HOOP July/August 2010

Summer Kicks Jump Players of 2010 Derrick Rose Poster

AN OFFICIAL NBA PUBLICATION

JUL/AUG 2010

Cinco de Kobe Kobe and the Lakers Chip Again Grant Hill/Jason Kidd Old School is in Session

Kevin Love Tough Love

Nate Thurmond

Forgotten Man in Middle

$4.99 USA

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Also inside Kevin Durant Carmelo Anthony Tony Parker Joakim Noah Gerald Wallace Aaron Brooks Jared Dudley Jonny Flynn Shannon Brown Karl Malone John Legend

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NIKEBASKETBALL.COM

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DOMINATE WITHOUT THE WEIGHT. KD’S GAME IS HEAVY. HEA AVY. SO HIS SHOE’S GOT TO BE LIGHT. ESPECIA ESPECIALLY ALLY WHEN HE’S REPPING THE STARS AND STRIPES.

4'81.76+10#4; .+)*69'+)*6 219'4

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WARMUPS

Steve Freeman/NBAE/Getty Images

Brandon Jennings might be an up-and-coming point guard in the League, but on the soccer pitch, Steve Nash still holds the title as the best soccer-playing PG in the game as demonstrated by his steal against Jennings during Nash’s third annual Showdown in Chinatown charity soccer game played in New York City’s Chinatown. The game benefits the Steve Nash Foundation, which is dedicated to assisting children’s health, personal development, education and enjoyment of life.

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WARMUPS

David McNew/Getty Images Sport

With his fifth title making him the leader among active players, it seems as if Kobe has the entire world—or at least the entire Lakers fandom, as seen in the reflection of the adoring crowd on the Larry O’Brien Trophy during the Lakers’ championship parade—in his hands.

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WARMUPS

Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images

Many women dream of slipping on a ring on the finger; the Phoenix Mercury are no different. Before their first game of the season, they were presented with their 2009 WNBA Championship rings, the franchise’s second in the past three seasons.

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PHOTO CREDIT/NBAE/Getty Images

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July/August 2010 Features

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Over the Hill?

Not These Kidds

In a League that’s dominated by youth, Grant Hill and Jason Kidd must seem like relics from another era. Sure, the co-Rookies of the Year in ’95 might have been playing before NBA.com even existed, but even 16 years later, they both remain as relevant as ever.

The Gameplan

In a an epic seven-game Finals (it was only the third seven-game Finals in the last 20 years) between two legendary franchises and the most revered NBA rivalry, the Lakers exacted some revenge for their ’08 loss to the Celtics to become the first back-to-back champions since they pulled off the feat at the start of the century.

55 Tough Love Despite the word “Love” splashed across his back, there’s nothing tender about Kevin Love’s game on the floor. The word might be more apt to describe what he feels for the game, particularly jostling for position in the paint, fighting for boards and throwing perfect outlet passes.

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60 The Measure of Greatness Quick, name the top centers off all time? You certainly wouldn’t be wrong if you rattled off such single-name luminaries like Russell, Wilt and Kareem. But if you were to ask those three legendary pivots, they would most likely give you a name that most fans have either forgotten about or don’t know: Nate Thurmond.

Ringing In Another Chip Poster The backcourt of Derrick Rose and Walt “Clyde” Frazier

65 Making the Jump Every year, there are a few players, whether due to getting an opportunity or through hard work and determination, take their game to another level. This season saw a greater number of such guys who made the leap. The calendar might say otherwise, but to us 2010 was a Leap Year.

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39 24 Seconds with Kenny “Jet” Smith

39 HOOP

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The Gameplan

July/August 2010

Departments

12 The Point 15 Jumpball

How did the Knickerbockers get their name? That and the genesis of the other 29 NBA teams. Head 2 Head: A five-round showdown between Aaron Brooks and Russell Westbrook; Know Your Newb: Who’s Johnny Flynn? Catching Up With…Chris Dudley; TXT MSGS: DeLisha MiltonJones; In His Shoes: Kerry Kittles revisits being part of the vaunted 1996 NBA Draft; Brack-It: best NBA siblings; Bread & Butter: How Manu Ginobili contorts himself to the cup; and more.

33 First Five Nicolas Batum, Sancho Lyttle, Jared Dudley, Tully Bevilaqua, Nicky Anosike

34 010

20 87

83 80

83 Check It Spin Moves: Carmelo Anthony finds time in his busy summer to talk about his music, games and movies; Keepin’ It Reel: Movie editor Danny Granger summer flick picks; Game Rec Game: Nate Rob’s catching up on his gaming this offseason; TechEd: Shane Battier is hosting backyard movie night.

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104

80 Call Out

102 Step Back

104 Final Exam

Remembering Coach John Wooden; Feverish bowling; Rooks getting FIT; Big Baby acts his age.

Reminiscing the Big Dog’s bite

Does Kevin Durant make the grade?

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The Point BONUS POINTS

Volume 38, No. 5

1. Kobe haters typically fall in one of two camps: Celtics fan (no respectful one can ever like any Laker, even from afar) or an equally unabated LeBron backer.

2. Kobe might’ve worn the Black Mamba five rings tee in the parade, but the puppet hand with five rings is way fresher.

3. All that hate is not healthy.

4. They’re really a fine pair of shoes to ball or just kick it in.

5. Can a billion people be wrong?

6. Sleep, for starters. Kobe has said numerous times that he wakes up at 4:30 every morning— sleeping only 3-4 hours a day—to get in his daily workouts.

7. I bet dude took a day, three tops, before going back to his usual maniacal routine.

8. Seriously, any one who even brings it up ought to be subjected to one of Kobe’s legendary grueling workouts.

9. There’s a thin line between love and hate.

10. Yes, Bill L., I’m talking to you.

11. The custom purple-and-gold Beats By Dre joints might be more prized, but unlike those, the Skullcandys are attainable.

12. Shaq and Tim Duncan’s four.

13. At 32 next season, Kobe’s still got some ink in that pen.

14. Magic Johnson, included. Some might even argue that Magic is the greatest Laker of all time.

Editor-in-Chief Ming Wong #2 Design Director Kengyong Shao #31 Associate Editor Seth Berkman #91 Senior Designer Matt Candela #52 Editorial Assistant Philip D’Apolito #14 Editor-at-Large Jeramie McPeek #4 Tech Editor Shane Battier #31 Style Editors Candice Wiggins #11, Zaza Pachulia #27 Straight Shooter Steve Nash #13 Videogame Editor Nate Robinson #4 Music Editors Thaddeus Young #21, Carl Landry #24 Movie Editor Danny Granger #33 Car Editor Devin Harris #34 WNBA Editor Lois Elfman #40 Senior Writer Michael Bradley #53 Contributing Writers Christopher Cason #24, Jon Cooper #10, Anthony Gilbert #1, Josh Gordon #44, Darryl Howerton #21, Andy Jasner #27, Trevor Kearney #8, Brett Mauser #25, Dave McMenamin #35, Jeff Min #12, John Nemo #16, Rob Peterson #9, Earl K. Sneed #23 Design Intern Jocelyn Chuang #3

Whether you unabashedly hate the guy1 or the dude who walks around in a T-shirt with a puppet hand adorned with rings,2 you need to do one of two things after witnessing Kobe lead the Lakers to his fifth title.

For the Kobe basher: it’s about time to drop the scorn.3 Face it, the guy in the golden #24 jersey is pretty damn good. Three straight Final appearances; walking away victorious two times—and don’t forget the three straight chips at the turn of the century. A pretty impressive 5-for-7 all time in the Finals. An MVP, two Finals MVPs, scoring titles, 81-point games, All-Star appearances, buzzer-beating heartbreakers—no one this past decade can really compare to him. Not to mention his status on likely the most popular basketball player in the world—the #24 jersey sales, the dope signature Zoom Kobe V4 and a billion people on China.5 Now, you can continue to despise him, but at least respect the man for his accomplishments. Kobe’s worked hard and probably sacrificed6 more than what 99.99 percent of what you and I are willing to7 in order to attain his level of success. LeBron is better? That argument better be a non-topic next season.8 Kobe is the guy you hate to love, but you love to hate.9 But admit it, deep down, you wouldn’t mind—if not outrightly wish—that Kobe suited up for your team. Just come to grips with it.

For the Kobe fanboy:10 you all should get off that high horse. Please take off your limited-edition Skullcandy Kobe Mix Master headphones11 and stop trying to convince yourself that his infamous LA Times’ all-white photo shoot was “edgy and different” and listen up. Yes, Kobe’s got five—leapfrogging him from his contemporaries12 and making the LeBron debate a moot point—but he’s still no Michael Jordan. Not even close. At least yet. Maybe after his next one can we even broach the topic. The comparisons are fun, but Kobe is still writing13 his legacy.

And even if Kobe does make two or three more trips down Figueroa on a bus to cheering fans, he might still not come out from the enormous shadow of MJ14 whose contributions to the game go beyond his on-court victories.

Jordan paved the way for the marketing of the modern athlete, reinvented the shoe game and put basketball on the map as a global sport. Kobe is merely the next step in the evolution. To put it as an analogy, Jordan is the first cellphone, while Kobe is the latest iPhone.

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Professional Sports Publications

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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

NBA Publishing/NBA Photos

Senior 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 Senior Coordinator, Licensing Tom Cerabino Manager, Global Media Programs Felecia Groomster Senior Directors & Senior Official NBAE Photographers Andrew D. Bernstein, Nathaniel S. Butler Senior Director, 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. © 2010 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.

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David McNew/Getty Images sport

Ming Wong #2

Retired Numbers #6, #11, #13, #30, #99

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The Name Game

When it comes to choosing what to call themselves, NBA teams have been AS creative with the process as the names itself

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By Jeramie McPeek #4

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1960. Likewise, the Jazz began their improvisational style of basketball in New Orleans before taking their set on the road to Utah in 1979.

Other teams that moved but kept their nicknames include the Hawks, Hornets, Pistons, Rockets, Warriors and Grizzlies, who actually considered a change after their introductory season in Memphis, but were talked out of it by their new fan base, which had embraced the bear moniker, despite the lack of bears in Elvis country.

Then there are the teams that just decided to change names without a change of venue, like the Denver Rockets which were renamed the Nuggets by front-office executives upon jumping from the ABA to NBA in 1976. The Washington Bullets became the Wizards in 1996, as their late-owner Abe Polin didn’t want his team to be associated with violence.

Two current NBA teams could be up next to apply for name changes, after being adopted by new parents in recent months.

Upon completing his purchase of the Charlotte Bobcats in March, Michael Jordan said that he was open to a change if he felt the community would rally around one, symbolic of a fresh start.

Similarly, the New Jersey Nets’5 new owner, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, asked reporters if they “needed something new,” as they look ahead to their move to Brooklyn. He also asked for advice in picking a new name, admitting his unique ideas might not work out so well.

“I can put Russian name and nobody knows what it is,” he joked. “I can put the name of a girlfriend and every time I change, I need to change the name of the team.”

BONUS POINTS 1. Knickerbockers were the type of pants that the Dutch settlers commonly wore upon arriving in New York in the 1600s. According to Knicks.com, the name was also given to New York’s first organized baseball team in 1845.

2. Still with the franchise, Williams is currently the Magic’s senior vice president.

3. The name suggested most often by Portland fans was “Pioneers,” but the name was thrown out, as it was the name for Portland’s Lewis and Clark College’s athletic teams.

4. The Royals became the Kings when they moved to Kansas City, as Major League Baseball already had the Kansas City Royals.

5. The Nets were originally known as the New Jersey Americans in the ABA before moving to Commack, NY, in 1968. At that time the team was renamed the Nets to rhyme with the New York Mets of MLB and the New York Jets of the NFL.

Illustrations: Matt candela

Expectant parents often consider dozens of potential names, if not more, in the months leading up to the birth of their child. Some select the names of loved ones or family friends, some pick a classic name and others a unique name. And then there are those moms and dads who don’t choose a name at all, but wait for some last-minute inspiration on the blessed day.

Choosing the name of a professional sports franchise is not all that different, with the exception of the possible legal ramifications of taking a name already taken, of course.

So how do they do it? There have been more than a few methods used throughout the history of the NBA. New York Knickerbockers1 founder Ned Irish drew his team’s name from a hat in 1946. The Chicago Bulls’ original owner Richard Klein was discussing single-syllable names with his wife, when his son said, “Dad, that’s a bunch of bull.” Likewise, Orlando’s first GM Pat Williams2 was inspired by his daughter, who upon visiting the city for the first time declared, “This place is magic.”

