came back to dunk over him. As revenge, MJ playfully returned the finger wag to Mutombo—in Jordan’s book, that is respect. So while LJ unleashed a dramatic four-point play on the Pacers’ Antonio Davis, Dikembe Mutombo infuriated everyone. Wag that finger.

GREGORY SHAMUS; JESSE D. GARRABRANT; DANNY BOLLINGER; ROCKY WIDNER; BILL BAPTIST (2); JENNIFER POTTHEISER (2); NATHANIEL S. BUTLER; GARRETT ELLWOOD; NOAH GRAHAM; ANDY HAYT; GLENN JAMES/ NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

Dikembe Mutombo vs. Antoine Walker On the surface, this is more or less a toss-up. Both moves are simple, both are unique, both are immediately recognizable. And, given their respective timelines, it is entirely possible that both occurred in the same game. But this goes deeper. On offense, Walker was just one of many stars, oftentimes not even the best player on his own team. For every shimmy, there were 10 ill-advised shots worthy of no celebration, turnovers and rejections. On the flipside, Dikembe Mutombo faced up against the best of the best night after night, and more often than not came out on top. He took an opponent’s pride, and turned it into a weakness. With one final rejection, Dikembe is the champ.

Joakim Noah vs. Antoine Walker There is a point with celebrations that they can seem a bit too contrived. This happens a lot more in the NFL—see Owens, Terrell—but the NBA has its share of overachievers. Case in point: While Joakim Noah’s finga gunz easily trumped Vince Carter’s imaginary motorcycle, they can’t compete with a spontaneous wiggle like Antoine Walker’s shimmy. And for those of you who would argue that ’Toine’s shimmy was equally contrived, we disagree. It came at all times and with varying degrees— there was a short one (we’ll call it a shim), the full-on convulsionary takeover of body, and even the on-the-floor shimmy.

Jason Terry’s “JET” vs. Antoine Walker’s “Shimmy” He wasn’t the first to use the airplane as celebration. But for Jason Eugene Terry, AKA JET, his flights are more birthright than Mark Jackson homage. And considering the guy got a tattoo of the Larry O’Brien Trophy before the start of the Mavs championship season, he deserves the benefit of the doubt. For Antoine Walker, a former Mav who won his title in Miami, his shimmy started early, while he was still at Kentucky. A versatile forward with a soft touch, the 6-9 Walker showed off his best moves after he scored—even if he was flat on his back at the time. Feel free to shimmy now, ’Toine, because you’re moving on.

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FIRST FIVE

BY MELODY HOFFMAN #34

It took just one playoff series to make Indiana Pacers guard Paul George step his game up. After last year’s loss to the Chicago Bulls and league MVP Derrick Rose, the rookie George was sent home with an offseason plan.

“I really felt like I was one of the reasons we couldn’t get over the hump playing Chicago because I couldn’t knock down the shot,” says the 6-91 George, whose remarkable athleticism on the other side of the court helped him earn the job of guarding2 D-Rose all series.

“That was in the back of my mind every day that I worked out this summer. We hadn’t made the playoffs3 in so long and we had the opportunity to take down the No. 1 team in our conference, so that really bothered me that I couldn’t contribute on the offensive end. That really just gave me the drive to get better this past summer.”

The Fresno State alum4 showed his improvement immediately and worked his way into the Pacers starting lineup. George is averaging 12.1 points and 2.2 assists, compared to last season’s average of 7.8 points in 61 games. His near 40 percent threepoint shooting5 has stunned opponents this season.

He’s also learned when to spot the mismatch at the shooting guard position.

“That’s been huge…especially in transition,” he says. “The majority of the shooting guards in this league are right around 6-4, 6-5 so I’ve been able to post them up and cause problems. Not only for myself to score but for my teammates to score, too.

Getting to the next level,6 I will need to be a problem in the post, so this summer that will be my plan A7 on things I need to work on.”

BONUS POINTS 1. George, who is listed on the roster as 6-8, sets the record straight about his fluctuating height: “I am 6-9 and some change,” he explains. “At the start of last year I was around 6-8 and then I came in from training camp and they noticed that I was taller and they measured me and I was taller. And then 6-10 started to float around and people ran with it…but I wasn’t correcting anybody,” he says laughing.

2. George has built a reputation as a scrappy defender, using his height to challenge shots and contain guards. He is averaging a team-leading 1.6 steals per game and has 29 blocks in 48 games this season.

3. Last season was the first playoff series for the Indiana Pacers since 2006. In 2011, the Pacers lost in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference first round to the Chicago Bulls.

4. George was drafted by the Pacers 10th overall in 2010 after two years at Fresno State.

5. This season George is shooting 39.8 percent behind the arc, up 10 percent from last year’s 29.7 percent. He’s second on the team with three-pointers made.

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6. Paul took it to another level when he turned off the lights with a Tron-inspired dunk in the Slam Sunk Contest this past All-Star with a glow-in-the-dark jersey.

“G2 TV.” The episodes of the Georges will air on Pacers.com. “Expect us to really have fun with it.

People see us on the court but they don’t really get to see our personalities…It’s something that will be fun for the fans.”

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7. Plan B will be focusing on his new video venture with Gatorade and teammate George Hill called

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FIRST FIVE

BY JON COOPER #10

With the roster of alumni the University of North Carolina has produced, it’s surprising that only one Tar Heels point guard has ever won an NBA Championship—Kenny “The Jet” Smith, who did so with the Houston Rockets in 1994 and ’95.

Ty Lawson is determined to make it two.

The second-year pro has shifted Denver’s offense into high gear,1 but considering Lawson’s speed, that’s not surprising.

“The way he gets up and down the court is unreal,” says Atlanta Hawks forward Marvin Williams, who works out almost every summer with Lawson and other former Heels in Chapel Hill. “I think he might be faster with the ball than he is without it.”

The Nuggets decided to see just how fast and how effective Lawson could be when they traded Carmelo Anthony and starting point Chauncey Billups among others to New York in last year’s blockbuster trade and ushered Lawson into the starting lineup. He knew the ’11-12 season would be his chance to shine.

“I worked hard this summer. I went overseas to play and get ready for the season because I knew I had this opportunity,” says Lawson, who was acquired by Denver in a 2009 draft-night trade with Minnesota.2 “I think I’ve done well. I’ve raised my averages in every area. I’m just being a little more confident in playing my role.”

More confident and improved,3 Lawson believes he is ready to make a run at getting that second NBA title for UNC point guards.

Coincidentally, only one North Carolina point guard has ever coached an NBA champion,4 and Lawson could double that total as well if he were to win one for current Denver coach George Karl.5

BONUS POINTS 1. The Nuggets have led the NBA in fastbreak points most of the season and were the only team averaging more than 20 fastbreak points per game.

2. Lawson was originally acquired with the 18th pick of the 2009 draft by the T-Wolves and was acquired by the Nuggets in exchange for a future first-round pick.

3. Lawson is averaging career-bests in points, assists, rebounds, steals, and free throw percentage, was Western Conference Player of the Week for March 5 and from 12/29-1/5 becoming the first Nugget in since Fat Lever in 1987 to go for at least 19 points, 7 rebounds and 12 assists in four games (he was 20.3 ppg, 8.8 rpg and 12.3 apt).

4. Larry Brown became the first when he took the Detroit Pistons to a title in 2004.

5. Karl played in Chapel Hill from 1970 through ’73. He helped Carolina win the 1971 NIT and got the Heels to the NCAA Final Four in ’72. Lawson’s Heels won the NCAA crown in 2009. Who’s a better

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point? “Me, by far,” says Lawson. “Coach Karl says he gets the hustle points, but I’d definitely get

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coach Karl one-on-one or in a five-on-five game.”

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KNoW Your NeWb

iman Shumpert New York Knicks

We’re you intimidated coming to New York and playing in Madison Square Garden?

Nah, I was excited. But never intimidated.

What’s the most exciting part about playing at MSG every home game?

It’s a big stage. Every night when you step out there you know the other team is looking to have a big game being on this stage, so it just brings the best out of you every night.

You’ve become a fan favorite. What’s it like being embraced by the New York crowd?

It’s cool. The fans appreciate people who play hard and that’s what I do.

Do you like the renovations inside MSG? I guess. This is my first year so I don’t know no other Madison Square Garden. It’s nice though.

What’s it like constantly being in the media spotlight?

It’s cool with me. It’s just some questions really.

What’s been your favorite moment from your rookie season?

The first home game, stepping on that court and playing in Madison Square Garden.

Have you had to do any rookie chores this year and if so what kinds?

They don’t make me do too much. I have to carry bags here and there or run to go get stuff from the store on the road sometimes. But nothing major.

What’s been the learning curve like for you as a rookie?

It’s been different. I sort of got thrown into it. I just had to learn some of those things, like a pocket pass or throwing lobs to Tyson [Chandler]. I had to get comfortable with everything. I’m starting to learn though.

What’s it like playing alongside two All-Stars like Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony?

It’s good. It takes a lot of pressure off of me. They have to deal with most of the pressure. I can just sort of play and do my thing.

As a rookie, how do they help you?

They’re always talking, constantly talking. They treat me like a regular guard. They don’t really look at me like a rookie. They want me to come in and help the team win, especially defensively. So they allow me to voice my opinion and they’re receptive to all information. But of course they’re going to give out their fare share of commands.

How does having that kind of relationship with them help you on the court?

It helps with my confidence at times and it keeps me aggressive.

What’s the best part about New York life?

I like it. I love it. There are real nice places to eat, real nice places to shop. That’s my favorite part: the shopping, man. Brian a. Giuffra #17

DANCe LiFe

Michelle

San antonio SpurS Silver Dancer

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my career path changed my senior year and I decided to pursue finance. I’m currently a budget officer in the Air Force, so I manage about a $100 million dollar budget.

How do people respond when they find out you’re a captain in the Air Force?

Michelle: I get the initial shock and surprise, but I’m really fortunate to be cheering for a team that is in Military City, USA, here in San Antonio. I have a lot of support as far as my supervisors go and there’s always a conversation I could strike up. I would say about 80 percent of the fans that I interact with are or had prior military experience or active duty in the military, so it’s quite a fortunate coincidence that I am here.

The Spurs generally fly under the radar and are overlooked.

Do you feel the same way about the Silver Dancers?

Michelle: No I don’t think we’re overlooked. We have

a very close-knit family, we’re a very family oriented team and our fans know who we are and they’re excited to see us. So I really don’t feel like we get overlooked at all.

Which visiting teams are the best to watch against the Spurs?

Michelle: Being form Houston, I always enjoy seeing the Rockets get matched up against the Spurs, there’s that friendly Texas rivalry as well with the Mavericks. I always enjoy seeing the Spurs against the Rockets or the Mavericks.

Any crazy experiences you’ve had with fans?

Michelle: I’ve had a couple of fans that are really outgoing and they like to hug us and like to really come up to us and talk to us about our daily jobs. I really like that, I wouldn’t call it crazy, I really do appreciate when the fans ask us questions about us besides our dancing, like ‘What do you do?’ It gives us the opportunity to show that we do more than just dance. Duane WatSon #7

Glenn James/nBae/Getty ImaGes

When did you first start dancing?

Michelle: I first started dancing with the Houston Ballet Academy when I was 4 and continued throughout high school, although I didn’t dance with the school team or do cheerleading. When I went to the Air Force Academy for college I tried out for the cheerleading squad, because I missed dance and that was the closest thing I could get.

How different was being a cheerleader in the Air Force from being a Silver Dancer?

Michelle: I think it had its similarities in a lot of ways. You have to be professional, you have to maintain the professional image and as a cheerleader for the Air Force Academy you’re an ambassador for the Air Force as I’m an ambassador for the Spurs Sports & Entertainment team.

You got your pilots license when you were 17?

Michelle: I did, yes. My father always had an interest in flying and he introduced me to it when I was 12. I did solo when I was 16 and I made a point to get my license on my 17th birthday. I think that definitely helped me get into the Air Force Academy. .

Did you want to be a fighter pilot?

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FIRST FIVE

BY MYLES BROWN #37

The Minnesota Timberwolves were one of the League’s most exciting teams this season and Nikola Pekovic was at the center of the action. Sure, Ricky Rubio dominated the highlights and their lone All-Star Kevin Love filled the box score, but Pek’s emergence provided the interior strength necessary for the Wolves to become a balanced ball club.

Proud owner of three consecutive Serbian League championships and a key component of Greek club Panathinaikos’ 2008 Euroleague title, Pekovic was drafted 31st overall by Minnesota in the 2008 draft.

Heralded for his brute strength, he was referred to by many as the Shaq of the Euroleague. However upon his arrival to the Twin Cities in 2010, Pekovic struggled1 and was simply known as neighboring countryman Darko Milicic’s buddy.

One year later, Pek’s production2 has doubled across the board (13.5 ppg, 7.2 rpg, 26.1 mpg) and opposing centers are either raving3 about him or ruing their next encounter. As a primary candidate for Most Improved Player, it’s becoming apparent that his hulking frame will be an intimidating presence4 in the post for years to come.

“The main difference is I get more attention because I got more minutes. I also came in ready because I played overseas last summer before the season started,” he says. “I’ve just been waiting5 for my opportunity.”

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PEKOVIC BONUS POINTS

1. Pek had trouble adjusting to the speed of the NBA game and the rules regarding contact. In 2010, he averaged a foul every four minutes.

2. Ineligible due to injuries and subsequently, not enough FG attempts, Pekovic’s 57.6 percent shooting would be the League’s third highest percentage.

3. In a mid January matchup with the Lakers, Nikola pummeled Andrew Bynum so much that the All-Star center exclaimed to the media afterwards, “Thank God they took Pekovic out of the game.”

4. For all the tattoos and scowls on the court, Pek is actually a pretty nice. “That’s something that’s

really that guy.”

5. What else does he do while he waits? “I love to fish. I would like to try the ice fishing, but I haven’t had the chance yet.”

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followed me my whole career. Everybody thinks like that, but my teammates can tell you that I’m not

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Williams

By Jeramie mcPeek #4 HOOP: You’re having a great season, averaging a career high in scoring.1 What’s been the biggest difference for you this year?

WILLIAMS: There’s not really a difference. It’s just growth. I’m continuing to get better every year.

HOOP: What’s it mean to you to lead your team in scoring coming off the bench?

WILLIAMS: It’s different, but that’s how our team was molded. Everybody has a role and my role is to come in off the bench and score a bunch of points.

HOOP: You’re in the running for Sixth Man of the Year. What would that mean to you?

WILLIAMS: I don’t really set out for individual accolades. But to be recognized for my talents would be dope.

HOOP: Who was your favorite sixth man to watch growing up?

WILLIAMS: I would go with Kevin McHale. He just got down to business. He did the dirty work for the team and never backed down from a challenge.

HOOP: What are you trying to bring when you come in off the bench?

WILLIAMS: Just a bunch of toughness, a bunch of energy. Always trying to change the game.

HOOP: Where is your game at, at this stage of your career?2 WILLIAMS: I’m in a good little groove, a comfortable zone, but I have an opportunity to take it up another notch.

HOOP: Not many second-round draft picks, especially ones right out of high school, have made it in the NBA. Why were you different?

WILLIAMS: I had great teammates coming in as a rookie—Kevin Ollie, Allen Iverson, Chris Webber, Doug Overton—guys who did a good job of taking me under their wing and showing me how to work.

HOOP: Did you ever have doubts about whether or not you would make it?

WILLIAMS: I had a bunch of doubts. Not playing for two years,3 itching for an opportunity to get on the court. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I had a lot of those nights where I felt like that.

HOOP: You have a tattoo that says “Motivation” on your back. What motivates you day to day?

WILLIAMS: Now it’s my baby girl. She’s a year and a half, but she understands the game. She loves basketball and she cheers when I score. She definitely gives me my energy and motivation.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/nbae/Getty imaGes

HOOP: You’ve got another tattoo on your calf that says, “A man is but a product of his thoughts. What he thinks he becomes.” Tell us about that.

WILLIAMS: Right. That’s a Gandhi quote. It’s just a testament of my career. I always felt like if I worked hard enough, I could be one of those guys that stick in this league.

HOOP: What do you think about now? What do you want to become now?

WILLIAMS: I want to become an NBA champion and I want to become an All-Star in this league.

HOOP: How far away are you?

WILLIAMS: I really see us being in that conversation in the next five years, where we start competing with the upper echelon teams. And this year, we were close to getting me to All-Star. I think if we’d won a few more games, our team would have gotten two.4

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HOOP: How do you like living in Philly?