According to Celtics.com, the beloved basketball team wasgiven its name because Boston was “full of Irishmen,” while the Pacers were named by the group of investors who launched the ABA franchise, in part because of the pace car used for the Indianapolis 500.

The majority of the NBA’s current franchises, however, turned to their future fans for assistance in determining the names of their cities’ new teams, including the Bucks, Cavaliers, Heat, Suns, Timberwolves and Trail Blazers,3 which all held “name-the-team” contests through their local newspapers. The Mavericks held a radio contest and the Raptors made a nationwide call for entries, which drew more than 2,000 different suggestions, including Beavers, Tarantulas and Terriers for the expansion franchise that began play in 1995-96.

But not every current NBA club bears the name it was given at delivery. Several actually changed names after changing hometowns, including the most recent franchise to relocate, the Oklahoma City Thunder, known as the Seattle SuperSonics from 1967 to 2008. The L.A. Clippers were previously known as the Buffalo Braves, the Sacramento Kings were the Rochester Royals,4 the San Antonio Spurs were once the Dallas Chaparrals and the Philadelphia 76ers were originally the Syracuse Nationals.

On the flipside, there have also been teams that changed addresses, but did not change names, even though their nicknames may not have made as much sense in their new locales. The most notable example, of course, being the Lakers, who were founded in Minneapolis, “The Land of 10,000 Lakes,” but moved to L.A., the land of very few lakes, in HOOP

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straight shooter

Phoenix’s Steve Nash Aims for Honest Answers to Your NBA Questions Steve Nash on his offseason plans, summer vacations and going nose-to-nose against Manu Ginobili

Having played both soccer and hockey growing up, two sports where blood on the field is commonplace, would you say you shed more blood playing basketball or the other sports?

I would guess hockey has the most bloody injuries. I didn’t really bleed when I played hockey, because we wore helmets with facemasks, but I’m sure I bled a few times in soccer, and I’ve bled my fair share in basketball. My friends always see basketball players rolling around like they got shot by a sniper and think we’re a bunch of softies out there, so I have to stick up for our game.

Do you think you wore your nose bandage better than Manu Ginobili?

No. Manu’s was great. He seemed very solid in his.

Mine looked more like a prosthetic nose.

What’s on your agenda this summer when you come to NYC?

I’m going to host my charity soccer game again. We have some of the top soccer players from some of the top clubs in the world, we have some NBA All-Stars. We usually have 4,000 or 5,000 people show up to a little chain-link-fenced soccer field right in the city. It’s really cool.

Other than that, just working out, playing with my girls and enjoying the city. I love the energy, the people, the restaurants, the shows; New York has everything, diversity.

You can walk out your front door and the whole world is there.

Are you going to the World Cup in South Africa? Who are you rooting for?

What movie making plans do you have this summer?

We’re going to make a documentary on Pelé with Bill Guttentag, who is an Academy Award winner. I’m really excited about that. It’s a story that I feel is screaming to be told to the world. We’re not sure yet, but we’re possibly filming in South Africa or Brazil.

What was your best and worst vacation as a kid?

I don’t remember having any real bad ones, but we drove down to California once. My mom worked for the airlines for a while, so we got to always go back to England and see our cousins. We were lucky, we got to travel quite a bit. So I was definitely familiar with traveling and it always felt easy, and I enjoy it.

What is the Steve Nash Team? (your four all-time favorite four NBA teammates)

I can’t do it. I would slight somebody that deserves better, so I can’t do it.

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Steve Freeman; Barry Gossage (2); Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images

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Possibly. We’ll see. I’m not sure yet. It depends on what happens with our season. I’ll be rooting for England. My parents are from Britain, my dad is English, so I’ve been watching them and supporting them since I was a kid. You always feel an affinity for your roots.

Got a question for Steve? Email it to hoop@pspsports.com

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Sure, it’s just a tire.

Like the PaciďŹ c Coast Highway is just another scenic drive.

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head 2 head

Russell Westbrook vs. Aaron Brooks Quality point guard play is paramount in today’s L and in OKC’s Russell Westbrook and H-Town’s Aaron Brooks, you have two quickly emerging playmakers. They might both be #0s but who’s No. 1 between the two?

1

Round

Scoring: While Brooks dominates almost every offensive category—points, field-goal percentage, three-point FG percentage, free-throw percentage—and appears an easy victor in scoring, this matchup is closer than it appears. Paired with the League’s scoring champ this season, Westbrook’s role is to play second fiddle and score off of the defensive attention that Kevin Durant commands. Brooks, on a team that lost Yao Ming and Tracy McGrady for most of the season, was looked upon to fill the scoring void, to which he did admirably, at almost 20 a game. If needed to, Westbrook would be able to manufacture as many points as Brooks. Westbrook certainly commands more attention from casual observers what with his blurring quickness and soaring dunks at the expense of embarrassed big men. More studious fans will know, however, that AB is just as—if not even—as fast. Able to lose any defender, Brooks uses his fleet of foot to get to the rim where he’s deceptively efficient. Like Rod Strickland in the ’90s, Brooks is a master of putting English and touch on balls off the rim from all angles, enabling him to elude outstretched hands and arms with clever angles. If Westbrook can develop a consistent J and three-point shot like Brooks, it would likely be a push.

Winner: BROOKS

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Round

2

Round

Winner: WESTBROOK

Winner: WESTBROOK

Russell Westbrook guard 6-3, 187 Oklahoma city thunder

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Brooks: Brian Babineau; Dave Einsel; Westbrook: LAYNE MURDOCH (2)/NBAE/Getty Images

Floor Game: This one was an easy win for the OKC guard. A constant threat for a triple-double every time he steps on the court, Westbrook has a well-rounded game.

Granted, on a team with KD, the majority of the dimes are a result of the scoring champ, but Westbrook does make it a point (pun intended) to facilitate for others. Behind Jason Kidd, Westbrook is the best rebounding point in the game.

His strong build and big hops allow him to compete for rebounds in the paint and to corral most of the in-between boards. Unlike Brooks, Westbrook is equally deadly leading the fastbreak or filling the lanes. His 3.27 turnovers per game can be improved upon, but it’s more the result of playing too fast and aggressive. Brooks is naturally a shooting guard asked to play point, to which he does ably.

But his lithe frame doesn’t help much on the boards or the setting of screens.

Defense: This is an area that Brooks can get exposed. His quickness affords him the ability to keep pace with the speediest of guards, but his six-foot height and paltry 161-pound body means he’s giving up about four inches and about 20 pounds to the average opponent, negating any advantage in quickness he might have. The Rockets do a good job of hiding his deficiencies with help from their other accomplished defenders. Admittedly, Brooks plans on spending this offseason bulking up and working on his D. Westbrook, on the other hand, entered the League with some question marks, none of them being about defense. Named the Pac-10 defensive player of the year his final season as a Bruin, Westbrook uses his strong frame to body up opposing 1s and his speed to disrupt passes (1.3 spg). He can occasionally have lapses as any second-year player is prone to, but he’s got the necessary skills and makeup to make a run for the All-D team in the future.

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8

The number of three pointers Ray Allen made during Game 2 of the 2010 NBA Finals against the Lakers, breaking the record which he had already previously shared along with Scottie Pippen and Kenny Smith.

“They say losing builds character; I say losing sucks.” —Ben Wallace

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Round

Clutch: Neither guy has an extensive body of work to accurately draw a conclusion from.

Brooks did have a memorable elbow jumper against Denver in March to seal a victory and his Rockets turn to him down the stretch. Even while playing sidekick to Durant, we think Westbrook will have ample opportunities to make big shots or big stops in key moments for a burgeoning Oklahoma City squad. But for the meantime, this belongs to Brooks.

Winner: BROOKS

Westbrook

Brooks

PPG

16.1

19.6

APG

8.0

5.3

RPG

4.9

2.6

SPG

1.3

0.8

BPG

0.4

0.2

FG%

.418

.432

3PT%

.221

.398

FT%

.780

.822

PER

17.90

16.04

Aaron Brooks guard 6-0, 161 Houston Rockets

’09-10 stats

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Round

Leadership: Some believe that leaders are born, and while that is true to an extent, we believe it’s also something that can be learned. Neither Brooks nor Westbrook are currently the man for their respective teams, but both are certainly in a position to be groomed as one. In Brooks, he’s surrounded by savvy vets and leader types like Shane Battier, Luis Scola and Yao Ming. Westbrook turns to his head coach, former scrappy NBA point guard and newly minted Coach of the Year Scott Brooks for guidance. It’s hard to say who will develop into the role, but on the basis of his more peppy personality, being the extension of an inspiring head coach, and on an up-and-coming team full of youth, we’re going to hedge our bets on Westbrook filling the role more soundly.

Winner: WESTBROOK

The Verdict

The breeding ground for NBA guards, the Pac-10 has hit aces again with UCLA’s Westbrook and Oregon’s Brooks. Both are electrifying points who will, as teams and individuals, battle each other for playoff positioning and All-Star spots for the rest of the decade. As “brooks” go, we’re going with Westbrook.

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celeb row

Legend Has It

Transition Game

Dirk Nowitzki

Although multiple Grammy Award winner John Legend mostly lives in New York, he’s been a Los Angeles Lakers fan since the “Showtime” era. He’s mixed business with pleasure by twice performing at the NBA All-Star Game, as well as recently performing at the White House for fellow basketball lover President Barack Obama. Legend is currently in the recording studio working on an upcoming album with The Roots. When he hits the road to tour this summer, you may find him playing on a basketball court near you.

Magic Johnson or Michael Jordan?

I was always with Magic because he was my style of person. The way he played, something about that appealed to me personally. But you can’t really argue with the fact that Jordan with his skills and pure dominance and the ability to take over a game, he was the greatest. What Magic didn’t have when it came to athleticism, he made up for it with his mind and his energy and his leadership. He was quite an amazing player and that’s why I became a Lakers fan as a kid.

Are you a guy who travels with a basket so you and your musicians can play anywhere?

We don’t travel with a basket, but we will go to the local YMCA quite a bit and try to play. I’m not very good, but I enjoy it.

What position do you play?

Usually a shooting guard. I won’t say I’m a great leader on the court [laughing], but I’m certainly the leader on stage. I love being up there and leading and I love having a group of singers and musicians supporting me and us doing things together as a team. It definitely takes a certain amount of leadership and vision to do that—leadership and vision that I don’t necessarily have on the basketball court.

Have you ever been at a game and heard your music?

When I’m there, they always play my songs. I take it as a way of them flattering me while I’m there.

You seem to be creatively fueled by collaboration with other artists.

I love the idea of having songs out there that I’m proud of and songs that other people perform that I’ve written. I feel a sense of pride and accomplishment when I’m able to not only write hits for myself but for other people. I’ve been doing a bit more of that lately. I was just in the studio with Jennifer Hudson. I wrote a couple of songs for her.

Lois Elfman #40

Check out hoopmag.com for other celeb interviews

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Legend: Andrew D. Bernstein; Nowitzki: all photos/NBAE/Getty Images

The Lakers project an aura of invincibility. What is it like to enjoy them to the fullest and see the sense of power they bring to the court?

If it were too easy it wouldn’t be fun to root for them. Every time they’ve won, they still had to work very hard for it. It’s still a challenge when they get into the playoffs. A lot of teams can compete, so it’s always fun to watch. The outcome is in doubt to some degree. That’s good for the League and makes it suspenseful and interesting for the fans.

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A longtime pop culture aficionado, Jalen Rose, pits his personal tastes against some notable personalities. Up this month: Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss

Jalen Rose

Elisabeth Moss

First Pet? Since I was the youngest, I had to share the family pets. Mom kept a fish tank with a fish type called Red Devil and my older brothers were dog lovers; they had a German Shepherd and Doberman Pinscher named Champ and Capone.

We had a couple of dogs, but the first pet that was mine was a cat named Junior. He was a Manx, which don’t have any tail. I don’t remember why we named him Junior. Junior was very wild and he ran away one day, which was very, very sad. Who knows what happened? It was devastating when I was 11.

Favorite ice cream truck selection?

I kept it simple, my favorite selection was an ice cream sandwich, in particular, neapolitan.

I haven’t seen an ice cream truck in a long time, but I would say when I used to visit my family in Illinois, I always liked the strawberry shortcake bars.

Favorite summer blockbuster movie?

Krush Groove. Before going to see it with my friends we had to get fresh. We piled in a cab and hit up the mall to make sure our gear was crispy. New adidas, Cazals, Starter jackets and haircuts were mandatory. We took the bus to see the movie.

Jurassic Park. That came out when I was about 11, which was kind of the perfect age for it. I was totally swept away by it. I found it very frightening.

All that technology was brand new at the time. They were really breaking a lot of ground with what they could do.

It was at an age where you thought that could actually happen.

Favorite summer barbeque food?

BBQ chicken—whether tailgating or watching an event. Preferably a drumstick, well done but not burnt.

I would say chips and dip. I know it’s not burgers or hot dogs, but it’s kind of a good summer poolside barbeque food.

Favorite summer song?

024

“Summertime” from Porgy and Bess.

I know the Beach Boys are very summery, but “Summertime” is a classic song. It doesn’t fit anywhere else but in the summer.

fab 5: dr. ken: Courtesy of NBC

Eric B & Rakim’s “Paid in Full”—I probably still have my cassette tape somewhere. This song embodied grind and hustle and the video was classic. Rakim is no doubt one of the greatest lyricists of all time.

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txt msgs

DeLisha Milton-Jones HOOP: Your teammate Chanel Mokango looks like long lost sister, just a little taller.

DeLisha: Chanel is my “Avatar.”

HOOP: What is it like being on the court with her?

DeLisha: I defend her every day in practice and she defends me. I get more shots to the face than I do to the body. I totally understand why people would say, ‘DeLisha watch your elbows. You hit me!’

HOOP: Striking resemblance.

DeLisha: Even my husband said to me he saw Chanel and had to look twice because he thought it was me.

I said, ‘I’m mad at you right now.’

HOOP: What is it like for the Sparks without Lisa Leslie?

DeLisha: Like a peanut butter sandwich without jelly.

HOOP: Do u ever call her for advice?

DeLisha: She is at all our games.

HOOP: As a commentator?

DeLisha: She and Michael Cooper work for one of the local television stations.

HOOP: That must be amazing.

DeLisha: Can u imagine? It’s like they r in the locker room together.

HOOP: Too bad they can’t come tell u what to do.

DeLisha: 4 real.

HOOP: The Lakers just won another title. Pressure is on the Sparks to equal it.

DeLisha: Always. We always wanted to be a carbon copy of whatever the Lakers were.

HOOP: Now that u’ve played offseason in Spain for four years, is there something you miss when you leave?

DeLisha: I miss the fruit, especially the oranges.

And the city of Valencia, because it’s so laid back and beautiful.

HOOP: Are u now a master of cooking Spanish food?

DeLisha: My version of it.

HOOP: Is there something u hv to eat, buy or do as soon as u hit U.S. soil?

DeLisha: I always want the biggest juiciest burger or the most succulent Alaskan snow crab legs that I can find.

HOOP: Are there any summer movies ur eager to see?

DeLisha: Grown Ups and Toy Story 3.

HOOP: Don’t hate me, but what’s it like being one of the older players in the league?

DeLisha: I consider myself ageless.

HOOP: Has there been a great moment where you schooled a rookie?

DeLisha: We all try to introduce them to the game one way or another…a nice hard screen or a nice blocked shot. We even had to break Candace Parker in her rookie year. It was all out of love ;-) Lois Elfman #40

know your newb

Jonny Flynn

Andrew D. Bernstein; Scott Cunningham; Juan Ocampo (2); Danny Bollinger/nbae/getty images

Minnesota Timberwolves In high school you played baseball and I hear you compare yourself to one of my favorites, Rey Ordonez…

Yeah! A lot of people don’t remember him. His offense wasn’t good but defensively he was a magician out there and that’s what I loved about him. He would go in the hole, backhand from his knees, dive on the ground and come up and throw somebody out.

Just the flair that he had playing baseball, I really enjoyed that and it made me want to go out and play.

You’ve said you were a big fan of Hey Arnold! growing up; are you still a big cartoon fan?

I still am. [laughs] I’m a huge cartoon fan.

I was one of those guys where if I wasn’t playing basketball or playing a sport, I always watched TV. I know it’s a bad thing to say, but my mother could never get me away from the TV when I was younger, so I watched a lot of cartoons.

Did you grow up a Mets fan?

I grew up a Yankees fan but I [liked] his style of play.

You can have a favorite team, but when a player catches your eye, you’re going to emulate everything he does. I caught a lot of flack for that being a Yankees fan, but he definitely impressed me by the way he played.

From your days playing in Syracuse to now in Minnesota, are you just accustomed to the cold weather?

I cannot escape it. [laughs] I grew up in upstate New York, went to Syracuse and then I got drafted by the Timberwolves. As a joke I tell a lot of people that I think God doesn’t want me to be in warm places. [laughs] But I love Minneapolis, it’s a great city with great people and great fans. I’m happy to be here.

Have you seen the new Twins’ ballpark yet?

I’m definitely trying to go see that. I know it’s going to be a great venue and I heard a lot of good things about it, but I haven’t had the chance to go over there yet.

Which veterans showed you the ropes this season?

All the older guys definitely did that. We’re all young guys, we’re not really a veteran team, but two guys that come to mind with me are Ryan Gomes and

Damien Wilkins. From day one they were always schooling me, and not even just about basketball, but with things like how to save money or invest or help out in the community back home, what kind of events you can put on. It’s been good for my basketball, but the most valuable things I’ve learned this year have been off the court.

I recently spoke to Kevin Love and he told me about his love for Chappelle’s Show…

Aww man.

What are your favorite sketches all-time?

My favorite sketches are the ones with Rick James and Prince. Those are the funniest TV sketches I’ve ever seen. Ever. I wish he didn’t go on that hiatus and came back for a third season, but it was definitely fun while it lasted.

Have you seen Prince at a Timberwolves game yet this year?

I haven’t. Actually, one of my friends is out here and he went to a club and said he actually saw Prince.

I was so mad I wasn’t out that night. He told me he had the blouse on and the high heels [laughs]… I didn’t get a chance to see it buy my friend did.

Seth Berkman #91 HOOP

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7/1/10 4:52 PM

Bread and Butter

Manu Ginobili’s contortionist act We know he just signed a three-year extension with San Antonio, but maybe after Manu Ginobili hangs up his bball kicks, he can land a job with Cirque de Soleil. We’ve seen MJ and Kobe defy gravity, but no one is able to shift his body like Manu. Dude is almost as good as Yen from Ocean’s Eleven. After the yoga demo, few are as skilled as Ginobili at squeezing through outstretched arms, twisting, spinning and willing the ball through the hoop.

Watch here as he takes on the Kings defense: first he gets Carl Landry offbalance with a nifty behind-the-back move. As Landry tries to shift his feet, Manu already has the ball firmly on his right side so he can power to the hole. Andres Nocioni tries to come over and provide help, and it looks as if the Kings actually have a 2-on-1 advantage, but Manu switches back to his left and splits the defenders, moving his body enough to duck under the arm of Nocioni and lay it in for the reverse deuce.

That’s enough to make Charles Barkley scream, “GINOBILLLLIII!!!”

Seth Berkman #91

01

02

The Nielsen rating for Game 7 of the 2010 Finals, the highest since Michael Jordan’s last Finals game of the 1998 Finals which drew a 22.9 The 18.2 rating was 32 percent higher than any other Game 7 over the last 16 years.

““I’m not a student. I just love the game.

I’m not really familiar with the rivalry. I’m sure there’s a lot of history, but I can’t really tell you any details about it.”

—Ron Artest talking about the Celtics-Lakers rivalry

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05

06

07

08

09

“I don’t think I broke it, I think I rearranged it.

Obviously there’s a dent and it’s bent. I think I whacked the cartilage out of place, but I tried to push it back into place so it’s not as bent now, but it’s still nicely curved.”

—Steve Nash on his nose

rocky widner/NBAE/Getty Images

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Watch more highlights by following us at twitter.com/HOOPmag and joining us on Facebook!

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18.2

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ith a physioball

Dance Life

BethAnn Suns Dancers What was the experience like dancing in the playoffs?

BethAnn: I dance for the Phoenix Mercury as well so I practice every day Monday through Thursday. I get pretty exhausted after the games. This was my first year in the playoffs and it was different from the regular season. You switch into playoff mode and do two to three dances a game and the fans are so much more excited. The energy is definitely different and we prepare a lot more.

What do you do on off-days?

BethAnn: I’ve been a Suns fan since I was like three so I’ve followed them throughout my life and I watch them when they’re away.

Who have been some of your favorite all-time Suns?

BethAnn: I loved Raja Bell. The Charles Barkley and Dan Majerle years were when I decided I wanted to be a part of the Suns organization as a dancer. My favorites are the players from that era.

What was your reaction when you were able to fulfill that dream?

BethAnn: I tried out last year not knowing anything or anybody and I made the Sunsationals, which are the 200-level dance team in the arena. When the

opportunity came this year to tryout I was a little more prepared. We had a three to four day audition this year learning three different routines and then we had a boot camp. It was probably the most intense week of my life.

It was an unreal feeling when I made the team. They had a “Making the Suns Dancers” video prepared, and after that you had to go online to see if you made it, and they had taped everyone getting out of a limo and there were 16 members for the team and I was the 15th. I accomplished something I wanted to do since I was five. It was an experience I’ll never forget.

Do you have a specific pregame meal?

BethAnn: We get Subway everyday from the arena and I really don’t like it now. I’m not really a picky eater, I’ll eat whatever is given to me. If I have time I’ll stop at McDonald’s or have some bad junk food. [laughs] What has been your most memorable moment as a dancer?

BethAnn: You’re with the girls so much that you make memories when you’re with them all the time, and then there are game memories when you meet different fans. There’s a woman who comes to every game and she asked us to sign this card because her son is in the military and in Iraq. So we signed a card and our calendar and we took pictures, and we received a letter from him thanking us for everything.

It was insane because he said how the cards and letters keep him going and reminds him of home. It was a real goosebump moment.

What advice would you give for a young dancer who has aspirations to be in your position?

BethAnn: I would tell them to never give up or doubt themselves. There are so many amazing dancers and it’s easy to get intimidated and to give up. But it’s not impossible and it’s so exciting and worth it when you make it.

I never took any kind of studio dance or technical training and most people didn’t think I could make it, but you can’t give up because somebody else says you can’t.

Do you think there are too many days off during the playoffs?

BethAnn: At first I did, but now that I have experienced a playoff schedule I think it’s good the way it is now.

I can’t imagine being a player and playing backto-back games. It gives the players and other people a chance to breathe—like the dancers. [laughs] But there are also so many people behind the scenes that make the NBA experience one you can’t forget. By splitting the games up it gives the players a chance to view tape and make adjustments for the next game. Seth Berkman #91

In his shoes

Courtesy of Phoenix Mercury; Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images

Kerry Kittles on the 1996 NBA Draft

That was a great class. I think the talent had always been there for most of the guys. There are definitely some Hall of Fame players in that draft—Ray Allen, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Allen Iverson.

[The Big East] had a very good conference back then. When I first came into the League there were stars like Terry Dehere, Lawrence Moten, Malik Sealy. Then it turned into my era with John Wallace, Ray Allen, Donyell Marshall, Allen Iverson and those guys.

I didn’t think Steve Nash would be a two-time MVP-type player—I thought he’d be a good pro, a Mark Price-type player, a very heady player who could shoot—but this guy’s career has been pretty phenomenal.

I remember working out for certain teams. I thought that I would probably go either seventh to the Clippers or eighth to New Jersey. The Clippers were my first workout and I did pretty well, barely missed a shot. I think they had Brent Barry and a couple of other guards at the time so they ended up going with Lorenzen Wright at No. 7.

I knew that there was word that Kobe had a good workout with the Nets and there was word he may go to the Nets, but then I heard that he had some other deal with his agent trying to get to L.A. So, although the Nets liked him, I knew he kind of had something else going on later in the draft, which ended up happening. I knew that if I didn’t go seventh, there was a pretty good chance I’d go to New Jersey.

It was kind of cool being drafted at the Meadowlands. It was a nice arena and nice to have the home crowd there. The organization and management had offices there so they were able to take my family and I upstairs and we had a little small celebration with John Calipari, Willis Reed and those guys. I had about 20-25 friends and family with me.

I think it was the best draft class, I really do. I don’t know every single player and what they’ve been able to do, but the list with guys like [Marcus] Camby, a Defensive Player of the Year, league-leader in blocks, it’s just a great class and I’m happy to be a part of it. If those young guys had stayed in school, I actually might’ve been the first pick in that draft. [laughs] as told to Seth Berkman #91 HOOP

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7/1/10 4:36 PM

3 pts

What Were We THINKING?