WILLIAMS: Philly is a blue-collar town and they’ll let you know if you’re doing well, and if you’re doing bad, they’re not shy about letting you know [laughs].

That works for my personality.

HOOP: You give a lot back to the community in Philadelphia. Why is that important to you?

WILLIAMS: There’s no point to just come in here and play basketball. How can we touch them on a more personal level? A lot of guys do basketball clinics in their hometown, but not many do things in the city they play in. So I wanted to break that mold and be a part of this community.

HOOP: Is it true you were almost carjacked on Christmas Eve? WILLIAMS: Yeah, it was close, but the guy recognized me and decided he didn’t want to go through with it.

HOOP: What was his reaction when he realized who he was robbing?

WILLIAMS: He took a deep breath. He’s like, “I’ve got a lot of love for you. I’ve seen all you do in the community. I can’t go through with this.” That was it.

HOOP: And then you bought him McDonald’s?

WILLIAMS: Yeah, he said he was on hard times, so I told him I’d run across the street to McDonald’s. I bought him some food, wished him good luck and told him to “stay out of the streets.”

HOOP: That had to make a big impact on him.

WILLIAMS: I hope so. I know he made a big impact on me. You have to treat people with respect. You never know what people are going through.

HOOP: That sounds like a rap song. Have you written about that experience?

WILLIAMS: Nah, I didn’t rap about it this time. I kind of wanted to get over it and let that one pass.

HOOP: What do you write about?

WILLIAMS: A lot of life issues. I have a song about my daughter, a song about my growth as a person. Things like that. It all depends on the mood and what I’m trying to accomplish in the studio that day.

HOOP: How did you get into rapping?5 WILLIAMS: Music was my very first passion.6 As a small child, my favorite movie was The Five Heartbeats. Then I discovered sports about 8- or 9-years old, and here we are today rapping and playing basketball.

HOOP: Who were your favorite artists growing up?

WILLIAMS: Growing up, I would say Bone, Thugs and Harmony. Usher is my all-time favorite R&B singer. Monica is my favorite R&B songstress.

HOOP: You’ve got an NBA career, you’re rapping and you’ve even got your own clothing line?

WILLIAMS: Yeah, we’ve got the clothing line, Evol Rocx. I met up with some guys that had it started and I was interested in their designs, and their mission statement. We just went from there.

HOOP: Do you make anything for an almost 40-year-old sports writer?

WILLIAMS: Absolutely. We have something for everybody. I would probably put you in a t-shirt with my “Lou Will” cartoon character on it. He kind of looks like a South Park character.

BONUS POINTS 1. At press time, Lou was averaging a team-high 15.6 points in just 26.4 minutes a game.

2. The 25-year-old is in his seventh NBA season.

3. Williams averaged just 4.8 minutes over 30 games his rookie season in 2005-06 and 11.3 minutes in 60 games his sophomore season.

5. Williams has recorded several rap songs and was featured on Philadelphia rapper Meek Mill’s number, “I Want It All.” 6. For the latest on Williams’ basketball career, rap music and clothing line, visit LouWillVille.com

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4. Swingman Andre Iguodala represented the Sixers during the 2012 All-Star Game in Orlando.

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In Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields, the Knicks have the most unlikely backcourt in the history of the NBA.

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o KneW? Jeremy Lin rarely goes out to eat in public during the daytime anymore. It’s too obvious and so is he.

But on this sunny afternoon in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan, where celebrities can usually blend in with the custom-suit-wearing 9-to-5ers and eccentrically clad artists and drag queens that inhabit the area, Lin made an exception. He sat down at a window-seat table inside Bar Pitti to have lunch with Knicks teammates Landry Fields and Jared Jeffries and Talent Resources partner David Spencer to discuss business and life together.

It hadn’t been a long wait since they ordered lunch–10 minutes max—and a crowd of school children, teenagers, tourists and paparazzi already started gathering in an everexpanding, multi-colored swarm of humans on the sidewalk in front of them.

“I didn’t even have my appetizer soup and it was already getting crazy outside,” Fields says with a laugh.

This is life. Linsanity-style. Lin is in the midst of a fan, media and marketing1 frenzy few athletes or celebrities have ever experienced before. Fields, as Lin’s best friend on the Knicks and right-hand man on trips out on the town, is swept into it, too. And while that unlikely fact remains surprising to both of these down-to-earth native Californians, the most unlikely part is that Lin and Fields got this opportunity in the first place.

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doesn’t venture out in public as much as he used to. He doesn’t like having to look over his shoulder and wonder ‘who is taking a picture of me now?’

If you mention the word ‘famous’ or ‘celebrity’ in relation to him, Lin sheepishly grins and rolls his eyes, and the thought of so many people fighting for room to watch him eat remains somewhat confusing to him.

For Lin doesn’t think of himself as a celebrity. In his eyes, and those close to him, he’s the same person he was in January: a normal 23-year-old recent college grad who wants to become the best professional basketball player he can while still enjoying the new city he’s living in.

To the public, however, he’s something much different: a fascinating unknown, the American dream, an autograph and photograph target, a smart athlete who came from obscurity, looks like an everyday person and provides hope to the masses who still hold onto the slim belief that yes, they too can make it in the NBA. Of course he’s wrong and so is the public. The truth lies somewhere in between the craziness of his current life and the normalcy of the anonymous life he used to live; a happy medium, where Lin could be a famous basketball player but still go out to eat and not get swarmed like this.

For all intents and purposes, however, that life is gone now, never to completely return, and Lin is still learning how to cope with the new life he’s living with Fields acting as one of his anchors to the past.

“It’s been a whirlwind month for him,” Lin’s agent Roger Montgomery says. “On the one hand he’s living his dream and getting the chance to showcase his talents and ability.

That’s the fun part. But when you can’t go into a grocery store and just shop without people coming up to you and talking about Linsanity, that’s one of the bad things.”

When lunch ended, Lin dipped his head and shyly grinned as he left the restaurant followed by Fields. The crowd surrounded them, cameras snapped and autograph requests were shouted out.6 When they got into the waiting car, the crowd fanned around it and the two friends were reminded once again of how much life has changed for them in just a month.

No wonder Lin avoids going out in public during the day.

It is the morning after the business lunch, and it also happens to be the day Mike

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Really, they shouldn’t be here.

And yet here they were, by a strange set of circumstances we’ll get into later, sitting inside Bar Pitti, being slowly surrounded by a crowd of unknowns.

The temperature was unusually warm for that time of year2 and the lunch manager already opened the French doors lining the front of the restaurant before the Knicks trio arrived in their workout gear3—red shorts and a black short-sleeved shirt over a grey long-sleeved shirt for Lin, a hoodie and sweatpants for Fields and Jeffries.

They were seated directly in front of the open doors at the foremost part of the dining room,4 giving them an unobstructed view looking inside-out and giving curious passers by an unobstructed view looking outside-in.

And so the crowd grew, expanding outward and backward on the sidewalk, the new arrivals jostling forward to get as close to the Knicks table as possible with most of the eyes and camera lenses glued on Lin. “With Jeremy, you can draw paparazzi,” Fields says. “But he handles it all well.”

Since Linsanity piqued the interest of the country and took over New York in early February,5 most fans, no matter how hard they try, and they try very hard, rarely get this close to Lin. Outside the media, Knicks personnel, teammates, family and friends, few do—and even media availably is limited.

But this crowd was only eight-or-so feet away, separated by a row of outdoor tables being occupied by a clean-cut, sunglasses-wearing lunch crowd, and in prime position to take as many camera-phone pictures as they could. And snap, snap, snap they did.

This kind of atmosphere isn’t new for Bar Pitti, a Tuscan restaurant with wooden tables and black and white photos of the Italian countryside lining the walls. It regularly attracts celebrities including Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Steven Spielberg, Alex Rodriguez, Jim Carrey, Keanu Reeves, Kanye West and a few hundred B-list actors, models and singers that mix in with the West Village regulars who dine there daily.

Few of them, even the biggest stars, create a crowd like this. By the time lunch was served, the tightly packed ball of gazers was six-rows deep and 15-people across.

“I knew we were in for a long day trying to get back to the car,” Fields says, still grinning.

Lin, and consequently those around him, especially Fields, has been trying to avoid this sort of attention since he became an overnight, international celebrity. It’s a big reason he HOOP

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D’Antoni will resign as Knicks head coach. When the news breaks later that afternoon, it hits Lin and Fields as hard as any players on the Knicks.

After all, D’Antoni was the person who gave both of them their first chance in the NBA; the coach who drafted Fields in the second round out of Stanford and started him as a rookie and then pulled Lin off the D-League scrapheap and put him in a position to become the star he now is.

Lin and Fields have a strong affinity for D’Antoni both professionally and personally.

Still do. They knew he was always in their corner, they knew he could help them succeed as players and they knew they were his guys.

When D’Antoni resigned, part of that security left with him, although both Lin and Fields have played well in new coach Mike Woodson’s system.7 But at this point on this morning,8 D’Antoni was still the Knicks coach and he strutted around the Madison Square Garden practice facility wearing Knicks blue swishy pants, a white tucked-in Knicks golf polo and a wide smile.

Lin was shooting free throws with an athletic trainer to the right of D’Antoni and when the coach walked by he stopped and whispered something in Lin’s ear. Whatever it was must have been funny, because Lin stopped shooting and spun away from D’Antoni laughing.

Two hours later, D’Antoni resigned as Knicks coach. That was the last time they spoke on a basketball court this year.

“It was very emotional,” Lin says of D’Antoni’s departure. “I miss him a lot. What he did for my career, I’m not going to forget what he did for me personally.”

What D’Antoni did was create the most unlikely starting backcourt in NBA history.

If you think about the odds of an undrafted point guard from Harvard and a secondround hybrid forward/guard from Stanford becoming the starting backcourt for the star-craving, instant-gratification seeking New York Knicks, inevitably you come back to the number zero.

Never happened before, never going to happen again.

It took Lin getting overlooked in the 2010 draft and then getting waived by the Golden State Warriors and Houston Rockets for him to become available this year. It took an injury to Knicks rookie Iman Shumpert for the Knicks to claim Lin off waivers. It took a trip to the NBA D-League, Baron Davis suffering a series of setbacks in his return from a back injury, Amar’e Stoudemire not being with the Knicks because of the death of his brother and Carmelo Anthony getting injured against the Jazz for Lin to even get his chance to shine in the NBA. Then it took Lin’s breakthrough performance, a 25-point, seven-assist gem that led the Knicks to a comeback victory over the Nets,9 for him to earn a starting spot opposite Fields, who was himself a surprise starter: a second-round draft pick out of Stanford who was considered by many scouts to be too small to play forward and not a good enough shooter to be a shooting guard in the NBA. Throw in the historical context of it—that in the 66-year history of the NBA, only four players from Harvard have ever suited up for a game and currently there are only five players from Stanford playing in the League—and unlikely hardly describes what Lin and Fields are doing together.10 This defies logic.

“New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made,” as the song11 goes.

“From those two schools you’re rarely going to get guys that make it in the League, and then to start is hard, and then to do it together in New York City is unbelievable,” NBA Hall of Famer and current Knicks TV color commentator Walt “Clyde” Frazier says. “Clearly they’re savvy on the court as well as in the classroom and their smartness is very evident because they had a chemistry since day one.”

It’s a chemistry based on similar upbringings, interests, values, backgrounds, religious beliefs and senses of humor. It’s a chemistry that started before Lin turned Fields’ couch into sports memorabilia, before their pregame handshake12 went viral on the Internet and HOOP

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“Someone is going to kill themselves,” Knicks forward Steve Novak says as he leaves the room.

It’s pure bedlam from a group of mostly middle-aged men and women. And at the center of it all is Lin, standing in front of his cubby, eyes wandering back and forth as he answers questions in a monotone voice.

In just a few weeks dealing with the New York media, a large and aggressive group that desires constant information and fights to ask their questions, Lin has already mastered the Tiger Woods/Michael Jordan way of doing interviews: He listens intently to what’s being asked of him, quickly analyzes what he wants to say and then responds with a short, direct answer that never veers off course.

It’s a big reason Lin has been able to thrive in the New York media spotlight despite the constant requirements of being a star athlete here. He’s smart. He doesn’t say too much.

He doesn’t say too little. He doesn’t run from the cameras but his time in front of them is limited.

One-on-one interviews with Lin are next-to impossible14 and group interviews never last more than five minutes.

On this night, as the cameramen and reporters shouted questions over each other, one short, balding media member who was spit out of the horde approached a Knicks PR person and politely asked how he could ask Lin a question because he was having trouble doing so in the group. The PR person responded despondently by pointing back at the horde.

“It’s getting easier, but it’s not easy” Lin says of the constant media attention. “It’s part of it and it’s not like I hate it.”

Fields doesn’t have the same problem. His biggest issue on game nights is getting back to his cubby after showering; having to cautiously traverse the camera wires, dirty towels

even before they hung out for the first time as rising college sophomores when Lin came home to Palo Alto on summer break from Harvard and played pickup games at Stanford with Fields.

It’s a chemistry that started at the beginning, when they were kids growing up in California, with their parents instilling a strong belief of remaining humble, getting a good education and praising God into their kids. That’s how Lin and Fields became so close, through that chemistry, which has developed into what Fields calls a “lifelong friendship.”

“We’re the same kinds of guys in a lot of aspects of life,” Fields says. “It’s really been us drawing near to each other in this crazy NBA lifestyle.”

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OUTSIDE the Knicks locker room, a pack of reporters is waiting for two metal doors to open. The hallway leading to the doors is at least 10-feet wide and 30-feet long. But within seconds the massive media contingent fills up almost every inch of open space, pushing their bodies as far up to the front of the line as possible and making the cement-walled area feel like a cattle chute.

When the first door opens up and the media are told they can enter, it is confirmed: This is a cattle chute as the media members descend on the Knicks locker room like a stampede of raging buffalo evading a lion. Only these buffalo are the lions and Lin is the helpless lone cattle.

When they get inside the Knicks locker room, the videographers surround Lin, hoist their bulky cameras onto their shoulders, flip on their lights, shove their microphones as close to Lin’s face as possible and form a semicircle blockade around him that stretches six-rows deep. Those who were at the back of the stampede prod around the edges looking for openings or stand on a Knicks players’ swivel chair13 trying to get a view of Lin. HOOP

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By Philip D’Apolito #14

The All-Draft Snub Team

DAN LIPPITT; NATHANIEL S. BUTLER; SAM FORENCICH; GARRETT ELLWOOD; GARY DINEEN/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

With the story of Jeremy Lin at the forefront of the NBA this season, it’s continuously raised the question: How could he get overlooked? Since the NBA Draft went to two rounds in 1989, there actually have been several players who’ve made their mark and carved out a nice place in the League after going undrafted out of college. Here’s a look at some of the more successful players in recent history who never heard their name called on draft day.

Ben Wallace

John Starks

Bruce Bowen

Brad Miller

Earl Boykins

After getting bypassed in the 1996 NBA Draft out of Virginia Union University, Ben Wallace signed with the Washington Bullets as an undrafted free agent just before the start of the 1996-97 season. Wallace, the most decorated of this group, set the games-played record for undrafted players earlier this season, won four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in ’02, ’03, ’05 and ’06 and made four consecutive All-Star trips from ’03 to ’06.

The 6-9 center led the League in rebounds twice and blocks once, and his interior defensive presence was instrumental on the Pistons championship team in ’04. In 16 seasons, the 37-year-old Wallace has played for Washington, Orlando, Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland, and is set to retire after this season.

The 1988 NBA Draft lasted three rounds, the last year before it was cut to two, and John Starks still didn’t get selected coming out of Oklahoma State.

Much like Jeremy Lin, Starks started out at Golden State as an undrafted free agent prior to the start of the 1988-89 season, but he only saw brief minutes with the team. Starks was then out of the League in ‘89-90, having bided his time in the CBA. In ’90 the Knicks signed him and his career began to flourish. The fiery shooting guard was selected to the AllStar Game in 1994, averaging a career-high 19 points and 5.9 assists, sank an NBA record 217 threes in 1994-95 and in ’97 was named the NBA Sixth Man of the Year. He’s perhaps best known for “The Dunk,” which he emphatically threw down over Horace Grant and Michael Jordan in the ’93 playoffs vs.

Chicago. Starks retired in 2002, after 13 NBA seasons, having also played for the Bulls and Jazz.