Which player has the best tattoo game right now?

A-Z Jan/Feb 2008

Carmelo Anthony: Me [laughs].

Actually, Birdman has some nice ones, they’re real colorful, it gives it a little bit of pop. J.R. [Smith] has got a lot, I think he ran out of space. I don’t think he can get any more.

John Wall: J.R. Smith probably.

I can’t really tell which one’s he got, he got so many.

Raja Bell: “Supercool Beas” across [Michael Beasley’s] back. No doubt.

A-Z is a pretty fun issue for the HOOP staff, coming up with 26 words and the players that best describe them. We’re still hoping that T-Mac’s knee can make a full recovery, but with the man himself discussing the “R-word” (retire), it’s hard to describe McGrady’s career as “Unbreakable” as we did in our Jan/Feb ’08 A-Z issue. Injuries have cost him the better part of the past three seasons (only 65 games played total) and things seem to get worse this year after averaging only 8.2 ppg. Sometimes you just have to admit you’re wrong (and we do)—we’d be happy now to see T-Mac return to a sliver of the talent he used to be.

13-6

The record of the home team in the history of Finals Game 7s. The average score of Finals Game 7s have been

“I’m already ugly,. I can’t add no more to it.’’ — Kendrick Perkins

Home 99, Road 95.

Photo Buckets

With your multitude of photos with three Slam Dunk Contest participants (Nate Robinson, Chris Andersen and Gerald Wallace), Grant Babich, you are a budding Jimmy Goldstein and this issue’s winner of Photo Buckets. Of course, you’re probably too busy hobnobbing with the NBA elite to even notice that you won, but we’ll be sending you your winning tee anyway for your efforts. Cheers, Grant—or rather, three cheers.

Send us your best fan photo of or with an NBA player for a chance to win a HOOP t-shirt. Each issue the winning entry* will also be published in an upcoming issue of HOOP. Send all entries to hoop@pspsports.com or by mail to: HOOP Magazine 519 8th Avenue 25th Floor New York, NY 10018 *All submitted entries become property of HOOP. By sending us your photo, you are giving us permission to publish the photo.

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3 Pts (top to bottom): Andy Lyons; Jennifer Pottheiser; Brian Babineau/nbae/getty images

Grant Babich

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7/6/10 9:37 AM

By Michael Bradley #53

catching up with...

CHRIS DUDLEY

Sam Forencich/NBAE/Getty Images

During his 16-year NBA career, center Chris Dudley was usually content with playing a backup role. These days, he’s going for the headlining spot as the Republican candidate for governor of Oregon.

Dudley may be a political novice, but he’s qualified for public service. He has degrees in economics and political science from Yale, was an officer in the NBA Players’ Union, has worked with legislators through the Chris Dudley Foundation and is a wealth management partner in a Portland-based investment firm. As he traversed the state in search of support, he took some time to discuss politics and his career.

HOOP: What made you get into politics?

Dudley: The bottom line is that I was concerned and frustrated by the direction I had seen the state go. It wasn’t living up to its potential and could be much better. As chairman of my foundation1 I2 have testified in front of the U.S. Senate and lobbied Congress on behalf of non-profit organizations and I saw how much was set up by government.

HOOP: How much did your role with the NBA’s Players’ Union teach you about politics?

Dudley: I think it was very helpful. Being in negotiations,3 I got a sense of seeing things from both sides of an issue. I had discussions with different owners, GMs and team presidents, and it forced me to think about the issues. During the negotiations, we tried to come up with a win-win. There has to be a win-win so that

both sides can flourish. Both sides in a negotiation should have the same incentive.

HOOP: The political climate isn’t exactly one where both sides are hoping to meet in the middle, is it?

Dudley: It has been difficult politically, but I think we’re at such a place with public finance across this state and the country where changes have to be made. We have to get back to the best win-win for the people.

HOOP: How rewarding has your work with your Foundation been for you?

Dudley: I’m extremely proud of what we’ve accomplished. My grandfather told me years ago that you get back more than you give when you help other people.

HOOP: You grew up in Connecticut and San Diego, went to Yale, played for five different NBA teams, and yet you settled in Oregon. Why? Dudley: I fell in love with Oregon when I first came to the state in 1993. I met my wife there and married her there. She’s a fifth-generation Oregonian. I can’t think of a better place to raise a family. There are not many places where you can live near a golf course, be two minutes from a lake, five minutes from the river for fishing, an hour-and-fifteen minutes from skiing, can be on the coast in an hourand-a-half and are 15 minutes from the city. It’s a great place.

HOOP: Did you ever expect to play so long in the NBA? Dudley: When I went into the NBA, my college coach said I could play a couple years get some dollars and pay for grad school. I felt I could play professionally, and that includes Europe. After my first year, I felt I could play in the NBA, so I kept going and was hoping for a 10-year career.4 I got lucky and was able to keep my body working.

HOOP: Although you were mostly a reserve during your career, you did start a few times. How was that?

Dudley: I started a year in New Jersey, and split time as a starter a season in Portland. It was a good situation. In Jersey, I was with Sam Bowie, starting over him at times and then coming in behind him. In Portland, I started a full year, and then they got Arvydas Sabonis. It wasn’t until the last two or three years of my career that teams wanted me for my experience and ability to help younger players.

HOOP: How much fun was it to be part of the ’99 Knicks team that made it to the Finals?

Dudley: I work with [former NBA star] Bobby Jones to run some summer camps, so I have to be able to get out there. It’s funny. I’ll hit 10 three-pointers in a row, and the kids still want to see if I can dunk. So I throw some down. I haven’t lost all of my 44-inch vertical leap. If I get loose, I can still do some pretty In the middle of my career, my goal was to make it to the All-Star Game or to win a championship. In New York, I got the closest to winning the championship. We went to the Finals and lost to San Antonio, but it was special to win the Eastern Conference finals. It was a good run.

HOOP: Do you still play some ball?

Dudley: I have a camp that I run. I was also helping out at the local high school [Lake Oswego]. I played5 against [Timberwolves’ center] Kevin Love when he was there. But I don’t play so much now. I’m kind of busy.

Bonus Points 1. The Chris Dudley Foundation which provides support for children with Type I diabetes.

2. Dudley himself lives with Type 1 diabetes.

3. During the 1999 NBA lockout.

4. Dudley started his 16-year NBA career with Cleveland, followed by New Jersey, Portland, New York and Phoenix before ending it back in Portland.

5. For his career, the defensive-minded center averaged 3.9 ppg, 6.2 rpg and 1.2 bpg. Unfortunately, Dudley is remembered most by his struggles at the line.

His career free-throw percentage is .458. .

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7/1/10 4:16 PM

brack-it

Eight things. One undisputed champ. best nba siblings

BROOK and robin lopez vs. Pau and marc gasol As the only current pair of brothers who made the cut, this family showdown also pits two sets of bigs against one another. This would certainly make for a great two-on-two game, pitting over 28 feet of basketball player onto a halfcourt. The Lopez twins would have the better motors, but the Gasols have a more varied skillset, not to mention international and overall playing experience. Alas, this is more about accomplishments, impact and notoriety. And the Spaniards with Pau’s NBA title, All-Star selections and ROY, their FIBA World Championship and burgeoning game from Marc, beat out the still nascent Central Valley twins.

KINGs vs. GASOLS We rudely dismissed the Parkers in the previous round because there is no way they hold a candle to the Kings. Bernard, in this writer’s opinion, deserved to be on the NBA’s Top 50 team, but was snubbed. King’s signature turnaround J is only second to Kareem’s skyhook as the most automatic and unstoppable shot in NBA history. He stood only 6-7, but between his ability to physically battle you on the block, determination (dude came back from a torn ACL in the premicrofracture surgery days when the injury meant ended careers), a bit of a mean streak (the man played with a sneer that intimidated me even when I watched him on TV) and of course, a feathery touch, he was nearly unstoppable at times. Kid brother Albert was supposed to be even better, heavily hyped and recruited as a NYC playground legend, featured in the classic basketball tome, Heaven is a Playground and gracing the cover of SI, all before he even played his first NBA game. Things didn’t pan out as expected for Albert as a pro, but he managed a nine-year NBA run of 12.1 ppg.

Injuries and failed expectations might have robbed the Kings of more greatness, but even as is, the two inspired a legion of NYC kids to take to the courts to shoot basketballs off metal backboards and chain-link nets. The Gasols still have time on their side to overtake any one on this list in terms of scoring and rings. Pau is in the prime of his career at 30 and not looking to slow down any time soon. The dude who used to get his hand-me-downs is only 25 and already talked up as one of the best young pivots in the game on a Grizzlies team that is making headway into a contender. The Gasol boys from Barcelona have a shot at one day overtaking everyone on this list, but for now, the Kings still wear the crown.

Bernard and Albert king vs. anthony and candance parker OK, we’ll admit, Cheryl and Reggie Miller easily best Anthony and Candace Parker, but because Cheryl unfortunately shined during the pre-WNBA days, we had to omit them (sorry Cheryl…). Anthony might be a basketball vagabond, but he’s proven to be a reliable shooter everywhere he’s gone. During his stint in Israel with Maccabi Tel Aviv, he won five national championships and two Euroleague MVPs; as a starter for the Raptors and Cavs the last four years, he has put up doubledigit scoring numbers. Baby sister Candace is merely the face of the WNBA with an MVP on her mantle. And the King boys?

You can read about them in the next round as they easily sidestep the Parkers.

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KINGS vs. wilkinses If these two sets of brothers ever did meet up for a pickup game in their respective primes, the pressure is on the scorekeeper to keep up. Between the two older brothers you had over 46,000 points. The Human Highlight Film was physically more gifted, able to jump over and run loops around B-King; Bernard possessed the better basketball game, especially his go-to turnaround J. Both housed a desire to compete and be the best. The undercard of baby brothers is a study in contrast. Albert King was the can’t-miss guard out of NYC who was supposed to wow and combine with Bernard to make good on their last name in the NBA; Gerald Wilkins was a second-round pick who’s greatest notoriety was being Dominique’s little brother. As it turns out, Albert’s game never quite caught up to his hype and Gerald exceeded anyone’s expectations with a solid run where he was equal parts offense and defense. As they almost always are, this was a close call. Had it not been for an ACL tear that robbed Bernard of some years and explosiveness and Albert not reaching his potential (or the overhype that doomed him for failure), we would go with the Kings. But this one goes to Dominique and Gerald Wilkins.

HOOP

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7/1/10 4:12 PM

By Ming Wong #2

Dominique and gerald wilkins vs. chuck and wesley person Dominique needs little introduction, but lil bro Gerald (Minnesota Timberwolves’ Damien Wilkins calls Nique “Uncle” and sends a father’s day card to Gerald) carved out a decent 13-year career that saw 13-ppg and almost-as-impressiveas-big-bro dunking acumen. In terms of raw athletic ability or a dunk contest, the Wilkins’ have everyone on this page beat, bar none. That said, if it were a three-point shooting contest, the Persons would own the field. Older Chuck was known as the Rifleman and never saw a jumpshot he didn’t like, but connected with enough regularity to make good on the moniker. Seven years Chuck’s junior, Wesley inherited the same family genes, making good on 42 percent of his career threes. Combined, the Persons have made 2,370 triples. Still, the Wilkinses were mainstays of some competitive teams in the ’80s/’90s and anchored by Dominique, they turn Chuck and Wesley into a missing “persons” report.

WILKINSes vs.

VAN ARSDALES This was not an easy pick. On one hand you have a pair of brothers who mirrored each other on the court as much as they did their DNA (yes, they both wore #5 for most of their careers). No average Tom and Dick, the Van Arsdales totaled 29,311 points, which is good for second of the siblings on these two pages and of any duo, they are the most evenly split down the middle, neither one outshining the other. Plus, they’re twins.

The Wilkins brothers were a bit like the other famous brothers in Nintendo. Gerald (Luigi) was no slouch, scoring 11,736 points all told, but it was all about Dominique (Mario). Nique collected more 1Ups…um, I mean points, 26,668 to be exact.