Upon graduating from Cal State Fullerton, Bruce Bowen was eligible for the 1993 NBA Draft, yet went unselected and didn’t make his NBA debut until 1997. Bowen bounced around in France and the CBA before catching on for consistent minutes with the Celtics. In ’03 with San Antonio, he led the League in three-point percentage at 44.1, which was actually a higher number than his free-throw percentage of 40.4. Noted for his superb perimeter defense, Bowen racked up NBA All-Defensive First-Team selections in five straight years from ’04 to ’08, and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting three times in ’05, ’06 and ’07. Bowen retired in ’09 after playing 13 seasons with the Heat, Celtics, 76ers and Spurs. A starter on three championship teams in ’03, ’05 and ’07, San Antonio retired his #12 in March.

Brad Miller went undrafted in 1998 after four solid years at Purdue and, after briefly playing in Italy, eventually signed with the Charlotte Hornets during the 1998-99 season. Miller was a two-time All-Star in ’03 and ’04 with the Pacers and Kings, respectively, and for a stretch was one of the top centers in the NBA. Known for his strong board play and decent outside touch for a big man, the 7-footer was a member of the bronzemedal winning 1998 and 2006 USA Men’s World Basketball Championship squads. A reserve in Minnesota, 2011-12 marked his 14th and final year in the League. He’s also spent time with the Hornets, Bulls and Rockets, averaging 11.3 points and 7.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists for his career.

Passed over in the ’98 NBA Draft, likely because of his size, Earl Boykins out of Eastern Michigan signed as a free agent with the Nets in January 1999. Standing at 5-5, 133, Boykins is the second shortest player in NBA history, only two inches taller than the 5-3 Muggsy Bouges.

His best individual year came in 2006-07 during which he started 23 games for both the Nuggets and Bucks averaging 14.6 points, 4.4 assists and 2.1 rebounds in 30.8 minutes per contest. Doing most of his damage off the bench in his 12-year career, he provided his teams with a spark and instant offense. Considering his stature, Boykins continued to astonish the League having floated around with nine different squads throughout his time in the League: the Nets, Cavs, Magic, Clippers, Warriors, Nuggets, Bobcats, Wizards and he last appeared in a game for the Bucks in ’11.

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and shuffling feet on the floor around him, all while wearing just a towel and sandals.

Once he’s dressed, he still gets a handful of questions with a half dozen cameras and tape recorders around him. But it’s nothing like last year when he was a surprise FirstTeam All-Rookie selection.

“To a much less scale than Jeremy, Landry was the star rookie on the Knicks last year,” Fields’ agent Chris Emens says. “I think he enjoyed the media attention to a degree. But as much as Landry enjoys it, it’s nice for him to be successful, yet not have a glaring spotlight on him.”

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BONUS POINTS 1. Lin signed an endorsement deal with Volvo on March 20 and, according to his agent, has been contacted by many other brands that want to use him as a pitchman.

2. High 60’s in early March isn’t normal in New York.

3. It was an off day for the Knicks but Lin, Fields and Jeffries still went to the MSG training center to work out.

4. When you’re with Lin you always get the best seat in the house.

5. Linsanity officially kicked off on Feb. 4 against the New Jersey Nets.

6. Both Lin and Fields say they don’t mind signing autographs but would prefer to be left alone when they’re eating.

7. Through the first four games under Woodson, the Knicks are 4-0 and Lin is averaging 14 points and 6.7 assists and Fields is averaging 5.75 points and 3.75 boards.

8. It was 11 a.m. on March 14.

9. This was followed by a seven-game run where Lin averaged 24.4 ppg and 9.1 apg, dropped an incredible game-winning three-pointer on Valentine’s Day and sold an unverified bajillion Linsanity T-shirts and jerseys.

10. Yes it is together because most everything they do is together, including sitting next to each other on the team plane trips. Or as their teammate Mike Bibby put it: “Any time you see one of them, the other one is usually lagging behind.”

11. Jay-Z’s “Empire State of Mind.” But you knew that.

12. If you haven’t seen Lin and Fields’ handshake tutorial video, YouTube it. It will show you how close they are as friends.

13. On this day it was Baron Davis’ chair.

14. NBA TV, MSG Network and ESPN were the only media outlets to have one-on-one interviews with Lin at this point.

15. El Capitan is a vertical rock formation in Yosemite National Park in Calif. that is one of the most famous climbing spots in the world.

16. Fields is known as the funniest person on the team and always seems to be cracking a joke that makes his teammates laugh.

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When Lin finishes talking, the spotlights turn toward Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, the Knicks $180 million men who were brought in to win the franchise’s first championship since 1973. Those two dominate the back-page tabloids in New York, dominate the ball in the Knicks offense and dominate the locker room hierarchy.

Just consider them El Capitan in Yellowstone,15 the highest peaks in the pecking order.

But Lin and Fields have carved out their own niche. On the court, Fields is the glue guy, the hustle guy, the guy who will do anything or play any position for a win. Lin is the facilitator, the playmaker, the fan favorite.

In the locker room they’re universally liked for their upbeat attitudes and playful senses of humor,16 or as their good friend Steve Novak puts it, their “fun-loving, little kid side.”

“You don’t get to see that mindset on the court,” Novak says. “But when you sit down and have a conversation with them, you can tell they’re really just kids who enjoy each other’s company. It seems like they’ve been pals forever.”

In some ways they have, as a result of growing up in California with parents who

instilled similar morals into both of them. It took a wild series of events for them to become teammates and allow that friendship to flourish. But now they’re trying to enjoy the wild ride they’re on together.

It may have seemed impossible for Jeremy Lin and Landry Fields to be in this position at the beginning of the season. But they are and it seems everyone is taking notice.

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Sure, it’s just a tire.

Like Mt. Rushmore is just another sculpture.

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By and Large

By Holly MacKenzie #32

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It’s taken a few years and season-ending injuries, but Andrew Bynum is making good on that promised potential HOOP

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As Andrew Bynum slammed the ball through the net in the fourth quarter of the Lakers’ 109-93 victory over the Mavericks, he took his time letting himself down from the hoop. His dalliance ended up earning him a quick technical. He didn’t care, though. He almost seemed to be asking for it. Playing the role of agitator for Los Angeles, Bynum was having fun. Laughing, smiling at his teammates, this is a very different Bynum than the one we’ve grown accustomed to seeing.

Up until this season, the 24 year-old 7-footer was known outside of Los Angeles as much for being injured and also injuring his opponents as he was for anything he did on the basketball court.

He’s had an interestingly rocky six seasons in the League thus far.

Luckily for the Lakers, Bynum has been able to stay healthy this year and they are beginning to reap the benefits of the 10th overall pick1 in 2005.

To ask Bynum the key to the success he’s been having this year is to be given a quick response: “I’ve been able to stay healthy. That’s been great.”

He isn’t wrong, but he’s also oversimplifying everything that’s gone into getting him to this point. Holding the distinction of being the youngest player to ever appear in an NBA game at 18 years and six days old,2 Bynum entered the scene with much to learn. After three knee surgeries in as many years, Bynum finally appears to be turning a corner. It’s taken him time. Time to get healthy, to grow up and time to learn how to be an NBA player. With a full season of basketball under his belt after the Lakers were eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks in the Western Conference Finals last season, Bynum spent the summer training,3 ready to play a bigger role for his team.

Coming to the Lakers in 2005, he was drafted based on what they thought he could become, but the team didn’t expect anything from him immediately.

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Former Lakers assistant coach Kurt Rambis explained how coming into a situation like this helped Bynum’s growth.

“He was a little bit of a unique situation,” says Rambis. “There wasn’t a whole lot of hype surrounding him like there was around a LeBron-type guy out of high school.4 He was playing behind people.5 He wasn’t brought in to play right away. He was brought in as somebody that we saw the potential in. He had time to grow.”

Rambis also felt that Bynum used the time spent rehabbing after surgeries as a positive.

“He had his share of injuries that allowed him to physically get his body in shape, go through a lot of rehab, sit and watch a lot of basketball and learn that way.”

Coming to Los Angeles so young, there was a lot of watching and learning that needed to take place before Bynum could be ready to step up for the Lakers. Throughout the years, even when he wasn’t putting up the numbers on the floor, he was putting in the work off of it.

“He’s always been an eager learner,” says Rambis. “He’s always wanted to improve, wanted to get things done the right way, but he had a lot to learn coming out of high school at 17 years old. He not only had a lot of maturing to do, he had a lot of physical growing to do, body changing to do. He’s worked hard to do all of that.”

Because he came into the League as a relatively unknown prospect, he came to the Lakers as a blank canvas. The Lakers front office liked what they saw in a young and raw Bynum, but knew they needed to teach him how to play basketball at the professional level, on both ends of the floor. Seven years later, Rambis says the improvements have been vast and varied.

“He’s grown—emotionally, mentally, physically. If you take a look at where he was when he first came in, quite frankly he didn’t know a lot about either end of the floor, offensive and defensively. He’s had to move offensive moves and defensive tactics, rotations and schemes. He had to learn all of that and he had to grow up in the NBA. He’s learned a lot.

He’s had good coaching, he’s been around a lot of good basketball people who have taught him the game and I think that’s where his introspective thoughts come from. We would all talk to him after the game, tell him the things he did well, what he could improve upon, stuff like that.”

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Currently swept up in The Hunger Games craze with plans to see the film adaptation of the young adult trilogy, Bynum says he prefers grittier reading material.

“I liked 48 Laws of Power. I don’t know, I like to read books that you can learn from. I don’t really do fiction much, except for The Hunger Games. That’s my first real nonfiction book. More of psychology, or psychology-history or self-help categories.”

The knock on younger players is usually an inability to see the bigger picture or accurately assess their own play and limitations. Bynum’s curiosity and demeanor has helped him to be his own critic. Find him after a game and ask him how he played and he’ll tell you the truth.

Even when it hurts.

If his team played poorly, if their defensive intensity was lacking or there wasn’t an offensive flow, Bynum will break down why the team collapsed without mincing words.

“I just like to be honest,” Bynum explains. “I just like to be honest and I appreciate that.

Whether I have a good game or a bad game or whether I’m feeling good. I don’t know. I just enjoy speaking10 my mind.”

On saying the same things to the media that he’d say behind closed doors, he says, “Definitely, I don’t wear a mask.”

Perhaps it’s easier for Bynum to offer up honest assessments of his performances because he can take it. He can handle the criticism, having heard more than his fair share over the years from people who felt he’d never be healthy or live up to the expectations that potential and size can bring.

This season, Bynum is averaging career-best numbers with 17.8 points and 12.6 rebounds per game. That’s a full six points and three rebounds more than his averages for last year. With the Lakers sending Lamar Odom to Dallas at the beginning of the season, Bynum grasped the importance of the opportunity he was being given. He understood that with opportunity comes responsibility.

So far, he’s rewarding his teammates for trusting in him.

On an always-anticipated game against the Celtics at Staples Center, the Lakers found themselves down a basket at the end of the game. While everyone in the arena figured it would be Bryant’s time to shine, Bryant made the decision to act as a decoy and go to Bynum instead. Bynum delivered, connecting on a hook shot over Kevin Garnett to give L.A. the victory. While it was a game played in the beginning of March, from the reaction Bynum gave after the final buzzer sounded, it was clear that it meant so much more.

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In addition to being around good basketball people on the coaching side of things, Bynum also benefited from playing with Kobe Bryant. Having a superstar on your team always makes things easier, but for a young guy like Bynum, he was able to look at the example that Bryant set every day. He also had to deal with criticism from Bryant after the Lakers franchise player was recorded in a parking lot talking about the team potentially trading6 the then-19-year-old center. Bynum didn’t allow the harsh words to deter him nor destroy their relationship and his quiet resolve to prove himself wound up impressing his teammates.

Now Bryant wouldn’t trade him for any other center not nicknamed Superman. He might even see parallels between himself and Bynum, both being talented teenagers entering a big boys league where they were forced to apprentice before getting any serious court time.

“He’s handled the expectations that were placed upon him, he’s handled playing in a major media market and he’s handled playing on a team that has championship expectations,” says Rambis. “He’s grown up in a very tough environment. His teammates have been hard on him in a good way, the coaching staff has been hard on him in a good way and he’s handled it well and he’s starting to become the player that we all thought he’d be.”

Bynum has always been observant. Often choosing to remain silent, he has allowed the successes and missteps of others to serve as an example of what is appropriate for an NBA player. While he has learned from watching, he is also very much still his own person, and provides quite the contrast to the typical young professional athlete.

While he likes cars7 and electronics,8 he’s a reader. And not just a flipping-throughmagazines or reading-his-iPad-on-flights reader. Enter the Lakers locker room before any game, in any city and you’ll see a room full of guys prepping for the game, headphones on, phones in hand. Then you’ll see Bynum. Sitting solo in his locker, Bynum turns his pregame media availability sessions into reading time. When the Lakers came through Toronto, a crisp, Canadian twenty-dollar bill served as his bookmark. Per diem money, of course.

“I started doing that for awhile,” he explains. “Back when PJ [Phil Jackson] was giving us books.”

If you get to know him, the reading fits his personality. He’s introspective and enjoys learning how things9—and people—work.

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BONUS POINTS 1. Bynum was the second center taken in the draft, behind first overall pick Andrew Bogut.

2. Bynum eclipsed previous record-holder Jermaine O’Neal by 47 days.

3. Bynum has relied on boxing during the offseason to help train.

4. He attended St. Joseph in Metuchen, NJ. 5. In his first two seasons, Bynum played behind Chris Mihm and Kwame Brown.

6. The rumored trade at the time was Bynum for Jason Kidd.

7. Bynum has put together a remote control car that could reach a speed of 100 miles per hour.

8. One of Bynum’s hobbies is putting together computers.

9. As a kid, Bynum would take apart electronics to understand how they worked.

10. Earlier in the season, Bynum read Instant Persuasion, a self-help book about improving communication. “It’s about how to use your words. It’s about changing your words around and say what you mean,” he told the L.A. Times, “It’ll work anywhere, especially here on the court.”

11. Bynum didn’t just make the squad, he was voted in as the starting center for the Western Conference by fans.

12. Although he skipped college to enter the draft, Bynum was only considering schools where he could major in mechanical engineering.

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Besides being able to stay on the floor, what has been the difference this season?

Rambis thinks it’s because Bynum is now comfortable in his body, and aware of what he can do with his frame.

“He’s just now coming into the stage where he’s maturing, he’s developing—he was still growing when he first came into the League—now everything is starting to catch up.

His coordination, ability to move on the floor, it’s all starting to come into play right now. I think he’s going to continue to get better. He’s going to get better and gain more and more confidence in himself.”

Rambis isn’t the only one who thinks that Bynum is only beginning to scratch the surface of his potential. That potential is why Brown’s key word for Bynum is “compete” meaning to focus on being present each and every trip down the floor.

Playing nearly nine more minutes per contest, Bynum is getting the touches, opportunities and experience on the floor to continue growing into the player his potential will allow. Off of the floor, he continues to be a student,12 soaking up knowledge from his coaches and teammates. Most importantly, though, he’s managed to finally find balance.

When asked what he wishes people could know about him he quickly said, “That I’m really laid back and chill.”

After seven seasons of rehabbing, studying and waiting patiently, Bynum is ready for the spotlight. If the Lakers want to go all of the way this season, if Bryant is going to attain that coveted sixth championship ring, everyone knows that Bynum will play a huge role in the run to the championship. The difference this season is that he seems to believe he’s ready to play the part and—perhaps even more importantly— he’s allowing himself to enjoy the ride.

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A giddy Bynum met with reporters after the game, telling them, “It was crazy. Kobe came up with that play. He said, ‘They’re not going to be able to know what to do.’ I was able to get deep position and go to work.”

Named to the All-Star team11 for the first time this year, ask Bynum what the highlight of his season has been and he singles out a moment when his team went to him in crunch time and he delivered.

“My biggest highlight would be my game-winner against Boston,” he says proudly. “That was great.”

More important than giving his team the victory, the game-winner was a step forward in Bynum’s evolution as a player. While Bryant is still the Lakers’ No. 1 option for the near future, but in time, it will liekly be Bynum’s role to assume. After years of work preparing for a larger role, he’s relishing the spotlight and finally appearing to have fun.

It’s been a season of change for Bynum. In addition to having his coaching staff demand and expect more from him, he’s learning how to adjust to a new coaching staff with Mike Brown stepping into the seat vacated by Phil Jackson after Jackson retired last season.

So far, things have been working out. While Bynum calls Jackson, “the greatest coach of all time,” he says that he appreciates Brown’s attention to detail and defense.