He squared off against Larry Bird in legendary playoff games and oohed and aahed with every windmill dunk. It might’ve been a bit one-sided, but the parents of the Wilkins boys should be every bit proud to have two sons amass a NBAsibling-record 38,404 points (not to mention a grandson who’s still adding to the Wilkins’ NBA family tree). The Wilkins to the finals.

all photos/nbae/getty images

Dick and tom van arsdale vs. horace and harvey grant

Best NBA Siblings Winner: Dominique and Gerald Wilkins

Recent fans might be more familiar with the Grants, especially Horace and his trademark goggles, but just look up the Van Arsdales and you’ll find that twin brothers Dick and Tom both had—naturally—identical careers: Manual High School, Indiana University, 12 NBA years of eerily similar scoring, rebound and assist averages. The Grant twins’ careers were more disproportionate. Harvey had a solid 11-year NBA run with nearly 10 ppg. Horace copped four rings as the third banana to the early ’90s Bulls threepeat and one with the Lakers in ’01. That said, we think the Van Arsdales are arguably the greatest set of twins to lace ’em up in the L.

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7/1/10 4:13 PM

TEAM_NBACity.indd 1

4/16/09 12:20:19 PM

By Brett Olson #36

first five

88 - Forward - Portland Trail Blazers

Nicolas Batum Dirk Nowitzki, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant. Besides these three being all-world NBA players, what else do they have in common?

They all fell victim to the fourth-quarter defense of the player whose teammates dub him “Frenchie.”1 During a critical stretch in late March for playoff jockeying position for the Portland Trail Blazers, Nicolas Batum, the second year forward from France,2 had the unenviable task of checking three of the most talented hoopers on the hardwood in crunch time. His dogged defense allowed the Blazers to win all three key games during the stretch on their way to the West’s sixth seed and another 50-win season.3 The 6-8 defensive forward spent the first 45 games4 of the season stationed on the bench with a shoulder injury sustained during the 2009 FIBA World Championship. When he came back, head coach Nate McMillan and Batum’s teammates discovered he learned another skill while on summer vacation—offense. But not the typical Bruce-Bowen-corner-three offense standard with other defensive specialists, but real run-the-offense-through-me scoring. Even with the 10 points a game, 50 percent shooting mark from the field and 40 percent from downtown, the 21-year-old forward hopes to get even better at the World Championship in Turkey.

“I expect to improve this summer,” Batum says. “I want to improve on my offensive game so next year I can take more shots and be more consistent.”

With his newfound scoring, stars Brandon Roy and LaMarcus Aldridge’s stellar play, and a likely healthy lineup including Greg Oden, Batum has high hopes for the ’10-11 season.

“I see great things,” Batum says. “We can win the title next year.”

BONUS POINTS 1. Former teammate Channing Frye coined this name for Batum. Nic now has it stitched on his sneakers.

2. Batum is one of six native Frenchmen playing in the NBA. 3. Twenty-four of Portland’s 50 wins came on the road, the most for the team since the ’99-00 season.

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4. Portland recorded 311 regular season games missed due to injury, second only to the Golden State Warriors.

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first five

By LOIS ELFMAN #40

20 - Forward - Atlanta Dream

Sancho Lyttle

Some teams may look good on paper, but when they get on the court the chemistry just isn’t there. Thankfully, that was not the case with the Atlanta Dream, which in only its second year in existence went from an expansion team with only four wins to a playoff berth and second place in the Eastern Conference. The team also boasted two All-Stars, one of who, Sancho Lyttle, had seen only so-so results during four seasons with the now-defunct Houston Comets.1 “When you get into different situations, you’ve got to make the most of it,” says Lyttle.2 “Going to Atlanta gave me the chance of being on the court more than 10 minutes a game. Within the time, you always have to prove yourself. It was an opening for me in a sense of a new opportunity, so I took and I ran with it.”

No kidding. Lyttle, 26, is kind of a master of seizing the day. She’d never even played organized basketball until she was 18 when being tall placed her in the path of opportunity. A coach from Clarendon Junior College (TX) needed post players and recruited her.

“When I came to America I caught on quick,” she says. “I guess my athletic ability kind of helped me out.”

When people learn a WNBA All-Star has been playing the game for less than a decade, they’re usually stunned.3 To sharpen her game, Lyttle plays in Europe during the WNBA offseason. She played in Spain; three years in Ibiza, and this past year played in Salamanca, where she expects to return this October.4 “Sometimes I think I’m playing football,” she says, speaking of the physical nature of the play that a 6-4 non-European player faces. “You get pushed around. Then when you get to America, you’ve built up your strength to be pushed around.

“You don’t have to be so tough and be so worried about people trying to knock you out.”

BONUS POINTS 1. Lyttle, a first round draft selection in 2005, actually had quite the Houston theme in her life, as she played her last two years of

3. All the more incredible is that Lyttle tore her ACL in her rookie season with the Comets, which she says was the defining moment where she realized how much she loves playing basketball.

4. She promises to take at least part of the 2011-12 offseason off and give her body a chance to rest.

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college basketball at the University of Houston.

2. She grew up in St. Vincent, West Indies, running track and playing netball.

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By Jeramie McPeek #4

#03 - Forward - Phoenix Suns

Jared Dudley “What’s good Phoenix? We here in the locker room, just swept the Spurs; total team effort right here.”

Minutes after hitting the victorious visitor’s locker room in San Antonio on May 9, Jared Dudley was in front of the camera, mic in hand, sweat-soaked jersey still on, filing a postgame report in his best “JSPN” reporter voice for his fans back home. And the Suns’ forward has a lot of them.

Originally dismissed as a throw-in by members of the media following the Suns’ multiplayer trade1 for Jason Richardson in December 2008, Dudley has become a key player off the Suns’ bench with his constant energy, “athletic hands”2 and deep range.

“He is what hustle3 is all about,” said Suns head coach Alvin Gentry. “A really good defensive player, who plays with a lot of effort, able to shoot three-pointers…He is a coach’s player.”

The 25-year-old, who has also developed a fanatic following via his @JaredDudley619 Twitter4 account, averaged 8.2 points, 3.4 boards and a steal, while shooting a team-high 46 percent5 from beyond the arc.

“I come in and work hard during the game,” said Dudley, aka JMZ. “I pride myself on someone who does the little things.”

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BONUS POINTS 1. Former Suns GM Steve Kerr has said all along that Phoenix would not have traded Raja Bell and Boris Diaw to Charlotte if Dudley was not included in the deal with Richardson.

2. J-Rich jokes that although Dudley is not the most athletic guy in the League, he has the NBA’s most athletic hands. While that’s debatable, the 6-7 forward did lead the Suns in steals this season.

3. Dudley was recognized as the winner of the 2010 Dan Majerle Hustle Award, as voted on by Suns fans, employees, coaches and players.

4. One of the NBA’s most active and engaging players on Twitter, Dudley regularly tweets out videos in which he interviews teammates after games, analyzes their fashion style, or even gives mini tours of their homes.

5. Dudley led the League in three-pointers made (120) and ranked fourth in three-point percentage in ’09-10. n.

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first five

by Lois Elfman #40

41 - Guard - Indiana Fever

Tully Bevilaqua Despite living the nomadic lifestyle of a professional women’s basketball player, Tully Bevilaqua is actually quite a hometown girl.1 After helping the Seattle Storm win the WNBA Championship in 2004, the Aussie point guard signed with the Indiana Fever in 2005 and has truly found a home there.2 “Indy is a big country town. It has that appeal that I like in terms of an easy-going pace. I come from a small country town,” she says.

One of the oldest players in the WNBA at 38, Bevilaqua no longer plays year-round.3 While she spent the offseason in Indianapolis, she did go home to Australia for a week to attend a training camp with the national team in hopes of earning a spot for the FIBA World Championship in Brazil this September.4 In addition to giving her body time to rest, another positive factor working in Bevilaqua’s favor is that she divides the time at the point with Briann January.

“It’s a win-win situation for both Bri and I and for the club definitely,” says Bevilaqua. The Fever made the WNBA Finals for the first time in 2009. “[Bri] was someone that was willing to learn and willing to listen. You respect players when they come into the league and they understand there is a lot to learn and they respect you and take in what you say.”

Bevilaqua proudly flaunts her veteran status and credits consistent conditioning with sustaining her career. Her unwavering passion for the game is also a crucial component of her longevity.

The Fever returned all their starters, and despite a seven-month break from the conclusion of last season, Bevilaqua began this season intent on sustaining the momentum.

“We’ll be reminding ourselves of how close we got and how much it hurt not to win,” she says. “For the most part, the nucleus has remained the same. It definitely helps to get consistency. Of course, a few changes in personnel add to the excitement. No matter what, we have to bring our A game every time.”

BONUS POINTS 1. She played three seasons in Europe early in her pro career, but mostly she has played in either the WNBA or Australia’s WNBL. 2. Bevilaqua bought a house in Indianapolis and hopes to make it her permanent home base after her playing days are over.

4. Despite a long career, the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing were actually Bevilaqua’s first Olympic experience.

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3. She announced her retirement from the WNBL in 2008.

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Nicky Anosike

21 - Center - Minnesota Lynx

by Lois Elfman #40

Despite being a two-time NCAA Champion at the University of Tennessee,1 Nicky Anosike wasn’t picked until the second round of the 2008 WNBA Draft— right after fellow Lady Vol Shannon Bobbitt, who coincidentally is also from New York City. Undeterred by the diss, she quickly established herself as one of the best centers in the league.

“I don’t think anyone knows how hard it is to be a role player and in the back of your mind know that you can be so much more,” says Anosike, 24.

She has no regrets that she chose to attend Tennessee,2 but when she was let loose to show all that she could be she went after it with a vengeance.

“It was such a sigh of relief because I’d been telling people all along, ‘I’m a pretty good player. I do more than play defense,’” she says, recalling how people laughed when she said she could score.3 So when she was named an All-Star in 2009, the 6-4 center was not demure about what that accomplishment felt like. “It meant the world,” Anosike says.

The focus for 2010 is to get the Minnesota Lynx into the playoffs.4 While rich with talent, Anosike hopes new coach Cheryl Reeve can effectively blend the styles of a group of amazing players who come from decidedly different college backgrounds.

“I’m ready to maximize the potential and turn into hopefully a championship team,” says Anosike. Adding veteran home girl Lindsay Whalen and rebounding powerhouse Rebekkah Brunson to the mix should cement things.

To bring her best to the court, Anosike spends her offseasons playing overseas5 where she gets a taste of what it’s like to be the go-to player…and a target.

“When I was in college, no one guarded me. In my rookie year in the WNBA, I had one person guarding me. Last year, I had two people guarding me.

Overseas, half the time I have three people guarding me,” she says. “It’s a steady progression, and I’m loving every second of it.”

BONUS POINTS 1. Anosike played with fellow Lady Vol and current New York Liberty guard Sidney Spencer during the

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most recent offseason. Their team was runner-up for the Polish league championship.

2. Saying she bored easily, Anosike had three majors in college: criminal justice, political science and legal studies. If she tires of pro ball, there’s always law school.

3. She averaged 9.2 points per game her rookie year, and 13.2 in ’09.

4. The last time the Lynx saw postseason action was 2004.

5. Her time in Gorzow, Poland was especially interesting, as the coach did not speak English.

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HOW WILL YOU

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24 seconds with Kenny Smith

By Jeramie McPeek #4 HOOP: Tell us about the camps1 you’re hosting this summer.

KENNY: They’re a lot of fun. Ever since I’ve been an NBA player, I’ve been doing camps.

HOOP: Do you teach the kids how to fish while camping?

KENNY: No, no fishing [laughs]. Strictly basketball. Just trying to make you a better player.

HOOP: Where did the “Gone Fishin’” idea originally come from?

KENNY: When I was playing, the Phoenix Suns2 Gorilla came out to the Andy Griffith theme song and he had a pole with all of the other teams they had already beaten hanging on it. So I came to the bench and I said, “Yo, we ain’t going fishin’.”

HOOP: Have any of the guys ever given you a hard time about being pictured?

KENNY: No. They know it’s funny when they see other guys on it, but they don’t want to see themselves. They don’t want to see those poles3 come out.

HOOP: Are there any players you’ve felt bad that they have ended up in those pictures year after year?

KENNY: No. The best don’t get on it. That’s how I look at it.

Steve Spatafore/nbae/getty images

HOOP: What kind of fisherman are you?

KENNY: My dad loves to fish, but I’m not a fisherman. I probably go once or twice a year, but my father probably goes once a week.

HOOP: What’s your favorite bait to hook Charles?

KENNY: Anything about food. If you have anything that has a double meaning with a food reference, he bites into it. No pun intended.

HOOP: How often do you show him your championship rings?