“It’s super different,” he says. “It’s a lot different. The way we get prepared for games, shootaround and practices. We have an overall different approach to the game.”

A different approach that seems to suit a player who can change the game with his defense and rebounding. While scoring is what gets him on the highlight reels, altering shots and being a presence in the paint goes a long way for this Lakers team. Bynum knows that. It’s why he says he is most proud of his rebounding this season.

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SETTING THE TONE For the longest, the Spurs would march to the winning beat of Tim Duncan. The Spurs are now paced by Tony Parker and the results have not changed.

Tony Parker’s not exactly leading a quiet life of anonymity. He’s a three-time NBA champion and four-time All-Star. He’s been a Finals MVP (in 2007). He was even married to a famous TV actress (Eva Longoria). He’s one of the most celebrated and well-known French citizens in the world. He’s currently the leading scorer for one of the best teams in basketball.

In other words, his personal and professional resume screams “megastar.” So why then, when you catch up with Parker shortly after a midseason flight to Oklahoma City, does he seem so startled that a basketball writer would like to chat with him?

“I’m surprised you wanted to interview me,” the 29-year-old says with a grin. “People usually want to talk about everyone besides the Spurs...”

Don’t be mistaken, though. Parker isn’t angry about a perceived snub, or poised to launch into a tirade on the lack of respect he and the ultra-successful San Antonio franchise receive from outside the 210 area code. No, Parker—who is often described as perpetually “chill” by those who know him best—quickly reassures you that it’s all good. “... but I’m still glad you called,” he adds, a bit mischievously.

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Parker and the Spurs have a secret. Well, it’s not exactly a secret, but it’s an integral part of the answer to a puzzle so many teams have been trying to solve. As superteams formed in Boston and Miami and places like New York City and Los Angeles witnessed the convergence of a pair of megastars, everyone clamored to try to predict the NBA’s future blueprint for success.

Many hypothetical questions were raised: Must a team have a “Big Three” to win a championship? Does a team need to identify one clear “alpha dog” responsible for taking the game-deciding shots in crunch time? Furthermore, how do you get multiple star players to work together and form a cohesive group that will result in a championship?

The thing is, like a student with the answers to an exam before everyone else has seen the test, the Spurs already seem to have had all of this figured out—more than a decade ago.

En route to winning three NBA championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007 (after a 1999 title that preceded the arrival of Parker and backcourt sidekick Manu Ginobili), the Spurs embraced a team-first philosophy that was embodied by the humble and unselfish presence of Tim Duncan.1 Duncan’s approach permeated the locker room of the Spurs, who may be the most underappreciated sports franchise of the past two decades.

When Parker arrived in South Texas as a 19-year-old, unpolished rookie from France in 2001, he didn’t know what to expect.2 But he now says that the tone set by “Timmy”—as everyone in the Spurs organization disarmingly calls the two-time MVP—paved the way for the success that followed.

“We never had any ego problems,” Parker describes of why his on- and off-court relationship with Duncan and Ginobili has been so beneficial.3 “Even when Timmy was MVP of the league, he was so unselfish. Manu and I wanted to do the same thing. We never cared about stats or scoring. We only wanted to win. That was always the only thing that mattered to us.”

That single-minded approach helps explain why there were no grumblings or controversy in the Alamo City when the mantle of Spurs go-to guy was seamlessly handed off from Duncan to Parker. It’s not always a smooth transition to make in the NBA, but the Spurs quietly went from “Timmy’s team” to “Tony’s team” at some point during the past few seasons, with hardly anyone noticing. Not that he’s preoccupied by this fact, but Parker is on pace to lead San Antonio in scoring average for a second straight season, this time by a substantial margin over Duncan and Ginobili.4 “It was something that happened naturally,” Parker explains of his evolution into a No. 1 option. “The HOOP

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team is getting older, so I felt like I had to do more. It’s naturally becoming my team, because I’m the youngest guy of the three. I’ve been aggressive the whole season.”

“It’s definitely his best season,” longtime Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich says. “He’s had some good years, obviously, even [being chosen] MVP of the Finals. But in terms of all-around game, this is his best year. If you combine leadership with understanding of what’s going on on the court, it’s his best year.”

While Parker doesn’t necessarily agree that 2011-12 has been the finest season of his 11-year NBA career—“I think it’s on the same level as ’07 or ’09” he downplays—there are a few aspects that set it apart. Along with taking on a greater scoring load, the 6-2, 185-pounder is also credited with fostering the improved performance of several San Antonio role players. Through two-thirds of the regular season, Parker was averaging a career-best 8.0 assists. He’d never previously averaged more than 6.9 assists5 in a season.

“He’s having an MVP-type season,” ESPN analyst and Hall of Fame forward Chris Mullin says. “The thing he’s doing best is his leadership. He knows when to burst out for a big scoring night, and when to distribute and get his teammates involved.

“It’s recognition. It’s knowing your teammates’ strengths and weaknesses. Tim Duncan, you can give him the ball pretty much anywhere, because he’s so skilled. But guys like DeJuan Blair and Gary Neal, they need shots created for them. Tony Parker is so much better at that this year than in any other year of his career.”

Ginobili, who joined the Spurs a year later in 2002, has often had a courtside view this season of Parker’s development into a dual scoring-passing threat. He concurs with Mullin’s assessment of his longtime teammate.

“He’s been so much of a leader,” the energetic 34-year-old praises. “Late in the game, we come to him. Early in the game, he’s feeding his teammates, not playing in a rush. But when the team needs him down the stretch to score and provide things, he’s doing it.”

The proof is in the standings. After many NBA analysts spent the offseason repeating the familiar refrain that the Spurs are now too old to contend for a championship, the silver and black joined the much younger Oklahoma City Thunder near the top of the Western Conference for the bulk of the 2011-12 regular season. Almost as if to show that the Spurs are not ready to give up the throne to one of the League’s up-and-coming squads, Parker burned Oklahoma City for 42- and 25-point games in February and March, resulting in two HOOP

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Following the Blackprint The two top teams in the Western Conference for much of 2011-12 have eerily similar trios.

Both the Thunder and Spurs reside in relatively small cities, feature a superstar (Kevin Durant and Tim Duncan) who deflects praise, a point guard who has been known throughout his NBA career more for his scoring prowess than set-up skills (Russell Westbrook and Tony Parker), as well as a shooting guard who has willingly accepted the role of coming off the bench (James Harden and Manu Ginobili). And like the Spurs, the Thunder power trio were also the result of shrewd drafting and lucky bounces of ping-pong balls. Maybe this similarity shouldn’t come as a huge surprise, given that Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti learned the ropes of the NBA as a member of the San Antonio organization. Like the Spurs, the Thunder have also earned a reputation for bringing in players who never provide distractions off the court, preferring instead to focus on the primary objective of winning games. Judging by the Spurs’ three titles with Duncan/Ginobili/Parker, it’s the right formula to emulate for the Thunder. Time will tell if they will be worthy successors.—#12

San Antonio victories. The February 4 win over the Thunder was one of the best games of Parker’s pro career, featuring the 42 points along with nine assists. He also dished out a career-best 17 assists, to go with 20 points, in a two-point triumph at New Orleans in late January. Ginobili was sidelined for all three games.

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Tune in to any NBA talk show and it won’t be long before someone brings up a popular, never-ending debate. Who is the best point guard in the league? Is it the NBA’s reigning Most Valuable Player, Derrick Rose? Is it the old-school prototype with a twist, Chris Paul, who has done the unthinkable by making the Clippers competitive? What about the doeverything Rajon Rondo? A scorer with the explosive athleticism of a wing, like Russell Westbrook? Perhaps you prefer the size and elite scoring-passing package of Deron Williams? Oh, and don’t forget, even though he’s in the twilight of his career, Steve Nash6 is still one of the greatest distributors and shooters the position has ever seen.

But where exactly does Parker fit into this discussion? Why does his name often get completely omitted from the conversation?

One explanation is that now that he’s approaching age 30, he’s no longer the chic point guard whom people believe is going to revolutionize the way the position is viewed or played, such as Rose and Westbrook. Nor has Parker moved into the “respect and appreciation” stage of his career like the venerable 38-year-old and two-time MVP Nash, who hears constant well-wishes from observers around the league hoping Nash will stick around for at least a few more years. Parker is caught somewhere in the middle, in the prime of his NBA career with plenty of accomplishments already in the rearview mirror, but also with an ample amount of time remaining to add to the list.

As you might expect from a man surprised that a basketball magazine is interested in profiling him, Parker sounds a bit indifferent about the topic, saying he doesn’t worry about his status among the game’s premier floor generals.

When asked about current “point gods,” Parker answers: “It’s tough to say, because I feel like this is the Golden Age of point guards,” Parker notes. “I’ve always said that if you take any one of the top guys, 1 through 7, you’re going to get a great player. You could pick any of those guys for your team, and there wouldn’t be any difference.”

Although he’s never been a realistic candidate in the past, analysts such as Mullin, along with fans in San Antonio’s AT&T Center, believe Parker should be seriously considered in the MVP race. After a March home victory over Orlando in which Spurs supporters were heard chanting “M-V-P! M-V-P!” for their star point guard, Parker shrugged when asked about his chances of winning the award.

“It’s like every time somebody asks me that question I have to laugh because that’s LeBron and Durant stuff,” he told the San Antonio media. “But I’ll try to do my best to keep running my team and make sure we’re healthy and ready, at 100 percent when the playoffs start.”

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That ho-hum postgame quote epitomizes one Parker personality trait that doesn’t lend itself to garnering attention. He’s not prone to making outlandish statements. His Twitter account (@tp9network) is fairly tame, filled with compliments about other NBA players (“Jeremy Lin is going to be a good player, don’t forget this is his rookie year”) and selfdeprecating comments (“I can dunk but I wish I had more height”). He’s not the kind of player who trash-talks opponents or thumps his chest after a great play or big victory—no surprise perhaps, given his leadership training came under Duncan’s tutelage.

In fact, during the early portion of his career, Parker was reluctant to be verbose even around his own teammates. He instead preferred to follow the lead of Duncan and Ginobili, as well as the various veteran Spurs7 who helped the club win three rings over a five-year span.

“It was harder when I first came here [to be a vocal leader] because I was so young,” Parker notes. “But it was something that [Popovich] has talked to me about, to take on more of a leadership role on the team.”

“The foundation has been laid here in San Antonio,” Mullin says of Parker’s inevitable takeover as the Spurs’ best player. “First it was David Robinson. Then it was Tim Duncan.

Now Tim Duncan, who is such a humble superstar, has passed it on to Manu Ginobili and now Tony Parker. But it’s not an easy thing to do, to take [the lead role] from a Hall of Fame guy. You’ve got to feel comfortable doing it at the right time.”

BONUS POINTS 1. The Spurs have defeated four different opponents in their four trips to the NBA Finals, including New York, New Jersey, Detroit and Cleveland.

2. In fitting fashion for a Spurs franchise that has thrived in international scouting, Parker was chosen with the 28th pick of the 2001 NBA Draft, the final choice of the first round.

3. The Spurs have won at least 50 games in every full season since the trio joined forces, including three seasons of 60-plus victories.

4. Ginobili missed an extended early portion of 2011-12 due to a broken hand.

5. Parker’s career assists average is 5.5.

6. Nash and Parker have met in the playoffs five times, with Parker’s clubs holding a 4-1 advantage in series. Nash’s Suns broke through in 2010 with a sweep of the Western Conference semifinals.

7. Names such as “Big Shot Bob” Robert Horry and defensive force Bruce Bowen come to mind.

8. Popovich served active duty in the Air Force and once considered a career working in the CIA.

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9. The Spurs had the NBA’s best record in the 2000s, at 574-245. Next on the list were Dallas, the Lakers, Phoenix and Detroit.

Just as the Spurs universally call the legendary Duncan “Timmy,” their four-time champion head coach is referred to simply as “Pop.” When telling the story of Parker’s career, one must mention the indelible impact the man with the unique military background8 and 800-plus career victories has made.

If you watch the Spurs on even a semi-regular basis, you’ll likely notice Popovich doing something that many coaches are loathe to even consider—berating star players to give a better effort. It’s a somewhat jarring scene at first, because you simply don’t expect a player with the credentials of Duncan to be publicly excoriated in front of 20,000 people.

But here’s the thing: the Spurs’ longtime trio of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili has always been eminently coachable.

Although Parker has been on the receiving end of some of Popovich’s vociferous in-game tirades, the guard says he never took it personally. In fact, Parker believes his coach’s unique approach is one of the biggest reasons behind his multitude of individual accomplishments and career-long improvement.

“It was like a father-son relationship at first,” Parker remembers. “Pop always believed in me. He was always on me, trying to make me a better player. I can’t really say enough

about how much Pop has meant to my career.”

While answering a series of questions about his place among the best players in the NBA and where the media may or may not rank him, Parker makes a point that goes a long way to explaining the mentality of he and his San Antonio teammates. It also gets to the core of why a franchise in a city with only one major professional sports team has stayed ahead of much of its competition for years.

“You know, I really don’t care,” Parker good-naturedly responds when asked if he thinks he’s underrated by fans and national media. “As long as Pop is happy, that’s all that matters to me.”

No egos. No drama. No controversy. Coaching upheaval? Unthinkable for a franchise9 with the longest-tenured sideline leader in the League, a man who has clearly been in charge since the 1990s. It’s like the outline to a book entitled “All I Ever Needed to Know About Winning an NBA Championship, I Learned in First Grade.”

Sounds so simple, right?

“No, it’s not easy to do,” Parker says. “But that’s what makes it so special.”

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By Michael Bradley #53

PIECING THE PUZZLE Building an NBA team is not unlike constructing a jigsaw puzzle—only one with a million pieces with other people competing for the same pieces.

When the Los Angeles Clippers were trying to decide how to make their franchise more appealing to free agents—and their own players—they decided that one big solution would be to create a day-to-day basketball experience that was as positive as possible.

Fifty million dollars later, the Clippers opened a practice facility1 a mile from the beach that had everything an NBA ballplayer could want. It was the perfect basketball home, a spot where everything to do with players’ games, health and comfort could be found with few distractions and immense convenience.

For people used to traveling on private planes, staying in the finest hotels on the road and driving top-shelf automobiles, having a backyard oasis like this for daily hoops life was an important recruiting tool.

“To walk into a place and know that every resource is there for them is important,” says Clippers GM Neil Olshey.

More important was the message the Clippers were sending by building such a sporting palace. “The perception is we were willing to do what it takes and are investing the resources necessary to win,” Olshey says.

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In a shrewd trade, Boston sent away five players and two firstround picks to obtain Kevin Garnett, and as a result, the 2008 NBA Championship. Andre Iguodala was the Sixers’ first round pick in ’04. boss Red Auerbach landed several members of the legendary Celtic teams that way, including Frank Ramsey, Tom Heinsohn, K.C. Jones, Sam Jones, Satch Sanders and John Havlicek. Larry Bird arrived via the draft, too. So did Paul Pierce.

Gaining access to talent like that means either fleecing poorer teams in the League for their picks, which is largely unlikely, although Cleveland lucked out in 2011 by trading with the Clippers for Baron Davis, his gigantic contract and L.A.’s first-round pick. A little bit of Lottery magic later, and the Cavs had the No. 1 overall choice, which they turned into Kyrie Irving.3 But that doesn’t happen too often. Most teams have to get close to the top of the draft the old-fashioned way: losing.

“One of the options for a team is to get terribly bad and get yourself in position to get the top draft choice,” Babby says. “At the end of the day, if you follow that, you are beholden to luck and the ping-pong balls [that Despite seven teams having a worse record than the 29-53 Clippers in 2009-10, the team got lucky in the lottery, securing the subsequent No. 1 pick Blake Griffin.

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The Clippers gave up an All-Star center (Chris Kaman), two budding young players (Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu) and a first-round pick to secure Chris Paul and the early returns have been positive.

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Blake Griffin sure thought they were doing that. When the Clippers were set to select Griffin with the first overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, they brought the high-flying power forward to Playa Vista on L.A.’s west side for a look-see. What Griffin saw, he liked. In reality, he had no choice in the matter: the Clippers were taking him. But when it comes time to talk extension, the facility helps. “There’s no question he has seen our commitment,” Olshey says of Griffin.

The Clippers’ basketball Xanadu is a fine weapon in the attraction and retention of talent. But when it comes to building a contender in the NBA, it doesn’t guarantee success. You can have a basketball court with 14-karat trim and a whirlpool filled with champagne, and sometimes that isn’t enough. Think the Clippers would be thriving if Griffin weren’t available in ’09? Or if they hadn’t chosen well enough in other drafts to accumulate the talent necessary to trade for Chris Paul? (Or if Paul would have even considered joining up if Griffin weren’t on the team?)

In other words, there is no set formula for assembling a winner. Sometimes, you start with good fortune, as San Antonio did when it was able to select David Robinson and Tim Duncan first overall in the span of 10 years.2 “The Good Lord smiled on San Antonio twice,” Sixers president Rod Thorn says. On other occasions, a shrewd trade can lead to huge success, such as when Boston dealt for Kevin Garnett in 2007. Free agent deals can create big wins, such as the Lakers’ signing of Shaquille O’Neal in 1996.

Every combination of the three contributes to the formula, as do team culture, facilities like the Clippers’, coaching and successful mining of the foreign markets—to name a few. When it comes to constructing a team capable of reaching the NBA’s upper echelon, the only certainty is that nothing is certain.

“There are a lot of ways to skin a cat,” Olshey says.

“If there were a clear formula that was tried and true, everybody would do it the same way,” adds Phoenix president Lon Babby.

The draft is obviously a prime place to start, since it offers teams the opportunity to import top, young—and just as important these days, cheap—talent. Look over the history of the NBA, and you’ll find several of the top teams have thrived thanks to their shrewd and many times, lucky, drafting. Boston HOOP

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And it has the Thunder among the best of the West.

“Oklahoma City has done it unbelievably well,” Thorn says. “They nailed four straight draft picks, and not all of them were no-brainers. They did a good job quickly.”

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Oklahoma City (including Seattle) have never had a No. 1 overall pick, but have drafted well recently, including taking Russell Westbrook with the fourth pick in 2008. determine which teams select where in the Lottery].

“I represented Tim Duncan [before joining the Suns], and the Boston Celtics were absolutely certain they were going to get him [in 1997], but San Antonio ended up getting him and won four championships.”

Several teams have spent many years in the Lottery and have earned nothing other than more trips to the Lottery. The Clippers are perhaps the best argument against building exclusively through the draft. Instead of building a dynasty with a succession of high choices, the Clippers instead collected mistakes like Michael Olowokandi (No. 1 overall, 1998), oft-injured Shaun Livingston (No. 4, ’04) and Yaroslav Korolev (No. 12, ’05). It wasn’t until the latter part of the last decade when the Clippers began accumulating talented picks4 that they put themselves in position to make a move. Even then, it wasn’t all draft choices that created a contender.

“At the end of the day, whether your draft picks end up being players on your roster or assets that you use in trades, they can’t be liabilities,” Olshey says.

A perfect example of that was the Clippers’ December 2011 trade for Chris Paul. L.A. sent Chris Kaman, Eric Gordon and Al-Farouq Aminu to New Orleans for the All-Star point guard, along with a first-round pick it had acquired from Minnesota. The significant part of the deal was that all three players were former Clipper lottery picks. They might well have become key components of a contending team, but instead they were bundled and shipped for a standout. There are many ways to make use of the draft, and that includes selecting players who can later on be converted into even more valuable assets.

“When a deal surfaces to accelerate your improvement curve at a faster pace than you’re on at the time, it’s time to put those assets into play,” Olshey says.

Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to dish off players drafted. Take Oklahoma City, which selected Kevin Durant second overall in 2007, Russell Westbrook (fourth overall) and Serge Ibaka (24th) the following season and James Harden with the third pick in 2009.5 That’s not a bad quartet.

As the 2012 trade deadline approached, there was plenty of talk about how Phoenix was almost certain to trade away two-time MVP point guard Steve Nash. The Suns were still in the playoff hunt, but a run at the title was out of the question. There were those—even within the organization—who believed getting rid of Nash would allow the team to “earn” a better draft choice and facilitate the rebuilding process.

“This is the only business in the world where one model for succeeding is getting really bad,” Babby says. “The way to get better is to get worse.”

While trading Nash could have yielded a nice return, keeping him allowed the Suns to take advantage of his professionalism and experience to train their younger players. “Our first-round pick, Markieff Morris, has the chance to learn from Steve Nash and Grant Hill,” Babby says, referring to the Suns’ other graybeard. “You need role models. [Keeping Nash and Hill] may slow down our rebuilding process, but in the long run, it will work.” Nash’s work habits are perfect for the culture Phoenix is trying to create, and that culture is what Babby thinks can be the cornerstone of future competition.

He believes it begins with a commitment to professionalism throughout the organization that creates a foundation on which success can occur. The Suns have a training and medical roster that is renowned throughout the League as top shelf.6 That’s one of the reasons O’Neal wanted to join the Suns in 2008, when Miami traded him there. He felt the Phoenix staff would help prolong his career. Babby goes so far as to point out that the team has a “great family room,” the better to accommodate and pamper players’ relatives. The Suns are proud of their facilities. They believe their front office and coaching staffs are capable of helping players realize their potential.

Thorn takes it even further. Teams, especially those who have struggled in the past and are trying to rebuild need accountability. It’s one thing to create a winning environment and another to collect the people capable of thriving in it. Teams lose for several reasons, and one is a lack of commitment to the whole.

“If you go to a place that hasn’t been doing well and maybe had a couple of series of talented players

Portland had the No. 1 pick in 2007 and considered taking Durant. Instead they selected Greg Oden, leaving Durant to turn the fortunes around in Oklahoma City.

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Chicago beat the lottery odds in 2008, beating out eight teams with more lottery ping-pong balls, to land the right to take hometown kid Derrick Rose first in the draft.

The year 1997 is significant to the Spurs. That was the year David Robinson was limited to six games due to injury, leading to a 20-win season, which led to getting No. 1 pick Tim Duncan. That same year, San Antonio named Gregg Popovich as head coach, setting the table for four eventual titles.

The Clippers’ long, mostly sad history has included enough Olowokandis to fill three rosters. But the franchise has also had a lot of big-time talent.7 The trouble was keeping them around. As a franchise grows and develops, there must be a shared commitment to the common goal. If one side believes the other isn’t 068

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who were selfish or didn’t know how to act, you’ve got to clean that up right away,” Thorn says. “You have to have accountability. Too many places don’t have it. They’re afraid of their better players or don’t want conflict with people, so they allow them to play losing games.

“Accountability is playing time. Coaches have to say, ‘Here’s what you have to do; if you want playing time, you have to do this. So many places see a guy keep playing a certain way and keep playing him huge minutes.”

Thorn talks about his time as an assistant coach with the New York Nets during the franchise’s first two NBA seasons. The team picked up Robert “Bubbles” Hawkins and saw the guard score 19.3 ppg in 52 games. One would imagine that kind of production would secure Hawkins a long tenure in the League.

Instead, Hawkins held out the next season, played just 19 more NBA games and joined the ash heap of talented players who were unwilling to play a team game.

“If a team scores 90 points a game and loses, somebody is going to get part of those 90 points,” Thorn says. “Even the worst team in the League is going to get 30 rebounds, so someone will get about 10 of them. There are some assists, too. Someone will get them.

“You have to discern who’s a winning type of player.”

interested in going all in, success is impossible. It doesn’t matter how well a team drafts, if the players don’t want to be there when their first contracts expire, it’s impossible to build the continuity necessary to win.

“The Clippers have had good players here before, but they haven’t wanted to be here for the long term,” Olshey says.

Throughout this regular season, we have seen examples of players who were willing to commit to their franchises and those who considered leaving. Within an eight-day period in January, the Thunder signed Westbrook to a five-year extension, the Timberwolves and rebounder nonpareil Kevin Love agreed to spend at least the next three seasons8 together and the Nuggets invested four more seasons in Danilo Gallinari.

Each was happy with the direction in which his team was heading and therefore was willing to pledge his services for the relatively long term. It’s the same thinking that led DeAndre Jordan to re-up happily last December with the Clippers for four seasons, even after signing a four-year offer sheet from Golden State. It was partly his presence that convinced Paul that the Clips were a franchise interested in winning big.

Paul wanted out of New Orleans, because he felt the Hornets were too far from true contention. Dwight Howard’s three-month ordeal in Orlando earlier in the season ended when he committed to the team for the 201213 season and believed it had the goods to make a deep postseason run this year and get even better the next.

“The players you want to give extensions to are those who if you lose them, you can’t replicate them,” Olshey says. “Players who do extensions want to be [with the team]. The team gets a little break financially, and the players get their money a little earlier [than waiting to enter the free agent market].

“They’re willing to forego the free agent process, because they want to be with a certain organization.”

Babby, who represented9 Duncan, Grant Hill and Ray Allen, among

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It was a no-brainer for Miami to sign LeBron James to a free-agent deal in 2010. The move turned the Heat into instant contenders and sent Cleveland into rebuild mode.

No team is luckier than the Magic. In Orlando’s 22 drafts, they have secured the No. 1 overall pick three times, the latest being Dwight Howard in ’04.

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many other NBA players, agrees with Olshey. When deciding which players to keep on the team, there must be a mutual desire to remain together. The players must feel that their interests are being addressed.

Beyond that, there has to be a shared approach to success. If everyone in the organization cannot come together, the chances for serious contention drop.

“It has to be a good fit, if you want to have a championship culture and environment,” Babby says. “You need alignment between the front office and the coach, the coach and the players. You have to make sure the player is the right fit culturally. It goes beyond where you are as a player.

He can either enhance the culture or be absorbed successfully by the team’s culture, if he has a couple warts.”

Nobody wants to rely on the uncertainty of the draft to build a team— unless, of course, they can grab a Blake Griffin or Chicago’s Derrick Rose with the No. 1 overall pick.10 When Babby refers to the “heartburn” that settles in as the ping-pong balls take over, he isn’t kidding. But nothing is certain in the collection of NBA talent, and free agency proves that.

The one thing teams can say about free agents is that they are largely known quantities. It’s hard to project a draft prospect’s talents and accomplishments into an NBA setting. These days, the player has spent only a year playing college ball.11 Because of that, potential becomes the magic word. For the most part, free agents have an established NBA pedigree, and teams can spent time calculating how they’ll fit into their team dynamic. Better still, since everybody in the League knows when every contract expires, teams can prepare for the marketplace by investigating future targets and making decisions early on whether or not to pursue them.

“The draft is like playing the future game,” Olshey says. “There are very few sure things, so it’s a gamble there. With free agents, you can look one

Ty Lawson was drafted by Minnesota and unceremoniously traded to Denver for a first-round pick and is now an important piece of the Nuggets. Drafted in ’04, Josh Smith was originally the Bucks pick, traded to Denver, then to Detroit, then to Atlanta. or two years in advance. You know who’s available and can do a lot of due diligence, scouting, analysis and background work.”

That evaluation can take on many forms. Teams need to know how players’ skills fit into their systems.

How they will adapt to their new teammates. What they do off the court. But others go well beyond those traditional methods of evaluation. Just as Moneyball has become a popular baseball approach and measures production according to a collection of new statistical methods, so, too, has Houston GM Daryl Morey charted a new course for measuring players’ value. He and his staff use a complicated collection of analytics to find players whose presence increases team productivity and therefore wins. That information helps Houston choose whom it will pursue, whether in the draft, through free agency or via trade. (Morey declined to be interviewed for this article, citing a reticence about discussing his methods.)

But even if a team does exhaustive research on a prospect and comes to some undeniable conclusions, that doesn’t mean it will necessarily make the right move. Thorn says every NBA executive has signed a player simply because his statistics might be appealing to fans, even if he’s not necessarily a “winning” player. “We all do it,” Thorn says. A team can absorb a numbers-obsessed signing, so long as the player doesn’t command a crippling contract. With salary cap flexibility12 so important and giant, long-term deals for players who don’t deliver victories so deadly, it’s vital to be careful. “You can’t absorb big mistakes,” Babby says.

The NBA is filled with examples of free agent moves—big and small—triggering championship runs.

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Rudy Gay wore a Houston Rockets cap on draft day ’06 as the eighth overall pick, but became a member of the Grizzlies two weeks later as part of the swap for Shane Battier.

O’Neal’s signing with the Lakers led to a trio of titles. The Heat’s 2010 free-agent bonanza lifted it to the upper reaches of the League. But more often than not, free agency is more useful in providing complementary parts to contenders. The key with adding players through the marketplace is to accumulate parts that allow for roster flexibility—on and off the court. A team doesn’t want players who aren’t versatile during games or who can’t be packaged in deals that can improve the team down the road.

“It is really important, if you are a top-flight team, and you have three high-priced guys, that unless you want to pay the luxury tax, you sign players who can fill your roster out,” Thorn says. “You’ve got to have some flexible players, who can play more than one position, guys that have ball skills and can pass, dribble and do the fundamental things that make the team go. They have to know how to play.”

Thorn doesn’t discount the value of wise trades, either. He should know. In July 2001 while GM of the Nets, he dealt Stephon Marbury and two other players to Phoenix for Jason Kidd and Chris Dudley. The Nets played in two of the next three Finals. The Celtics won the 2008 world championship after making deals for Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett in a little more than a month’s time during the summer of ’07.

Detroit’s acquisition of Rasheed Wallace before the 2004 trade deadline is seen as a catalyst to their championship that season. Kidd, Jason Terry, Shawn Marion and Tyson Chandler—all acquired in trades— were big reasons the Mavericks topped the basketball world last year. So was Jose Berea, who was signed as an undrafted free agent in 2006. And, of course, Finals MVP Dirk Nowitzki was acquired by the Mavs on a draft-day trade with Milwaukee in 1998. It’s a formula that can’t be duplicated by any other team. But the main philosophy is pretty consistent with what everyone in the league is trying to do.

“You want to make the most of your draft picks and cap room and have a marquee player who attracts players who want to play with him,” Olshey says. “Those are the three essentials.”

And don’t forget the practice facility. That helps, too.

The Hornets drafted Bryant with the 13th pick in the 1996 draft, but the it was the Lakers who wisely made that happen in a prearranged deal with the Hornets in exchange for Vlade Divac.

BONUS POINTS 1. The Clippers had secured two acres of land in Playa Vista and announced in 2005 of their plans to construct the 42,500 square feet training center which opened in 2008.

2. Robinson was the first choice in the 1987 draft (but didn’t make his NBA debut until 1989 due to Navy obligation) while Duncan was the top pick in 1997.

3. By the time you’re reading this, he’ll likely be a freshly-minted 2012 Rookie of the Year.

4. The Clippers picked up Eric Gordon with the No. 7 pick in 2008 (who was traded as part of the Chris Paul deal) and unearthed a second-round diamond in DeAndre Jordan in the second round of the same draft.

6. The Suns are one of four teams in the NBA to have a Cryosauna, a nitrogen gas chamber with temperatures of minus-274 degrees that speeds up the postgame ice bath from 12 minutes to just three.

7. Since moving to L.A. and prior to Blake Griffin, the Clippers have had a few All-Stars: Danny Manning (’93, ’94), Elton Brand (’02, ’06) and Chris Kaman (’10).

8. Love has a player option for a fourth year.

9. Babby was a longtime sports agent before moving to the Suns front office in 2010.

10. The No. 1 overall pick doesn’t guarantee a title. Since the NBA Draft Lottery in 1985, only four No. 1 picks have won a championship: David Robinson, Shaquille O’Neal, Glen Robinson and Tim Duncan.

11. In the case of 2011 No. 1 pick, Kyrie Irving had only 11 games of NCAA experience.

12. In today’s NBA, successfully piecing together an economically viable roster is as important as amassing a talented one.

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Had the Milwaukee Bucks not swapped Dirk Nowitzki (the ninth pick of the ’98 draft) for sixth pick Robert Traylor, the Mavericks probably would not have won the NBA Championship last year.

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5. Officially, the Thunder also drafted Rodrigue Beaubois with the 25th pick in the same draft, but he was quickly dealt to Dallas for Byron Mullens.

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We made the bold move of declaring Kevin Durant the MVP, but in truth, while we were writing this, the possibility of the fifth-year, 23-year-old Durant winning the NBA’s highest individual honor, was still very much in the air.

LeBron James, with his brilliant all-around game and star-filled supporting cast, is almost guaranteed to be the running for the award for the foreseeable future. Kobe Bryant singlehandedly willed a Lakers team to another championship run. Kevin Love’s occasional throwback box scores of 30-plus points and 20-something rebounds gave us glimpses of Wilt Chamberlain while keeping the Timberwolves in contention to the very end (no small feat). Even Durant’s own teammate, Russell Westbrook’s continued elevation as one of the game’s best talents deserves some notice for the honors.