KENNY: Well, my dad has my first ring and my brother has my second, but it only comes out as a last resort. That’s like the pièce de résistance. When I’m really losing the battle, I’m going there.

HOOP: How close was Charles to being an NBA Champion? His Suns went the full seven4 games with your Rockets both years you won titles.

KENNY: One of them was a last-second shot by Mario Elie, too. So either team, I felt, with the right bounce of the ball, could have been NBA champs. I just felt we had the right plays at the right time.

HOOP: What’s the funniest picture your crew has created over the years?

KENNY: It wasn’t a picture, it was a video. They put Charles and myself on these two guys doing a Michael Jackson tribute to “Thriller.”

HOOP: Your bio on Wikipedia describes you as the “straight man” to Barkley.

KENNY: That’s funny, because before he got here, I was the guy who was the loose cannon and Ernie [Johnson] was the straight guy. But Charles is far more than a loose cannon, he’s an uzi.

HOOP: How often are you asked, “Where’s Charles?”

KENNY: All the time. I’ll be in a public restroom and someone will say, “Where’s Chuck?” and I’ll be like, “Well, he ain’t in here.”

HOOP: Who is the best Mr. T? KENNY: Oh, I was by far. Ernie is a little bit older, so I don’t know if he watched it, but that was my era. And Charles is more of a movie guy. I’m a TV guy, so I can even tell you A-Team5 episodes.

HOOP: Did you have the Mr. T chains back in the day?

KENNY: Just one. I had the starter kit.

HOOP: What’s your favorite bit you guys have ever done?

KENNY: When I did the thing with Kobe, jumping over the car. I saw Kobe’s video6 on the Internet, so I came up with the idea for the bit, but the ending with me getting hit, our graphics guy came up with that. About three or four minutes before we aired it, they wouldn’t show me what they had done. So I said, “Oh, I probably got hit.” But I didn’t think it was going to look so authentic. It was pretty funny.

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HOOP: Could you jump over Gwen’s car?

KENNY: Well, as fast as my wife drives I probably could. She’s from England, so they drive a little faster there.

HOOP: We saw your competition at the Atlanta Motor Speedway this past spring.

KENNY: Yeah, I had been telling her I was going to take her there. She was doing about 160. It was ridiculous.7 HOOP: For our readers who don’t know, your wife is one of the “Barker Beauties” on The Price is Right. Actually, what are they called now with Drew Carey as the host?

KENNY: Just The Price is Right models. Drew is such a great guy. All of a sudden you’ll find the new PlayStation Guitar Hero at your door. Or he’ll be like, “I’m going to a soccer game, you want to go?” And it will be in Argentina, and he’ll have two plane tickets for everyone. He’s one of the most benevolent guys I know.

[background] CHARLES: Hey man, y’all have had enough interview8 You’re done. We don’t want to hear you all talk. We want to watch the game. This is my green room.

REGGIE: Your green room? Kenny, are you going to let him talk to you like that? Are you kidding me?

HOOP: One more question, Charles, and we’re done.

CHARLES: No, you’re done now! Seriously! You’ve got to go!

KENNY: Don’t worry, he don’t run this room. Go ahead.

HOOP: EJ’s got his “Neat-O Stat of the Night.” What stat are you proudest of from your playing career?

KENNY: Two chips. That’s it. Bill Russell gave me that. One of my teammates asked him one time when he was coaching9 us, “What was your shooting percentage?” He said, “11 rings.”

HOOP: What’s your favorite The Price is Right game?

KENNY: I like the little guy going up the Swiss Alps. I just told my wife last week, I’ve been coming to the set all this time and I’ve never spun the wheel. I’ve got to spin the wheel!

HOOP: We hear your daughter just signed a recording contract?

KENNY: She signed with Interscope records. She’s in the studio now working with a lot of big heavyweight producers. She’s really talented and we are really excited see where this leads.

It’s kind of like she’s made the league, now we’ll see if she’s Rookie of the Year.

HOOP: Did she get her singing abilities from her father?

KENNY: Not from me.

HOOP: Are you more well known now or when you were a player?

KENNY: I’m probably more well known now by the casual fan. They get to know you. It’s really interesting when someone invites you into their home, because they could turn the game off with 200-plus cable stations...

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Invitational in the San Fernando Valley.

2. Shortly after this interview on May 29, the Inside the NBA crew cast their poles on the court at US Airways Center, following the Suns’ Game 6 elimination by the L.A. Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.

3. Visit the “Inside the NBA” page at NBA.com to view some of the best Gone Fishin’ photos from the 2010 playoffs.

4. Barkley’s Suns even led the Rockets 3-1, before dropping the last three games of the 1995 Western Conference Semifinals.

5. In case you missed it, the “Inside the NBA” guys impersonated Mr. T for a commercial to promote the A-Team.

6. Bryant jumped over an Ashton Martin in the popular viral video for Nike.

7. According to the video on “Inside the NBA,” Gwen got up to 138 mph compared to Kenny’s 102.

8. This interview was being conducted in the TNT green room at US Airways Center during the third-quarter of the Suns-Lakers playoff game.

9. Russell was head coach of the Kings when Sacramento selected Smith with the 6th pick in the 1987 NBA Draft.

Ray Amati/NBAE/Getty Images

HOOP: How about your son? Does he have any Jet in his game?

KENNY: He’s 13, he loves the game now and that’s the key. He’s got a good understanding of the game and he’s unselfish. He’s actually more skilled than I was at that age, but I was more athletic.

Bonus Points 1. Smith is hosting two camps this summer, one on the campus of UNC and the other in Westlake Village, Calif, as well as the Kenny “The Jet” Smith

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Where caring happens.

Š 2010 NBA Entertainment Photos by NBAE/Getty Images.

www.nba.com/cares

TEAM_NBA Cares.indd 1

6/21/10 9:46 AM

Over The Hill?

Grant Hill by Jeramie McPeek #4 Jason Kidd by Rob Peterson #9

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Not These Kidds The League may be getting younger, but don’t tell that to Grant Hill and Jason Kidd. The former co-Rookies of the Year—waaaaay back in ’95—are proving that some things get better with age

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It is a minute or two into his postgame speech before Alvin Gentry realizes someone is missing. “Where’s the old man?” the Phoenix Suns’ head coach asks, pointing to an empty chair in front of Grant Hill’s locker.

“He’s unconscious somewhere out there,” jokes Steve Nash of his close friend, who has yet to return to the team’s clubhouse after the Suns’ Game 2 win over the Trail Blazers in the opening round of the playoffs.

“Is he lying out there dead or something?” Gentry laughs before turning serious to wrap up his pep talk.

“You young guys better take note. I’m telling you, that guy right there, he competes. I could ask him to do anything in the world and he’ll try to do it.”

As if on cue, the veteran forward, who was the center piece of the Suns’ win on this particular April night with 20 points, eight boards and some lockdown defense, makes his grand entrance to cheers, high-fives and fist bumps.

This is what Grant Hill expected entering the NBA 16 years ago with a pair of NCAA National Championships on his collegiate resume. This is what he worked so hard for but barely tasted during his first six seasons with the Detroit Pistons. What he could only dream about over the next seven with the Orlando Magic. The opportunity to play a starring role on a team making a deep run in the postseason.

Of course, the Suns’ run to the Western Conference Finals this just-concluded season was as improbable as the thought of Hill being a significant reason for it at the age of 37, having been “tormented” by health problems during the middle chapters of his career. Tormented is Nash’s word to describe Hill’s physical struggles, not ours, but it’s more than fitting to summarize the series of injuries and issues that all began with a broken ankle a decade ago during the 2000 playoffs.

Although he was lured to Orlando in a sign-and-trade that summer, the NBA’s marquee free-agent at the time would only play four games in his first season for the Magic, and a total of 43 games over the next three years combined. He would undergo three surgeries on the ankle, suffer a bruised shin and a sports hernia. And if all that wasn’t bad enough, he contracted a life-threatening MRSA infection1 in his ankle following one of the operations that would leave him needing antibiotics via an IV for six months afterwards.

Understandably, most basketball experts considered his career all but over. But Hill knew he would eventually come out the other side and have some productive years ahead of him. Or at least he hoped.

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At age 37 and the active leader in games played at 1,187, Dallas’ Jason Kidd could be forgiven for wanting to get a head start on his summer vacation. Picture him kicking back in a hammock stretched between two shady trees, his hand wrapped around a lemonade with a cap pulled down over his eyes as he naps, swaying in a gentle breeze. Such an idyllic scenario would be well earned. After all, he averaged 36 minutes per game during the ’09-10 season, most ever for a point guard over the age of 36 and eighth most all-time1 for any NBA player that age.

But this is Jason Kidd. Relaxing has never been one of his strong suits. In this case, it wasn’t his choice. Kidd was ready for a longer haul, but the San Antonio Spurs sent the Dallas Mavericks home after taking their first round playoffs series 4-2. Vacation had started early.

Much too early.

“Physically and mentally, I was ready to go to June. My body and my mind were fresh going into the playoffs,” Kidd says. “But unfortunately we came up short.

With the extra time off, Kidd should feel even fresher heading into next season, his 17th2 in the League. Kidd has seen plenty of changes since his first season, one in which he shared Rookie of the Year honors3 with Phoenix’s Grant Hill, then with the Pistons. He has played for three different franchises4 and only Kidd, Hill and fellow dinosaur Juwan Howard remain from that 1994 Draft.

Unlike Hill, who saw what could have been a Hall of Fame career derailed by injury during his time in Orlando, and Howard, who has made nine stops with eight different franchises, Kidd’s legacy is secure. He has the numbers of Hall of Famer. His 10,923 assists, gives him more dimes than any player in NBA history not named John Stockton.

His 105 career regular-season triple-doubles are five fewer than the next five active players combined. He’s also the active leader in steals (2,343), and no player has played in

more games (1,187) or played more minutes (44,036).

And if those numbers don’t cement his place in Springfield, MA anyone championing Kidd’s presence in the Hall can point to his rookie honor, his leading the downtrodden New Jersey Nets to two consecutive Finals appearances in ’02 and ’03, his nine All-Star Games and his two Olympic gold medals.5 Before Kidd kicks back and settles into a retirement rocking chair—or maybe into a head coach’s hot seat — he’s more than willing to impart his point guard wisdom to the next generation, not only because he knows he can’t play forever but also because when he entered the League as a wide-eyed 20-year-old, there were few on the Mavericks who were able to impart any sage advice.

At the start of Kidd’s rookie season, the Mavericks had one player—journeyman guard Morlon Wiley—with more than five years of NBA experience. Current Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Scott Brooks, who was in his sixth NBA season, joined the team in late February.

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“I kind of told myself that when I was going through it,” he says. “The doctors kept saying, ‘The joint, the ligaments are all good. They’re healthy. They look great.

It’s just the bone.’ So if the bone were able to heal, the ankle was good and the rest of my body doesn’t get that wear and tear, I’ll be able to make up for it on the backend. I don’t know if I believed it, but I told myself that.

“I feel fresh. I feel good. I’m not tired. And I think I have less miles on my body than a lot of these guys that are playing now, KG, Ray Allen...all these guys that are younger than me, they’ve played more minutes than me.”

Sure enough, Hill has been one of the Suns’ healthiest and most consistent players since signing with Phoenix in the summer of 2007. He played in 70 games in his first season in orange, followed by the full 82 games in ‘08-09, the first time in his career he had played an entire season. He almost duplicated the feat this year, too, starting 81 games at small forward, followed by a dozenplus playoff games, as he escaped the first round for the first time in seven postseason appearances.

“He’s been a great inspiration,” says Suns off-guard Jason Richardson, who as a high-school sophomore, attended Hill’s first NBA game, watching2 him and the Pistons at the Palace. “He is a great role model. Every young guy in the NBA should look at Grant and see how he carries himself on and off the court. You’ve got to admire the guy.”

Suns All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire, who was 12 years old when Hill was named co-Rookie of the Year along with the Mavs’ Jason Kidd4 in 1995, echoes Richardson’s praise.

“Grant is the ultimate professional. He’s the Barrack Obama of NBA basketball. He’s a great locker room guy.

The way he works out, he’s always in early, always motivating guys, he’s always very spirited. I have nothing but great things to say about Grant.”

The truth is, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who has anything but glowing words to say about Grant, recipient of the NBA Sportsmanship Award3 for the third time this season. But we’ve got to share one more evaluation of Hill, the human being, before we get back to Hill, the athlete.

“The best I know,” says Gentry4, who first coached Hill during the peak of his All-NBA career with the Pistons, from 1998-2000. “I’m not kidding when I say that. If I had to pick the best person in this game that I’ve ever been around from a character standpoint, personality standpoint, the way he treats people, the way he treats his wife and his family and his mom, then he would be my No. 1 guy.

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By the time he led the Nets to their first Finals appearance in 2002, Kidd was more than just a fully formed point guard. He was a superstar who made like Superman reversing the Nets’ fortunes, transforming it from a laughingstock to one of the League’s best teams.

His former Nets coach, Lawrence Frank, was an assistant when Kidd arrived in the Meadowlands.

“We were coming off a 26-win season,”7 says Frank.

“But that’s the beauty of basketball is that unlike in football or baseball, one guy can change your whole culture and that’s what Jason does.

“No one is going to outwork him. No one has a greater will. No one wants to win more than he does. No one puts in the time like he does. He embodies everything all coaches want their best players to do. And that’s why he’s been a great winner since he started to play the game.”

And that’s why Kidd, who was traded back to Dallas in February of 2008, has been willing to share his secrets and expertise with Mavericks guards J.J. Barea and Rodrigue Beaubois. Mavs coach Rick Carlisle couldn’t have wished for a better teacher for two young point guards.

“It’s like they’re getting a masters degree...” Carlisle says before catching himself. “It’s like they’re getting a PhD course in point-guard play.”

For Barea and Beaubois, whether it is at practice, during a game or after one, class is always in session with Professor Kidd.

“After a game, I’ll ask them: What did you see tonight?

What would you have done in that situation?” Kidd says.

“And then we’ll talk about the things that they could have done differently and they’ll say, ‘I didn’t even think about that or see that.’

ronald martinez; andy hayt/NBAE/Getty Images

“I didn’t have a mentor,” Kidd says reflecting on that year. “I was fortunate to play against Gary Payton6 in the summertime, but that was really pretty much the only time I had someone to learn from.”

So Kidd had to teach himself how to play point guard in the NBA on the fly. But he picked things up quickly.

Flanked by fellow “Js,” Jamal Mashburn and Jim Jackson on the perimeter, Kidd flashed his trip-dub skills early, averaging 11.7 points, 7.7 dimes, 5.4 boards and 1.9 thefts. More importantly, he helped guide Dallas to a 36-46 record, an impressive 23-game improvement over the previous season. The Mavs, however, regressed the next two seasons and Kidd was traded to Phoenix in December of 1996. There, Kidd finally found someone he could emulate. As a Sun, Kidd watched veteran point guard and three-time All-Star Kevin Johnson and learned how to properly run a pick-and-roll. Previously, Kidd was known primarily as a push-the-ball-upcourt point guard who excelled at the fastbreak. Under KJ’s tutelage, Kidd learned the nuances of the NBA halfcourt game which will serve him well later.

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All-ENCORE TEAM Hill and Kidd have had many parallels. Co-ROYs in ’95. A slew of All-NBA Team and All-Star nods.

Olympic gold medals. Ageless vets still chasing the elusive chip while playing key roles on contending teams. Five-lettered first names and four-lettered last names that have a single “i” and ending in double consonants. OK, the last one was a stretch (but a bit eerie, no?). When it’s all said and done, both could also be cracking an unofficial but pretty impressive team: the All-Encore Team. These dudes might’ve been 40-somethings (save for Dr. J), but they were turning back the clock on the regular during their final run.

G

Michael Jordan

G

In his last season in ’02-03, in an era dominated by baggy shorts, his against-the-grain preference for short shorts made Stockton a living time capsule to the past, one that was still liable to cunningly get by you to deliver a crisp pass to a cutting teammate, stroke a J in your mug or set a pick that will leave a reminder long after the final buzzer. The 41-yearold Stock was still playing starter-type minutes his encore run (starting all 82 games, natch) and just as efficient, putting up 10.8 points, 7.7 assists and still pick-pocketing young’ns lunch money at the rate of 1.7 per game.

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Julius Erving

gary dineedn (2); rocky widner; jim cummins; andrew d. bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

John Stockton

Yes, his time as a Wizard was forgettable and his “Air” nickname referred more to his need for it during timeouts than his hops, but only because the man had set such high standards. Jordan, at age 40, was playing a position that was stocked to the brim with youngsters who could run like the wind and jump out of a gym. He was humbled, certainly, but he more than held his own, playing 37 minutes per contest and averaging 20 a game.

Jordan wasn’t taking off from the foul line, but given a clear path, he was still able to remind kids in the L why they’re wearing his logo’d kicks on their feet.

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We might be wrong, but couldn’t you imagine Kareem, even at his current age of 63, on the floor and unfurling his trademark skyhook. Most dudes 40 years his junior would still be unable to stop it and the shot would still drop. Cap played until he was 41, starting 74 games during his final season. Albeit more an honorary nod, Kareem was an All-Star in that last season, making him the oldest ever to ever suit up for the midseason classic. And don’t forget, Abdul-Jabbar took home Finals MVP in 1985 at an age where most former stars are sitting at the end of the bench serving as a player-coach; in the Lakers’ four victories, the 38-year-old averaged 30.2 ppg, 11.3 rpg, 6.5 apg and 2.0 bpg.

C

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

At 40, most NBA players—and even stars— are sporting a post-playing gut and are on Year Five of their post-NBA career. The chiseled Mailman would be outworking kids half his age in the weight room and still showing up at doorsteps with packages on time. Of course they weren’t the thundering finishes that earned him the moniker, but they were a steady diet of reliable midrange jumpers, rebounds and solid screens. A knee injury causing him to miss 40 games put a damper on a career that spanned 19 seasons where he never missed more than two games a season. Even after 40,000 minutes, Malone was still dependable for 13.2 ppg, 8.7 rpg, 4.3 apg and 1.3 spg.

The good Doctor might’ve been 37 years old, a bit grey in the hair and logged over 45,000 minutes when he hung up his Converse Pro Leathers, but he didn’t disappoint during his final house calls around the NBA. Aweinspiring baseline wraparound finishes were gone, but when he needed to, Dr. J could still operate on dudes. Going up against some young stallions in the L, Erving still topped 1,000 points in his final season (from this list, only he can Michael Jordan topped 1K during their final season) for the Sixers.

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Karl Malone HOOP

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“If President Obama hadn’t become the first AfricanAmerican President, I’m sure that Grant Hill could have. I really think that he has that ability that he could run for any office in this country and if the people really got to know him, they’d see why I feel the way I feel about him.”

If you couldn’t tell, Hill is the most beloved and respected player on the Suns’ roster, at least among those he travels with eight months of the year. And he’s proud to be a mentor of sorts to his youngest teammates like Joe Dumars, Otis Thorpe, Johnny Dawkins and Mark West were for him back in the day.

“I remember being a young player and watching the vets,” he says. “I was always observing them and learning from them. So I try to be cognizant of that now and understand that the younger guys are always watching how you act and how you respond to adversity.”

Hill is also watched closely and admired by his new fans in Phoenix, but not just because he is one of the alltime good guys in sports. Although he may no longer have the attention of the entire basketball universe—in case you forgot, Hill was the leading All-Star vote getter in each of his first two pro seasons and a regular on the athlete endorsement scene—Hill has earned the appreciation with his hard-nosed, all-out play.

No, his numbers are no longer eye-popping. Early in his career, many called him the “Next Jordan,” though he may have actually been the Pre-LeBron with 20.2 points, 9.8 boards and 6.9 assists in ‘95-96, to give one example.7 But the 6-8, 225-pound forward is still a key contributor today. In 30 minutes a night, Hill chipped in 11.3 points on the highest scoring team in the League, collected 5.5 boards (second on the club) and shot a personal-best6 44 percent from behind the three-point line. But perhaps most importantly and surprisingly, the Suns’ elder statesman was also their MVD, most valuable defender, often checking the opposition’s biggest scoring threat.

“He’s played everybody,” says Gentry. “Over the course of the year we’ve asked him to guard Tony Parker, we’ve asked him to guard Dirk Nowitzki, we’ve asked him to guard Aaron Brooks, we’ve asked him to guard Paul Pierce. I could go on and on...Dwayne Wade, Carmelo, Kobe... And he never complains. Never says anything.

Just gives you everything that he has.”

When asked to compare his game today to his game circa mid-’90s, Hill realizes and accepts that he’s not the player he once was. But he also believes he is a smarter player now than the G-Hill who graced GQ covers and featured in all those Sprite and Fila commercials.

tim heitman; nathaniel s. butler; noren trotman/NBAE/Getty Images

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Kidd’s influence isn’t limited to the youngsters. This past season, the Mavericks made a blockbuster deal, acquiring Caron Butler, Brendan Haywood and DeShawn Stevenson from the Washington Wizards in February 2010. With such a change in personnel, especially midseason, a team’s chemistry is compromised; the Mavs barely missed a beat.

“The level of respect [for Jason] is so high,” Carlisle says. “We made the trade with Washington and Jason personally helped integrate the guys as soon as possible.

We didn’t have a lot of practice time, so he had to do integrate them during the course of games.

“Soon after, we went on a 13-game winning streak. He was the key to that.”

Players also gravitate to Kidd, because even at his advanced age, his tireless work ethic rubs off on his teammates.

“He has unbelievable energy for a player of any age,” Carlisle said. “He takes care of himself physically, and he’s one of those great players who takes the same approach every night.

“I compare to Reggie Miller did in his late 30s. In his last game, at age 39, Reggie scored 29 points in the playoffs against Detroit. Jason is similar. He’s extremely committed and meticulous.”

Kidd’s been able to survive for 16 seasons because he has learned to adapt. When guards played off of him because of a suspect jumper, Kidd worked tirelessly in the offseason to hone his outside shooting. Kidd has made 1,662 career three-pointers,8 second-most among active players and third most all-time. This past season, he took a career-high 414 three-pointers and knocked down 42.5 percent of them.9 While the NBA’s last classic pass-first point guard’s long-range bombing may be underrated, those numbers don’t go unnoticed by opponents.

“I could always get to the basket, so they would give me that jump shot,” Kidd says. “There was no need to rush my shot. It was like golf, I could take my time and tee it up. And that’s what I worked on.

“Now, they’re running at me and I don’t have that luxury. Now, I have to work on that part of my game. No matter how old you are, you have to add something to your game. Developing my outside shooting, helped me to keep playing at a high level and it was one thing I figured that could help keep me in the League.”

Of course, Kidd’s experience also helps him stay in the game, but it doesn’t prevent him from the target of playful barbs from young and veterans alike. Kidd says teammates remind all the time him that he’s “old as dirt.” Olympic teammate Kobe Bryant also got his shot in when USA Basketball used a vintage video clip to inspire Team USA.

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“Obviously, the athleticism, jumping, my first step, those things aren’t quite what they were 15 years ago,” says Hill, who will still throw down on opponents from time to time. “But I think you understand the game better, you understand angles, positioning, being able to read positions better, being able to read individuals. So you don’t rely on athleticism as much.”

And the game itself? Hill thinks back to the time in which he entered the NBA and is proud of how the sport has evolved in the years since.

“There was a period of time where it was more physical, more defensive oriented and coaches were more controlling,” he recalls. “I think the games, from a spectator standpoint, are more fun to watch now. The scoring is more exciting. It’s not an 82-81, grind-it-out style of basketball that was very common in the ’90s.”

The third oldest8 player in the League at the conclusion of the ’09-10 season, Hill knows the bulk of his career is behind him, but he is not thinking about his post-playing opportunities, which range from broadcasting to coaching to politics. The husband and father of two says he would love to play until he’s 40, but not because he is still chasing after that elusive championship. He just wants to enjoy the game he has played his entire life as long as he can.

“I’ve been pretty fortunate to do what I’ve done for as long as I’ve done it. I was fortunate to win a gold medal and to win in college and high school,” he says. “If my career ended right this second, I feel like just overcoming my injuries, that’s enough of a championship for me.

Everything else that has happened since then is gravy.”

Hill doesn’t want the meat and potatoes of his legacy to be about championships, gold medals, All-Star appearances or statistics. He wants basketball fans and historians to look back on his career as one of perseverance.

“Regardless of what you thought of me as a player, whether you liked me or didn’t like me, hopefully people respected the fact that when I got knocked down, I got back up,” he says. “That to me is something that hopefully can be inspiring to somebody else. We all go through struggles. Some of us go through them publicly, some of us go through them privately. But it’s your attitude, it’s your will, it’s your desire to overcome. If I can be remembered for that, I’ll be grateful.”