But even among such heady competition, Durant is clearly our MVP. It feels like a long time ago, but it wasn’t that long ago that Durant came onto the scene as a skinny one-and-done gangly kid out of Texas. There were rumors of Portland taking him with the first pick (if only Portland would take that one back) but he was taken second by the SuperSonics and thrown into a rebuilding team whose starting lineup were primarily Earl Watson, Chris Wilcox, Kurt Thomas and fellow rookie Jeff Green. Bad? Put it this way, the team had less wins than Durant’s 20.3 scoring average that season. It was hard not to award a 20-ppg scorer the Rookie of the Year, even if he missed 57 percent of his attempts. But in time Durant grew and improved and, not coincidentally, along with him, so did the Thunder. First came a spot on the All-Star team, followed by a playoff berth, then leading Team USA to a gold medal in the World Championship, a trip to the Conference Finals and now, possibly his first MVP. Durant deserves the trophy and we explain why.

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Worth

in the evaluation for this year’s MVP, Kevin durant stands in a class by himself.

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he’ll find the open man. The final indication of his offensive improvement comes with his post play. Durant is no longer shying away from the rough stuff close to the hoop.

Teams that try to control him with smaller defenders will watch as the 6-9 swingman sets up on the block and hits a step-back turnaround J that has definite Dirk Nowitzki potential.

It all adds up to a more efficient, dangerous performer. Durant isn’t just going to stroke jumpers, although he is making 49 percent of his shots from 16-to-23 feet, according to Hoopdata. Because Durant is more efficient when he shoots and more dangerous when he passes, the Thunder is making 47.8 percent of its shots this year, as opposed to 46.4 in 2010-11.

Durant’s rebounding has improved as well, to a career-high 8.2 rpg, something that demonstrates his improved strength. When Durant came into the League, many wondered if he was too thin for the big leagues. That prompted his coach at Texas, Rick Barnes, to opine that the ball didn’t weigh that much, so shooting wouldn’t be a problem. But winning players do more than just launch the rock. By showing a desire to score inside and mix it up on the boards, Durant is demonstrating his toughness, something that is vital during the post-season.

He has a bit of a nasty streak this season, too. During a March matchup against the Lakers, Durant hog-tied Kobe Bryant in the open court and tossed him to the ground.

Instead of helping his rival up or apologizing, Durant turned away. Bryant couldn’t have liked that much, but he had to respect it. And look for a poster coming soon to wall near you of Durant’s throwing it down over L.A. power forward Pau Gasol.

Durant is still only 23 years old, and his five years in the League don’t exactly make him a grizzled veteran. But there is no denying the significant step he has made during the 2011-12 season. No longer content to be a scoring star, he is becoming the type of player capable of doing whatever his team requires. One has to wonder if Durant intends to continue on such a dramatic developmental arc.

If he does, the discussion surrounding him won’t be about Most Improved Player awards. It will be about championship trophies.—Michael Bradley #53

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It’s almost a cliché at this point. Ask an NBA player what he plans to improve on during a given offseason, and he won’t specify, choosing the generic “I’m going to work on my game” response instead. Often, that means a few months in the weight room, some pickup games at a local gym and then training camp. Said player may be better in one or two areas, but rarely is the improvement universal.

This past summer and fall, Kevin Durant worked on his game all right. His entire game. And the results have been dramatic.

There have been many instances of reserves becoming starters by lifting their allaround performance, and regulars can become stars with similar all-encompassing improvements. But rare is it that an established All-Star becomes so much better that he is mentioned in the discussion for Most Improved Player. That is what Durant has done during the 2011-12 season.

Durant won’t win that award, simply because it generally goes to a lesser-known player who jumps to prominence. A strong argument can be made for his candidacy, though. The Oklahoma City star has a more efficient, diverse offensive game, has improved his ballhandling and passing, is rebounding more ferociously, has stepped up his defense, is a more complete leader and is showing a nasty streak that can only be found in the best of the best. The humble man with the backpack has gone from a prodigy to an all-around terror.

To someone who pays attention only to scoring average, it would appear as if Durant has slipped a bit, since he is putting up just 27.5 ppg, as opposed to last year’s 27.7. But Durant’s shooting percentage has gone from 46.2 to a career-high 50.2.

His three-point accuracy is up, from 35.0% to 37.7%. Those are easy to measure. Go deeper, and you’ll see the heart of his improvement.

According to Hoopdata, last season, OKC teammates assisted on 62 percent of Durant’s baskets. This year, he needs help on only 47 percent, which demonstrates his ability to create for himself and speaks to his improved ballhandling skills. And Durant is aiding his mates more, too. His percentage of Thunder assists has risen from 13.2 to 17.5, meaning that it’s harder than ever to double-team Durant, because HOOP

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It’s more than three hours before game time, and the inner bowl of Oklahoma City’s Chesapeake Energy Arena is virtually empty. As stadium workers prepare for the evening’s 7 p.m. tip-off, a focused Kevin Durant tirelessly goes through his individual pregame workout, with the help of a Thunder assistant coach and a few team ballboys. The youngsters are there to retrieve the All-Star forward’s practice shots, which as you may expect, are swishing through the net at the usual steady clip. But then something completely unexpected happens—at least to those who’ve never witnessed this unique routine. Upon concluding his shooting regimen, Durant gives the signal. The kids all know exactly what this means: It’s alley oop time.

Prior to every Oklahoma City home game, the Thunder’s crew of ballboys take turns throwing a lob pass to Durant for a slam. Each time it’s the same thing—when KD wraps up his shooting, he high-fives all of the ballboys, before one of them gets to toss the first “assist” of the day. As an observer of this tradition notes, Durant’s inclusive gesture makes the Oklahoma City ballboys “feel almost like they helped Kevin win the game.”

There are no fans in the building, no television cameras and therefore no way to officially document the ritual. But that’s kind of the point: Durant doesn’t do it for attention or so that people can see how quality of a person he is. No, he simply wants to show a small token of appreciation to a group of Oklahoma City kids, who spend countless hours each winter anonymously helping Durant prepare for his job.

That anecdote helps partly explain why many who know Durant found it laughable when there was media discussion last season that a “rift” was developing between the humblest of NBA superstars and Thunder second-leading scorer Russell Westbrook. Since the June 2007 day he joined the then-Seattle SuperSonics, Durant has treated every member of the organization with the utmost kindness and respect, all the way from management to his teammates to the club’s ballboys and arena employees (many of whom Durant greets on game nights by first name).

The Durant-Westbrook speculation suggested that a perceived divide between the two Thunder stars might cause a close-knit team to break apart, or lead Westbrook to pursue signing a free-agent contract with another franchise, where he’d be the unquestioned No. 1 option. But that line of thinking couldn’t have been further from reality—Oklahoma City emerged as the best team in the Western Conference in 2011-12, while Westbrook happily signed a long-term contract extension to remain in the Sooner State. Furthermore, Durant essentially volunteered to give up a portion of the scoring duties to the athletic Westbrook, saying it would make the Thunder a better team in the process.

“We’re worse when I take more shots [than Westbrook],” Durant told The Oklahoman newspaper in April. “… and I’m better when I’m out there facilitating, rebounding, defending and being more efficient [by taking] less shots.”

What else would you expect from a man who appears to be wise well beyond his 23 years of age? Who is often the first Thunder player to race across the court to help up a teammate? Who has developed a distinct pregame handshake tailored specifically to each other member of the Thunder?

Several hours after participating in his game-night tradition with the OKC ballboy staff, Durant has another custom he follows on a regular basis. Not long after the final buzzer, this time with the raucous Chesapeake Energy Arena filled to the rafters with over 19,000 fans, Durant’s lanky frame strides over to the front-row seats across the way from the Thunder bench, where he hugs and kisses his mother (and grandmother when she’s in attendance). It’s a not-so-macho custom that may be one part of the explanation for why Oklahoma City courtside observers insist that they’ve never heard Durant utter a profanity or taunt an opponent during a game.

It’s highly unlikely Durant will ever be the kind of leader who screams at teammates for making a mistake, or barks at one of his coaches during a timeout to run the offense through him. He’s instead sparked the Thunder to the top of the standings with a lead-by-example approach and thoughtful demeanor that’s made him one of the NBA’s most respected and well-liked players within his own franchise. Starting with the ballboys.—Jim Eichenhofer #12

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That is precisely why Oklahoma City has the most efficient offense in the NBA (107.6 points per 100 possessions) and are on pace for their best regular-season finish in franchise history, with this season’s .741 winning percentage obliterating the team’s previous best of .671 set last year.

Don’t get it twisted. Durant is still putting up monster individual numbers, averaging a team-high 27.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game.

But he’s allowing others to get their shine too …

Allowing Russell Westbrook to get his Derrick Rose on, with the super sidekick averaging 24.4 points per game, ranking fifth in the NBA—only behind Kobe Bryant, Durant, LeBron James and Kevin Love.

Allowing James Harden to get his Manu Ginobili on, with the super sixth man posting a 21.14 PER, ranking fourth among all shooting guards in the NBA—only behind Dwyane Wade, Ginobili and Bryant.

Allowing Lord of the Rings Derek Fisher (who was on five NBA championship teams with the Lakers), Nazr Mohammed (one with the Spurs) and Perkins (one with the Celtics) to speak words of wisdom when it’s needed.

After all, Durant, Westbrook and Harden have never been to a Finals before.

So even though the OKC trio has superstar talent, Durant is wise beyond his years to seek counsel with the aforementioned teammates that won with some of the greatest Big Threes from the 21st Century (Fisher with Bryant, Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom; Mohammed with Tim Duncan, Ginobili and Tony Parker; Perkins with Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen).

As Durant has already showed Perkins, he not only listens. He learns.

It may ultimately be what separates Durant from fellow MVP candidates LeBron James and Dwight Howard who reached Finals in their early 20s (LeBron was 22; Howard, 24), but didn’t come away with championships…and still haven’t to this day.

If Durant can pull off a Finals MVP performance at age 23, he will go down in NBA history with Duncan and Magic Johnson as the only 23-and-unders to pull off such a feat.

Talk about selfless legends.

If the Thunder wins the 2012 NBA Championship, you soon may have to speak the same way about Kevin Durant.—Darryl Howerton #21

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Less is more and more is most and that is why Kevin Durant may win the Most Valuable Player award at age 23.

KD has long been a scoring force and a top five MVP candidate, but by putting his foot to the brake and slowing down his roll, Durant has figured out a new way to become even more fuel-efficient while also leading his Oklahoma City Thunder to a potential NBA Finals drive.

Quite simply, Durant has become The Man by looking out for his men.

The 6-9, 235-pound small forward got some help recently from glowering big man Kendrick Perkins who sat down Durant and fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook for a heart-to-heart after the All-Star break, according to the Oklahoman newspaper.

The 6-10, 270-pound center who won a ring with the 2007-08 Boston Celtics told the dynamic duo that they’ve got to act like Boston’s power trio, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and RayAllen, stuff the stat sheet in the back pocket and play for only one thing this year: a 2012 NBA Championship trophy.

Durant acknowledged he took the heart-to-heart to heart and immediately went into Magic Johnson mode, doling out 44 assists over a 10-game stretch, which is the highest assist total the small forward has ever had over any 10-game span in his five-year career.

It’s consistent with the way Durant has approached most of the 2011-12 NBA season—looking out for his fellow man and not seeking out individual honors. And by focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel, he is producing yet another personalbest season.

Durant’s career-best 3.5 assist average is but one example (2.8 was his previous best). His minutes are down (lowest average in four years), his shots are down (lowest in three years), which shows everybody the two-time defending scoring champ isn’t gunning for a third scoring title.

Consequently, Durant has become a much more efficient player all over the court, posting career bests in Player Efficiency Rating (27.30) and true shooting percentage (.608)—ranking fifth in the NBA in shots at the rim (.738) and second for shots in the 16-to-23-foot range (.490), while still making 38 percent of his threes.

Talk about impossible to defend—a rim-attacking, midrange shooting, three-point launcher who can burn you with the pass as well?

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YoungesT FinAls MVPs

At just 23, if Kevin Durant leads Oklahoma City to an NBA title in 2012 and cops the Finals MVP, he would join a select, and very elite group of players who’ve taken home the prestigious award under the age of 25. A spot on this list would bode well for KD’s future, as nearly each one of these ballers went on to win at least one more championship. Dwyane Wade is the lone exception, but he’s nipping at the heels of another; it could possibly come down to Wade’s second ring vs. Durant’s first title come June.

Tim Duncan Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

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Age: 24 In 1971, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar led Milwaukee to its only NBA title in a 4-0 sweep of the Baltimore Bullets. In his second season at age 24, Abdul-Jabbar averaged 27 points on 60.5 percent shooting , 18.5 rebounds and 2.8 assists in 42 minutes per game on his way to the 1971 Finals MVP. Kareem would win five more titles in ’80, ’82, ’85, ’87 and ’88, all with the Los Angeles Lakers, and scored another MVP in ’85.

Dennis Johnson Age: 24 In his third year in the League at age 24, Dennis Johnson came away with the first and only Finals MVP in Seattle SuperSonics franchise history. Leading the franchise to its lone championship in 1979. D.J. put up 22.6 points, six rebounds, six assists, 1.8 steals and 2.2 blocks in 44.8 minutes a contest throughout the Sonics’ 4-1 series victory over the Washington Bullets.

Before his career ended, Johnson managed to rack up two more championships in ’84 and ’86, both coming with the Boston Celtics.

Age: 23 In just his second season as a pro, the lockout shortened 1998-99, a 23-year-old Tim Duncan paced San Antonio past the Knicks during a five-game 1999 Finals. Duncan’s 27.4 points, 14 boards, one steal and 2.2 blocks in 45.8 minutes per game were good enough to capture Finals MVP honors.

Timmy has an additional three rings with the Spurs in ’03, ’05 and ’07, and earned the MVP in both ’03 and ’05, while Tony Parker won it for the team in ‘07.

Magic Johnson

Bill Walton Age: 24 Bill Walton was 24 and just three years removed from his UCLA days when he copped the 1977 Finals MVP for the Trail Blazers. Walton sported a fat stat line of 18.5 points, 19 rebounds, 5.2 assists, one steal and 3.7 blocks in 37.7 minutes per game during Portland’s triumph over the 76ers in six games.

Walton finished his career with two championships, the second coming as the top Sixth Man in the NBA with the ’86 Celtics.

Age: 20 The youngest player to ever win a Finals MVP, Magic Johnson accomplished the feat in 1980, his rookie campaign, at the age of 20 when his Lakers took down the Sixers in six. Magic averaged a robust 21.5 points, 57.3 field goal shooting, 11.2 rebounds, 8.7 assists and 2.7 steals in 42.7 minutes per contest.

Johnson also won the award two years later at 22.

The ’82 Finals featured a rematch of 1980, as L.A. topped Philly in another six game series. The superstar point guard finished with 16.2 points, 10.8 rebounds, eight assists, and 2.5 steals in 41.7 minutes en route to the trophy.

He went on to win three more championships with Los Angeles in ’85, ’87 and ’88, with another Finals MVP coming in ’87.

Dwyane Wade Age: 24 Dwyane Wade tallied 34.7 points 7.8 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.7 steals in 43.5 minutes a night during the 2006 Finals, in which the Heat took care of the Dallas Mavericks in six games. D-Wade, who holds the only Finals MVP in team history, was only 24 years old and in his third NBA season at the time he brought a title to Miami.

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Last summer, when the players were locked out and we weren’t sure if there was going to be an NBA season, Kevin Durant showed his true love for the game. He made it abundantly clear that his passion was stronger than others—playing anywhere and everywhere (flag football games withstanding)—because basketball courses through his veins. It was evident that he would be balling whether he was getting paid to or not.

In doing so, he became the face of the lockout, not for the negotiations, but for the spirit of basketball. He was the poster boy for Nike’s ‘Basketball Never Sleeps’ campaign, because he truly lived it. It just seemed like Durant just showed up anytime a basketball was present—and judging from his flag football games, even when there wasn’t one.

Summer League, impromptu pickup games, celebrity games, backyard games of H-OR-S-E, over-60 or under-10 leagues…KD was there. And dropped buckets in videogame numbers, giving the fans a show. You made ball fun again.

While it was clearly evident that no one plays defense in those exhibitions, he never lost sight of the weakest part of his game he needed to work on. Putting the ball in the hole is easy for Durant, but defense wins championships. Kendrick Perkins told him he needed to step up and be a more vocal leader, (advice you heeded), but you also knew you needed to lead by example. The motto Durant has adopted is: “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard.” Well, Durant is on pace to match or better his career-highs in rebounds, blocks and steals per game, but more telling is his increased focus on defense. Durant even ceded it as much, telling the Oklahoman: “I’m better when I’m out there facilitating, rebounding, defending.” As a team the Thunder have improved defensively, holding opponents to four less points this season compared to last.

Against the standard by which he is now often compared to, LeBron James, Durant has not shied away from the assignment despite giving up a conservative 35 pounds. In their first meeting this season, Oklahoma City took care of business, smashing the Heat, 103-87; Durant guarded James providing the rare star vs. star matchup, (or MVP vs.

MVP) and held him to 17 points, 7 assists, 3 rebounds with 4 turnovers, a “A” if grading on a LeBron curve. The much-hyped rematch was like a playoff game and while the San Antonio Spurs and Chicago Bulls may take exception, a possible preview of this year’s Finals. Unfortunately Durant’s defensive tenacity was not the same this time around.

Durant allowed James ample room to three-pointer, let him blow by on the baseline on an isolation play, finishing with 34 points 10 assists, 7 rebounds and 4 steals, with the Heat winning, 98-93.

We understand the transformation into an All-Defensive Teamer is not an overnight process. There will be nights when Durant’s man will go for 30. As effortless as his game is on the offensive end, Durant still has ways to go defensively.

“I’d slow my roll on saying he’s a defensive stopper or equating increased steals and blocks as a reflection of improved defense,” says Ric Bucher, senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. “They can be, but they’re also a form of gambling that is a detriment to good team defense. I’d say he has been better this year because he’s stayed attached to his man more consistently and has done a better job of fighting through screens. But the fact remains, KD is the worst defender in the Thunder’s starting lineup; that’s not as bad as it sounds because Kendrick Perkins, Thabo Sefolosha and Serge Ibaka are all solid defenders and Russell Westbrook can be a honey badger to his man when he chooses to be.”

“The most impressive thing about Durant’s D, to me, is that he has become a credible defender at all five positions,” says ESPN.com’s Marc Stein. “How many players can we say that about? I’ve seen Durant guard centers like Brendan Haywood and Marc Gasol… and then you’ll even see OKC switch him onto small guards in pick-and-roll situations because Scotty Brooks thinks he can get by against the little guys with that huge wingspan. This is the season that Durant really started to become a two-way player.”

That’s really what it is: Durant showing the signs and desire of becoming a two-way player. That’s what separates the stars from the greats. Like when Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James decided to dedicate themselves to the other side of the ball, Durant’s desire to evolve defensively is when hard work meets talent. It’ll be one of those things that people will look back during his career and say, “Remember when Durant raised the Thunder another notch by upping his defensive approach?”—Duane Watson #7

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Some purists moan and groan at the frivolous and oftentimes impossibleto-prove debate of “best player in the NBA.” Besides being good basketball banter among fans, it’s significant. Sure, the game is played by a team of five versus another five, but it’s important to note how one player can elevate the other four, making for a better team ultimately. And right now, that discussion belongs between Kevin Durant and LeBron James, with former archetype Kobe Bryant stepping down.

We’re not talking championships here, 81-point scoring games, practices, big shots or career achievements. We’re talking right now and the future: who is better. At this point in their careers, Durant has surpassed Kobe in almost every area. It’s not to disparage #24,who has been sitting in either the No. 1 or the runner-up for a good 10 seasons, a great run that puts him among the all-time greats. Hell, the seasoned Bryant still has lessons he can tutor Durant on from time to time, but on a daily basis, the money is on Durant. So like the outgoing beauty queen, Kobe is going to get one final victory lap and end it by gracefully handing over the crown to Durant just like when he seized it from his predecessor.

Which brings us to his contemporary. Spoiler alert: It’s not up for debate.

Right now that title still belongs to LeBron James. There is no other player in his class who is able to do what he does on both ends of the court. James still has his doubters during the big game or the closing seconds, but even those critical of him cannot deny his talent and ability. But the fact that Durant is even in the debate puts him in some exclusive company.

Don’t let the laid-back demeanor fool you, Durant has his eyes on the throne. The King might still wear his crown, but there is an unassuming player who is well-equipped to usurp him from his perch. James’s seat won’t be forcefully taken away from him. No, at 6-8 and 250 pounds, very few—if any—can physically remove him. But what Durant lacks in the bench press, he makes up for in length. He might not plow over a defender to finish the three-point play, but he can artfully squeeze the ball through traffic for the same net result. Instead of muscling his way to the basket, Durant gracefully sets up the defender with a dribble move, then rise up as only a 6-9 man could, reaching the airspace only seven-footers go, to take aim with a feathery touch that goes down half the time—an indescribable feeling that perhaps only Dirk Nowitzki can expand on.

In a society where might is usually appreciated above all, Durant gets shortchanged on defense. While neither the brick wall nor the shape-shifting defender that LeBron is, Durant is improving. Not to compare him to the Worm, but like Dennis Rodman, Durant is long and lean and makes up any lack of bulk with those telescoping arms to deflect and affect. And because of his length and quickness, he can do some spot-duty on big men and lightning bug guards. Outside of LeBron, no one can stake that claim.

Just four years apart and playing the same position, the James-Durant argument looks to have at least five more strong years to go. The two have already played in some close games and head-to-head, with LeBron holding a slight advantage: LeBron: 26.8 ppg, .497 FG%, .409 3pt FG%, .754 FT%, 7.1 apg, 5.9 rpg, 2.4 spg, 1.2 bpg; Durant: 27.3 ppg, .475, FG .500 3pt FG%, .841 FT%, 2.9 apg, 6.3 rpg, 1.7 spg, 0.7 bpg. Most importantly, James’s teams were 7-2.

Like any true rivalry, it doesn’t really happen unless the two meet up in a game with implications, say the Finals. The Heat and Thunder are both on course to come to a head in June. The Heat have to dispatch of all comers in the East and fittingly, one of the likely opponents standing in the way of their first Finals is fittingly the Lakers and Kobe Bryant. If Durant and James do meet with the Larry O’Brien Trophy at stake, it could very well be a preview of what’s to come for the remainder of the decade: The second coming of MagicBird with Durant and James carrying the League while jostling for chips, MVPs and title of “NBA’s Best.”—Ming Wong #2

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An avid bowler and possibly the best currently wearing an NBA uniform, Chris Paul shows his form during the 12th annual Los Angeles Clippers Foundation Charity Bowling Challenge. The event, benefiting the community outreach programs for children, paired fans, season-ticket holders, celebrities and athletes from other sports with Clippers players to form teams. As expected, Paul led all Clippers in scores that day.

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Marc Gasol took time out of the tight NBA schedule for tea time with some children at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital during a visit by the Memphis Grizzlies. There was no word on whether Gasol had crumpets or tea sandwiches with his tea.

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The kid from Queens, N.Y. added another feather to his storied playing career. In a 16-year playing career, Chris Mullin has amassed 17,911 points, a spot on the storied Dream Team and been inducted to the Hall of Fame. His most recent honor was having his number retired by the Golden State Warriors where he played 13 seasons. His #17 joins Wilt Chamberlain (#13), Tom Meschery (#14), Al Attles (#16), Rick Barry (#24) and Nate Thurmond (#42) in the Warriors pantheon.

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This season was the last for some players who decided that 2012 would the final year they’d lace ’em up for an NBA team. Former All-Stars Ben Wallace (four-time) and Brad Miller (two-time) announced during the season that they’ll be calling it a career after the season. T.J. Ford and Jeff Foster also formally retired stemming from injuries. We’ll miss seeing you on NBA courts. roN hoskINs; davId shErmaN; BrIaN BaBINEau; d. clarkE EvaNs/NBaE/GEtty ImaGEs

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He was never their best player nor did he even ever average 10 points per game in any season, but Bruce Bowen helped the Spurs to three championships because of his ability to keep opponents from scoring. To honor his efforts the San Antonio Spurs retired Bowen’s #12 with a postgame ceremony on March 21. Bowen joins Johnny Moore (#00), Avery Johnson (#6), James Silas (#13), Sean Elliot (#32), George Gervin (#44) and David Robinson (#50) in the AT&T Center rafters. It’ll soon get crowded up there as Tim Duncan (#21), Tony Parker (#9) and Manu Ginobili (#20) will likely get their turn in the near future. d. clarkE EvaNs/NBaE/GEtty ImaGEs

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Rebooting the shoe it’s been 23 years since we were introduced to Marty McFly’s auto-lacing hightops and we’re still essentially wearing the same low-tech shoes—albeit with more advanced materials and construction—from two decades ago. nike is making up for the lack of auto-lacing shoes with the introduction of nike+ basketball with the hyperdunk+ shoe. no, it still doesn’t lace itself, but the hyperdunk+ does open up the possibilities on a training level to ballplayers, while at the same time, adding a social element to basketball playing (learn more on page 91). Like the hyperdunk+, the Fuelband (more on page 88) is also adding a social and competitive wrinkle, this time to the daily grind of life. the wrist-worn device tracks your activity, quantifying it to nike Fuel to share and compare with your social network.

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SUBSCRIBE TO HOOP The Official Basketball Lifestyle Magazine of the NBA

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SPIN MOVES

BY JERAMIE McPEEK #4

Jared Dudley Phoenix Suns

Jared Dudley wasn’t exactly a household name in Phoenix when he was acquired by the Suns in a multiplayer trade with Charlotte in late 2008. A little more than three years later, though, the 6-7 forward is a fan favorite and not just for his rapid-fire tweets. @JaredDudley619 has become an important part of the Suns’ roster, averaging a career-best 13 points and 4.7 boards a game, starting alongside Steve Nash in the backcourt.

Jared’s TV “My favorite TV shows right now are Law & Order, American Idol and ESPN. I love Law & Order. My mom is a lawyer and her sisters are all lawyers or judges, so I think it’s in my DNA. I love seeing people fight for their freedom. Or if they did a bad crime, hoping they get caught. Plus, those are like real cases, so that’s the cool thing about that.

“What do I like about American Idol? Jennifer Lopez being a judge [laughs]. No, it’s really my wife’s favorite show, but I enjoy watching it with her.”

Jared’s Movies

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“All-time favorites are, obviously, Gladiator, and Man on Fire with Denzel. I love that movie.

Comedy-wise, there are so many. Probably Coming to America with Eddie Murphy.

“I love going to the movies. I just saw Act of Valor, which was a good one. I saw Project X and Safe House. I usually go with the guys, at least a couple teammates, while we’re on the road.”

Jared’s Music “I like R&B and hip hop. I’m a big Drake fan, Kanye, Trey Songs. Every now and then I bump some Adele. When I’m winding down, I’ll listen to some Adele. That might be a surprise to some people.

“All-time, though, I’d say Tupac. Being a west coast guy, I grew up listening to him. My older brother put me onto him.”

ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES; ILLUSTRATION: MATT CANDELA

Jared’s Apps “Let me check my iPhone. What do I got here? Obviously, Twitter. I use Echofon. It’s easy to tweet from and upload my videos right there. I am a big Yelp guy for restaurants, Fandango for movies, TMZ... That’s pretty much it. No Angry Birds or games. That’s Channing Frye. He plays the worst games ever. He’s playing Anthill right now. It’s terrible [laughs].”

Jared’s Hobbies “Playing with my kids. They’re really young, so we like going to the park. There’s a train park in Phoenix that’s really good. There’s a Sky Park, where they can jump in different stuff, like a playpen with balls, and they’ve got slides.

“I like shopping. The best places on the NBA road, obviously, you start with New York and Fifth Ave. Then you’ve got Rodeo Drive in L.A., San Francisco is really good.

“I also like to play videogames—Call of Duty, Madden, NBA 2K—going to restaurants, going to the water, whether it’s a pool or beach. I like to boogie board. I haven’t mastered surfing yet, so I can ride a way and have a good time.”

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the goods

Apple New iPad

Belkin ScreenCast AV 4 The ScreenCast is the solution to home theater setups where wires are either tricky to run or just not preferred.

Up to four HDMI devices go into the transmitter which broadcasts the 1080p video and 5.1 audio into the receiver which can be discreetly mounted under or even behind your TV.

$249.99

Poor choice of name aside, Apple’s new iPad, at first glance, is not a huge step up from its predecessor. But spend some time with it and you’ll begin to notice how much richer the icons look, the sharper text, how photos appear crisper, videos more livelier, even Angry Birds seems angrier? No surprise, since the biggest selling point is the upgraded display. To be exact: the 2048 x 1536 resolution on the new iPad is four times the pixels from the iPad 2 and a million more than an HDTV along with a greater range of color and a quad-core processor to drive smoother video playback. The onboard camera gets a boost, too, to a 5-megapixel iSight camera that rivals most point-and-shoot cameras and able to record 1080p video. The third upgrade is the 4G LTE capability that speeds up connectivity to the fastest wireless speed currently available (additional monthly charge through carrier). If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines on an iPad or tablet, the new iPad is reason to take off your warmups. [Ed note: The iPad 2 has a $100 price drop] Thinking about an upgrade? If you do a lot of e-reading or a nut about video and having the best possible picture quality, it’s a no-brainer.

Wi-Fi version: $499 (16GB), $599 (32GB), $699 (64GB) Wi-Fi/4G version: $629 (16GB), $729 (32GB), $829 (64GB)

Nike FuelBand It’s not a pedometer (although it can count steps), it’s not a calories-burned counter (but it can do that), a watch (it does tell time) or a workout device (despite encouraging activity). The FuelBand is all of those things, yet none of it. At a basic level, it calculates Fuel, a proprietary unit of measurement developed through complicated algorithms and formulas that is frankly, not very important. What is important is that it assigns this universal, standardacross-all-people, number (Fuel) that turns daily life—whether it’s mundane or action-packed—into something that can be shared socially and competitively.

Kevin Durant’s workout might earn him 3,000 Fuel points, but so can a postal worker’s daily route or grandma’s shopping jaunts. FuelBand captures all this and shares it over Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and Path. Aesthetically, it’s a cool bracelet that has a stealthed display that comes to life with LED lights with the press of the lone button that operates it, cycling through the four modes. Sweat and water-resistant (but not water submersible), the FuelBand is charged via USB and can go about three days in our tests before needing to be recharged.

$149

HTC One We’ve long championed smartphones as a replacement to many portable devices (camera, GPS, media player) and the One (the X is carried by AT&T and sports a 4.7-inch 1280 x 720 resolution screen while the S is a T-Mobile offering with a 4.3-inch 540 x 960 screen) continues that statement. The lust-worthy feature is the 8-megapixel onboard camera that starts up in 0.7 seconds and captures fantastic pictures even in low-light environments. The continuous shooting mode (just hold the shutter) gets a succession of images (great for action shots or freezing the perfect moment) and hi-res stills can be taken during 1080p video recordings.

Bests Audio enhances sound quality and the 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and vivid display (especially the larger screen on the One X) gives stunning video playback. Our minor gripe is the lack of expandable storage (bye-bye Micro-SD) but HTC makes up for it with 25GB worth of Dropbox cloud storage for two years (the life of typical phone contract) to house your music, videos and pictures and also doubles up as a backup solution.

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Canon EOS 60D As much as we love and tout smartphone cameras and how far they’ve advanced, they are still miles away from the most basic SLR camera in terms of picture-capturing quality. Take Canon’s EOS 60D, it might be on the high-end of their consumer SLRs, but even at its auto settings, it will help any novice take a decent picture. That’s not to say you shouldn’t broaden the experience by not diving into its multitude of controls and options. The 18-megapixel single lens reflex shooter boasts ISO capabilities ranging from 1000 to 6400 for shooting in even the lowest of lighting environments and a 3-inch LCD screen that can tilt and swivel. Full 1080p video can be captured and an HDI-out enables sharing over any HDTV. Paired with the EF-S 55-250mm telephoto lens (aperture range is 4.0 to 5.6) and you have a camera equipped to take some up-close pictures even from a good distance. It’s not Canon’s best telephoto lens offering, but with its long focal length range and affordable price point, it makes it a good complement to a typical 18-55mm lens found on most starter SLR kits.

EOS 60D: $999.99 EF-S 55-250mm lens: $299.99

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NeatDesk Obtaining the paperless office might be impossible, but the NeatDesk gets you a little bit closer. A compact duplex (double-sided) scanner, you feed it all the documents (it handles letter-sized documents, receipts and business cards in its built-in feed tray) and it converts them all into an organized, functional and searchable database of digital files (exportable to PDF, CSV, QIF formats) that can make your file cabinet obsolete. The included software requires almost no learning curve, but for our time and money, we wished the processing of files when you first scan them in would be peppier. Don’t take our word for it, the company offers up a 30-day free trial.

$399.99

Logitech Harmony Link Turn your smartphone or tablet into a universal remote with the Harmony Link. Known for their line of winning Harmony universal remotes, Logitech’s Link is a simple add-on puck that joins up (via your Wi-Fi network) your entertainment setup (up to eight devices) and becomes a receiver to control them all through the Harmony app on your iPad, iPhone or Androidbased device.

$99.99

CHECK IT Where to Buy: Apple TV and iPad: store.apple.com; Archos 101 G9: archos.com; Belkin ScreenCast AV 4: belkin.com; Canon EOS 60D and EF-S 55-250mm lens: shop.usa.canon.com; DeWalt Brushless Impact Driver: dewalt.com; HTC One: att.com (HTC One X) t-mobile.com (HTC One S); Logitech Harmony Link: logitech.com; NeatDesk: tryneat.com; Nike FuelBand: nikestore.com

DeWalt Brushless Impact Driver A quick lesson on the difference between an impact driver and a cordless drill: A cordless drill is a good general purpose tool for drilling holes and screws; an impact driver is similar but offers more torque, making it good for mechanics and driving screws through wood and metal. Lesson over, DeWalt’s latest impact driver runs 57 percent longer (compared to their previous model), thanks to a new brushless motor. The three-speed driver features an easy push-button chuck, three bright LED lights to brighten up dark workplaces and a power gauge on the battery (comes included with two batteries and charger) so you know when to recharge.

$349

Apple TV

Archos 101 G9 Don’t compare the 101 G9 to an iPad. Despite its obvious similar tablet form, these two devices are different. With its mammoth hard drive and rear kickstand, the 101 G9 is more a portable media machine capable of storing over 250GB worth of videos, photos and music. Running on the Android OS, the dual-core processor ensures playback of 1080p videos, an optional 3G stick keeps you connected (Wi-Fi is standard) and a 720p webcam enables video chatting. Apps and games can be purchased from the Android Marketplace for more entertainment choices. An HDMI-out means your content can be ported to your HDTV.

The latest edition of the Apple TV finally upgraded the one feature that makes it an intriguing purchase: 1080p output. The previous iteration wasn’t bad, it’s just that its 720p output left us a few pixels short in our 1080p TV. The puck-sized Apple TV streams (via ethernet or 802.11n) most of the popular services—Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, and of course iTunes (sorry, no Hulu as of press time)—as well as your music and photos through iCloud or your “i” devices (iPhone, iPad, iPod) Airplay (wirelessly).

The included remote control—unlike many—is a joy to use with its unibody aluminum construction and dead-simple controls.

$99

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CHECK IT The collar of the Hyperdunk+ sits lower in the back and higher in the front to give the foot more flexibility and lateral stability in the heel and ankle.

GEAR

The Smart Shoe With the company’s dedication of innovation, Nike’s latest basketball shoe, the Hyperdunk+ has married their world of athletic footwear with the ever growing worlds of digital social media and app-based smartphones. The Hyperdunk+ system breaks down a player’s game—speed, quickness, vertical leaps, etc.—into measurable stats that can be seamlessly transferred to your smartphone via the Nike+ app. From there it can be shared via the many social networking platforms available, allowing the basketball experience to extend beyond the court. The app will also feature training regiments hosted by Nike athletes to help target your workouts to specific areas. Like with your basketball stats garnered from the Hyperdunk+, you can share your achievements through Facebook, Twitter or the Nike+ community, providing competition and motivation. LeBron James will be wearing the Hyperdunk+ during the Olympic Games; Hyperdunk+ and accompanying app will be available on June 29.

Synthetic heel clip ensures the rear of the foot is locked into the shoe

The tongue and inner foot sleeve is full mesh for breathability.

Hyperfuse skin on the upper reduces weight on the shoe, which weighs in at 11.9 ounces (size 9).

Mesh upper further reduces weight while providing ventilation.

The midfoot shank is 3D shaped and glass-reinforced to give torsional integrity and responsiveness.

Flywire made its debut in the original Hyperdunk four years ago and now it gets an upgrade in the Hyperdunk+. Insteading of the usually-encapsulated Flywire found on most shoes, the high-strength cables are exposed. This was not done to show off the Flywire (but it does add to the cool factor) but to allow for the shoe and Flywire to relax at rest and to tense up when in motion, stabilizing the foot.

Along with the removable Nike+ pod, there are five biomechanical sensors that are embedded into the midfoot of the shoe which track things like speed, playing pace and how many times and how high jumps were. The pod can be transferred over to the next Nike+ basketball shoe; the embedded sensors are not removable.

The outsole is solid rubber for durability and traction and a forefoot pivot circle maintains multi-directional grip. A high lateral outrigger gives the shoe additional control during lateral cuts.

Despite being a tech-heavy shoe, Nike left off their more elaborate cushioning systems like 360 Air or Zoom Air in the Hyperdunk+, opting for a basketballspecific Lunorlon in the midsole. The advantage of Lunarlon is that it’s more lightweight and offers up a lower profile, making it more responsive.

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KIcKInG oFF thE PlAyoFFS A selection of the shoes that will be on the feet of playoff contenders 08

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Air Jordan XII “Playoffs”

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Micro G Funk (SMU)

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not available for retail

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Where to Buy: adiZero Rose 2.5 “Playoffs”: shopadidas.com Fly Wade 2 EV; Air Jordan XII “Playoffs”; Melo M8: jumpman23.com LeBron 9 PS (Elite Series): nikebasketball.com

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Reebok

ZigEncore “Flame Camo” (Jason Terry PE) not available for retail

Melo M8

08

$135

LeBron 9 PS (Elite Series)

Nike

$250 HOOP

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Air Jordan 1 Phat

Judging from its use of olive (officially it’s peat moss), it looks like this pair of Air Jordan 1 Phat was inspired by the military. The elephant-print emblazoned Swoosh in cargo khaki adds to the M*A*S*H* effect.

$105

Under Armour Locker Duffel

The venerable duffel bag gets a functional makeover with a simple addition of a J-hook at the end, making it effortless to hang inside a locker or even, say a chain link fence, giving you a eye-level view of its contents. Other touches include a zippered laundry pocket that has an air freshner (!) to compartmentalize that postgame funk, a fold-down shelf and a magnetized bag flap that sticks to a locker wall.

$84.99

Nike Free Run+ 3

On the heels of the popular Free Run 2, the 3 continues the barefoot running experience in a shoe with an improved Free sole. Thin sliced grooves allows more natural movement from the forefoot to the heel. The “star”-shaped perforations on the nano-ply skin isn’t just for aesthetics, each cutout was strategically placed for maximum movement. The new dynamic fit of the Free Run 3 acts as “fingers,” holding down the foot into the shoe.

$100

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Where to Buy: Jordan Air Jordan 1 Phatl v.9 Grown Low: jumpman23.com; Nike Free Run+ 3; Free 3.0 V4 : nikestore.com; Nike Sportswear Air Force I: nikesportswear. com; Under Armour Locker Duffel: underarmour.com; UNTUCKit shirts: untuckit.com

CHECK IT

UNTUCKit Shirts Whether it’s the ever-more-causal workplace or off-hours shirt freedom, the everyday button-up shirt is incresingly being worn untucked. The problem with that is that the bottom of the shirt is too long or boxy. The Untuckit shirt is designed to be worn outside the waistband with a proper length and shape. We also dig the details like the contrast stitching and sail tag.

$79-139

Jordan V.9 Grown Low Quite possibly the most minimal shoe in the Jordan Brand catalog, the V.9 Grown Low is swathed in supple nubuck and canvas. The bottoms feature an elephant patterned gum outsole that matches the midsole piping.

$85

Nike Sportswear Air Force 1 With Air Force 1s seeing a multitude of colorways (has Nike finally reached maximum permutations on the shoe yet?) it’s refreshing to see a straightforward take on the classic. The Obsidian and white palette is a timeless combination that is understated with the white Swoosh and outsole providing the necessary pop.

$90

Nike Free 3.0 V4 Taking the barefoot running approach up another two notches, the Free 3.0 V4 is basically a skinned-mesh upper that serves as a sock, keeping the star of the shoe, the sole, on your feet. The low-riding phylite midsole takes a pounding but is still durable anough to also serve as the outsole. Carbon fiber pods on the heel are placed for added durability while rubber pods are situated in the toe for traction. The outsole also features the tried-and-true waffle pattern that Nike was founded on.

$100

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Nike Sportswear Air Force 1 It’s a four-season shoe, but the Air Force 1 might be best suited for summertime. Certainly that’s the case for the above pair. With its bright royal blue and canvas upper (set off with the whitewalls and orange Swoosh), it’s at home at the beach, barbecue or basketball court.

$90

Nike Sportswear Air Max 90 The Air Max 90 was Tinker Hatfield’s follow-up to his own legendary (the man has so many, it’s become hard to differentiate) Air Max 1. Like many sequels, many have said it falls short of the original, but we disagree. While the AM90 is no where as clean as the AM1, the varied elements—the many plastic molded parts being the most notable—on the shoe allow for greater possibilities, even 22 years later.

$100

Where to Buy: Converse x Undefeated Collection: footlocker.com; Cult of Individuality Rebel Straight: cultofindividuality.com; Nike Sportswear Air Max 90; Air Force 1; Sweet Classic High nikesportswear.com; Solepack SP-1: thesolepack.com; Under Armour Charge RC Storm: underarmour.com

Solepack SP-1 Not sure how you do, but when traveling, our shoes typically get housed in either proper shoe bags or—ack!—plastic bags, placed in the bottom of the bag and then crushed by the remaining contents of the bag. The SP-1 gives each shoe its own neoprene/nylon, vented housing (up to size 13), attaching to each other and cinching around your backpack—an ideal add-on for the backpacker. Most shoes fit fine, but the highest of high-tops might be a challenge.

$39.99 096

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Cult of Individuality Rebel Straight Jeans Admittedly, $100-plus jeans is not for everyone, but for those who have a discerning taste for denim, the Rebel Straight is a proper pair. Made of Japanese selvage, the jeans are neither too soft or too stiff to satisfy both ends of the crowd.

CHECK IT

$165

Converse x Undefeated Collection Collaborations between the iconic all-american brand and the renowned sneaker boutique is nothing new. The two have linked up together in the past, most notably the Pooman’s Weapon. What sets this latest joint venture apart is that this collection will be made for the masses, being available at Foot Locker locations. The collection features two classic Converse silhouettes in both high and low—the Star Player (Low, pictured) and Pro Leather—graphic tees and a snapback cap.

footwear: $69.99-$84.99 T-Shirts: $28

Nike Sportswear Sweet Classic High With Nike’s constant push for innovation, it’s amazing to step foot into an old classic like the Sweet Classic High. No Airsoles, Flywire, Hyperfuse, Lunarlon, nothing. Just an old-school leather upper that requires some break-in time, a timeless design and plenty of modern style.

$68

Under Armour Charge RC Storm The two key factors to today’s running shoe is lightweight and flexibility. The Charge RC is both these things through its 10-ounce, two-piece water-resistant construction. The forefoot consists of Under Armour compression, squeezing together the muscles to reduce fatigue. The rear of the shoe keeps the foot in place on the 4D Foam sockliner. A Micro G midsole foam keeps the bounce in each step.

$119.99 HOOP

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STEP BACK

June 16, 1996: THE FINALS GAME 6, United Center, Chicago Dennis Rodman led the League in rebounding with 14.9 boards per game but trailed David Robinson in total rebounds, 1,000 to 952.

The 136 regular-season wins between the Bulls and SuperSonics are the most ever combined between two teams in the Finals.

Chicago set an NBA record with 72 wins while the SuperSonics went 64-18.

This was Michael Jordan’s eighth and final time averaging over 30 points per game in a season, eclipsing Wilt Chamberlain’s seven times.

The 1995-96 season was Jordan’s first full season back after his baseball career. Jordan came back to the NBA with a splash. He led the League in scoring per game (30.4) and total points (2,491) while earning MVP honors, his fourth.

Over his 16 NBA seasons, Detlef Schrempf accumulated 15,761 points, 7,023 rebounds and 3,833 assists.

The 1995-96 season was Rodman’s first season with the Chicago Bulls. He was acquired in an offseason trade with the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Will Purdue.

Rodman was the only NBA player to don #91 on a jersey until Metta World Peace (then-Ron Artest) wore the number in Rodman’s honor. They remain the only two NBA players to ever wear #91.

Nicknamed the “Glove,” Gary Payton won Defensive Player of the Year in 1996. He led the NBA in steals with 231 and 2.9 per game average.

Chicago went on to defeat Seattle 87-75 in Game 6, earning them a 4-2 series win and the NBA Championship. It would be the first title of a second threepeat for the Bulls who went on to win the next two Finals.

The series featured three Hall of Famers: Jordan (class of 2009), Pippen (’10), Rodman (’11) with Gary Payton eligible this year for induction.

The Seattle quartet of Kemp (19.6 ppg), Payton (19.3), Schrempf (17.1) and Hawkins (15.6) were the four leading scorers for the team.

The SuperSonics debuted this new uniform for the 1995-96 season.

One of the League’s sharpshooters, Hersey Hawkins shot 38 percent from threepoint range during the 1995-96 season. For his career, Hawkins shot 39 percent.

The 1995-96 season was statistically the best in Shawn Kemp’s 14-year career.

He averaged 19.6 ppg, 11.4 rpg and combined 2.8 blocks/ steals per contest.

Kemp is only one of 20 players in the NBA’s 1,000 steals/1,000 blocks club. He tallied 1,279 blocks and 1,185 steals.

Schrempf became the first German-born player to play in the Finals.

Schrempf leads all NBA players in appearances on Parks and Recreation, making three cameo appearances on the show.

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Payton would finally earn his championship ring as a member of the 2005-06 Miami Heat. He would be the only member of the 1995-96 Sonics team to win a championship.

From Bradley, Hawkins was the sixth overall pick of the 1988 NBA Draft. Following Hawkins, the next two NBA players out of Bradley would be Patrick O’Bryant and Anthony Parker.

Kemp’s 371 personal fouls during the 1999-00 season was the fourth-most in NBA history. Over his career, Kemp topped 300 fouls seven times while coming up one short during the 199596 season.

Known as one the best NBA dunkers of all time, Kemp participated in four Slam Dunk Contests (1990, ’91. ’92, ’94), coming up short twice in the final round.

ANDREW D. BERNSTEIN/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

Most sneakerheads laud the Air Jordan XI as the best shoe in the entire series.

The “Breds” pictured here are slated for re-release this coming holiday.

Payton finished sixth in MVP voting in 1996 (teammate Kemp was eighth).

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up to

20

different exercises use what the pros use!

“After 10 years in the NBA, I’ve always lived and breathed fitness, the Versa Pod XX20 gives me that edge to stay in shape” Wally Szczerbiak, NBA All-Star

Developed by celebrity fitness trainer Kory Angelin, 3D/360 technology provides movement in all three physiological planes of motion it’s a kettle bell, Bosu® ball and dumbbell all in one

For more information, visit

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DOES DIRK NOWITZKI MAKE THE GRADE?

FINAL EXAM

GLENN JAMES/NBAE/GETTY IMAGES

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There are no slam dunks when it comes to your investment portfolio.

We know from experience that the right strategy can help investors prioritize their objectives and develop a plan tailored to help them live the life they want. Our unique Envision® planning process helps our clients achieve their life goals, without jeopardizing their current lifestyle needs or being exposed to unnecessary risk.

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Investment and Insurance Products: X NOT FDIC Insured X NO Bank Guarantee X MAY Lose Value Envision® is a registered service mark of Wells Fargo & Company and used under license. ©2011 Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC. Member SIPC. Wells Fargo Advisors is the trade name used by two separate registered brokerdealers: Wells Fargo Advisors, LLC and Wells Fargo Advisors Financial Network, LLC, Member SIPC, non-bank affiliates of Wells Fargo & Company. All rights reserved. 1211-0352 [87938-v1] Copyright 1999-2011 Financeware, Inc., U.S. Patents 7,562,040, 7,650,303, and 7,765,138. Other U.S. and international patents pending. All Rights Reserved.

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