BONUS POINTS 1. Hill helped launch the “STOP MRSA Now” coalition in 2008 to raise awareness about the Staph infection and its prevention.

2. Richardson got a chance to meet Hill after that game, too, and says he “was very polite,” and encouraged him to “keep working hard.”

3. Hill was the first-ever three-time winner of the award, which is voted on by NBA players, and received a crystal trophy named after his former Pistons teammate, Joe Dumars.

4. Gentry says he has coached a lot of good people over his career, including Dumars and David Robinson, but Hill is his all-time favorite human being in the NBA. 5. Kidd was the No. 2 overall pick in the 1994 NBA Draft, followed by Hill at No. 3. Each received 43 of the possible 105 votes from a panel of national sports writers and broadcasters.

6. Hill also made a career-high 35 three-pointers in ’09-10.

7. To give a second example of his LeBron-like numbers, Hill averaged 25.8 points, 6.6 boards and 5.2 assists in ’99-00.

8. Hill is only a day younger than the Bucks’ Kurt Thomas and just six months younger than the League’s oldest active player, Shaquille O’Neal.

nathaniel s. butler/NBAE/Getty Images

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“During the Olympics, when they showed us the tape of Marvin Gaye singing the National Anthem at The Forum in 1983,” Kidd recalls, “Kobe turned to me and said, ‘Are you in this All-Star Game?’10 That was funny.”

Kidd also wouldn’t mind suggesting some changes to how they introduce him before games at the American Airlines Center.

“I’ll never forget as a rookie and hearing some of the guys, Jeff Malone, Jeff Hornacek and they were saying whatever college they came from and it’s, ‘In his 14th year,’ ‘In his 15th year,’ and I’m saying, ‘Man he’s old. I’m young, I’ll be able to run right past them,’” Kidd recalls.

“I’m going to have to talk to our PA announcer. If I start, he can leave out how many years I’ve played.”

If not, PA announcer “Humble” Bill Hayes could preface Kidd’s entrance with “In his 19th year...” as Kidd aspires to play another three seasons.

“If I stay healthy and my mind feels competitive and I’m not in anybody’s way, I’d like to play until I’m 40,” Kidd says. “I know I won’t be playing 35 minutes a night at that age, but if I can help a team win, be able to teach the younger guys and share my experience to help them out, hopefully I’ll make it to 40.11 Then I can watch the game from a different seat.”

That seat could come with a clipboard and a ton of responsibility. Kidd says the possibility of becoming a coach intrigues him.

“It would be fun to try and it would be something I would never rule out,” Kidd says. “I wouldn’t mind that challenge and win a championship that way, too.

This summer, Kidd will receive a firsthand look at the world of coaching as he plans to spend time with Mike Krzyzewski and the Team USA coaching staff in Las Vegas before the men’s squad headed to Turkey for the FIBA World Championship. But, for now, coaching can wait. Kidd believes he has plenty in the tank and plenty he can achieve between the lines, including winning that elusive NBA title.

“It’s a combination of the competitiveness and playing against the best players in the world,” Kidd says of what keeps him on the court. “You play to win a championship.

But if that doesn’t happen, at the end of the day, I can say basketball has given me a great experience and it’s been good to me.”

The hammock will have to wait.

BONUS POINTS 1. In 1972-73, at age 36, Wilt Chamberlain averaged 43.2 minutes per game.

2. Kidd was drafted No. 2 overall by Dallas; Milwaukee made Glenn Robinson the No. 1 overall pick in ’94.

3. It was first time the League had co-Rookies of the Year; in 1999, the feat was duplicated when Steve Francis and Elton Brand shared the award.

4. Kidd has played for Dallas twice, Phoenix and New Jersey 5. Kidd won gold in Sydney 2000 and Beijing in 2008 6. Kidd grew up playing against Payton, who would become a nine-time NBA All-Star, in Oakland 7. The Nets went 52-30 in Kidd’s first season in New Jersey.

8. Ray Allen leads active players with 2,444 9. How impressive is that? Sharpshooting Reggie Miller’s three-point percentage at age 36 was 40.6.

10. Kidd’s first All-Star Game was 1996 in San Antonio. He says that’s the moment he realized “he arrived.”

jesse d. garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

11. John Stockton played 82 games in ’02-03 and averaged 27.2 minutes, 10.8 points, 7.6 assists and 1.7 steals at the age of 40.

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When it comes to basketball, Kevin Love has nothing but love—the tough variety

Watch a Timberwolves game and you’ll quickly notice a few things—Al Jefferson is pretty darn good on the low block, Jonny Flynn is pretty fleet and the roster is dotted with potential at almost every position—but one thing you may overlook is the burly guy off the bench with the #42 jersey who inhales a lion’s share of the boards he sees and delivers an outlet pass that Charles Oakley would be pretty damn proud of. That guy there is Kevin Love.

We caught up with Love on Southern California turf this Father’s Day, hours after he took his dad, Stan Love, out for some Mexican food to celebrate the day.

So later on, as Stan kicked back and watched some U.S. Open on a nearby TV, the 21-yearold opened up to us about the father who has made him the man he is. About his rebounding prowess, which makes the 6-9, 260-pounder one of the best boardmen in the game today.1 And about his renowned work ethic, which has made him a good bet to place quite high in the 2010-11 NBA Most Improved award discussion.2 Welcome to the Summer of Love, with one of the NBA’s nicest (and yet meanest) characters in the game...

PHOTO CREDIT/NBAE/Getty Images

Love Basketball

&

By Darryl Howerton #21

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HOOP: Since it’s Father’s Day, can you reflect on the influence of your dad, who has led quite the eclectic life himself—everything from playing in the NBA in the ’70s to being a bodyguard with his brother and cousins’ legendary group, The Beach Boys?3 Love: He basically taught me everything I knew, up until I was 18, 19, 20 years old. He’s still teaching me stuff today. I would say the biggest thing he taught me was the mentality to bring every night in the NBA—to go out every game, to go out every practice. He said, “One day basketball is gonna become your job, but never think about it that way. Whenever you play, everyday, just be the meanest [expletive] you can possibly be on the court and just have that relentless attitude that you’re never gonna give up. Because that’s a true sign of a winner.”

I also learned from some of his failures, as well. He only had a fouryear career. He told me, “In the NBA, there were a couple teams I didn’t work hard enough for. I kind of had bad blood with some people in some organizations.” Then he’d tell me, “You have to treat everybody with respect. Be a gentleman. Realize that it is a business and this is your job at the same time. Always keep that love for the game in there and don’t forget why you play.”

HOOP: So that’s you—Grizzly Bear on the court, Teddy Bear off it, where you’re the media favorite, even doing correspondent work for NBA TV and such?

Love: I don’t try to be something I’m not. I just try to balance it out. That’s another thing, my dad always said, “When you step through the line, be the meanest [expletive] you can be, but when you’re off, you be gracious to people. You’re a good kid from an affluent community, two-parent home. Just don’t try to be anybody you’re not. You’re a good kid, just remember where you came from.” That’s kind of how I balance that out.

But, yeah, that entertainment side is fun to me. I like people to be able to come up and strike a conversation with me, no matter who they are.

And just be, like I said, that good kid off the court. I don’t think being an [expletive] gets you anywhere.

HOOP: Talk about the rebounding. You’re one of the six best rebounders in the game the last two years, along with Dwight Howard, Joel Przybilla, Marcus Camby, Samuel Dalembert and Greg Oden. And you’ve done that at ages 20 and 21, which is not common. What’s your secret?

Love: A lot of it is being relentless. A lot of it is effort. A lot of it is skill.

My dad always told me there was no such thing as a selfish rebound.

So if I could take a blow to the face, take a rebound from one of my teammates or the other team, then that’s what I have to do. I always took that mentality to heart. Back in the day, I loved watching Karl Malone, I loved watching Dennis Rodman go at it. How they pursued rebounds. Bill Russell once said that 80 percent of rebounds were below the rims. That hit home with me since I’m not a guy who’s gonna jump and touch the top of the square, grab a ball that’s on top of the backboard. That’s when I became aware that a lot of rebounding is about positioning, and also being able to be relentless—not being afraid to take a blow to the face or above the chest every once in awhile. I’m just trying to do whatever it takes to help the team win and rebounding is a big part of it.

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David Sherman; Danny Bollinger; Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

HOOP: What about the angles? You obviously know how to work those.

Love: Angles are huge. It’s kind of like your post work. A lot of it is footwork, too. You have to have the right positioning in order to get certain rebounds. When you see a shot up, you have to know, “OK, what’s the percentage this shot is going to go over the rim?” Knowing where most of your players on your team’s misses are. Other than that, you just have to kind of have a knack for the ball. You have to know where most of your rebounds come from. I think to be a great rebounder, you have to be able to rebound out of more than just one zone. You have to be a multi-zonerebound type guy. So I think those guys that you mentioned and also the guys that I mentioned were able to do that. And I’m trying to be on that Dennis Rodman type of rebounding. That’s one of the guys I admire on the court. Off the court, I admire him, too, but don’t tell anybody that.

HOOP: You also got UFC wrestling and strength skills in the paint. How does that play into your NBA game?

Love: Wrestling and strength kind of go hand-in-hand. You just have to know if your opponent is gonna fight you high or fight you low, and you have to attack his body. You have to go for whatever part of him is least on-balance. When you go after a guy, that’s kind of a feel. Against a guy like Shaq or Dwight Howard—guys of that stature and that status, as far as how big their body is—it’s tough to wrestle with those guys. You don’t want to waste your energy on the offensive or defensive end when you try to box them out or push them around. That’s when you’re really trying to use angles to either seal them off, or use your body to catch them off balance a little bit. It’s really down to a science. But at the end of the day, if you put your all into rebounding, and you go after every single rebound—really pretend that everything’s gonna be a miss—then you’re gonna be successful going after the ball. That’d kind of be my point to little kids if I were doing a camp.

HOOP: Noticed you also got your three-point shot up last season. And if you keep improving the trey, you might just become the first stretch 4 who leads the NBA in rebounding some day.4 Love: I want to be looked at as a basketball player. I’m a guy who can score the ball from the inside and out. I get a lot of putbacks because of my offensive rebounding, but I also run the 4, get easy buckets there. I can hit the 15-footer. I can hit the three. I have pretty good, decent post moves. I’m trying to add a couple more things. I’ve been working with Coach [Kurt] Rambis, and I still have a couple things up my sleeve from Kevin McHale as well. I don’t think people in the NBA or people that love basketball have seen all that I can do yet. But as far as being a stretch 4, yes, I would love to be known for my three-point shooting and my ability to shoot the ball. But I’m not so much a finesse player. I can play the finesse game, but I’m a banger. I’m a guy that likes to play that ’80s-style of ball—kinda the Bad Boys Pistons. Get dirty, really hit people and make it a physical game because that really plays into what I want to do.

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HOOP: Is that what you and Kurt Rambis were talking about at those playoff games you guys attended together?

Love: We were just talking about playoff basketball. As far as knowledge of the game, Kurt has a very, very, very good IQ. I was with him at several playoff games and kind of wanted to take it to the next level. And obviously we talked about when we make it to the playoffs, yada yada yada. But we also talked about the execution of the offense because we’re watching the Lakers who are running the same triangle offense as we are. We looked at a lot of similar stuff that Pau Gasol was doing. Also Lamar Odom. Watching different sequences in the offense that we haven’t implemented yet. It was cool to sit there with a head coach, a guy who’d been in L.A. for a while that won numerous championships as both a player and coach—being able to pick his brain and get his knowledge on some stuff.

HOOP: Your defensive rating is good. Your rebounding is off the charts.

You’re one of the most offensively efficient young players in the game. Is this the year we finally see you playing 35 minutes a game?5 Love: It’s tough to say. My rookie year, we won just 24 games, but once McHale became the coach, I started playing more and more minutes.

This year was tough. I came off the bench and our team had only won 15 games. We were trying a lot of new things. For me, it was tough to sit there and come off the bench. I felt that I was a starter. I still feel that way. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. Like I mentioned, it’ll go back to being in shape and working out and that’s why I do what I do all summer long.6 I’ll really have to be in great shape and take good care of my body, but luckily with the Timberwolves, we have great trainers, great people, great therapists that take care of us. So that’s all part of the NBA and all part of the job.

David Sherman (2); Bill Baptist; Layne Murdoch/NBAE/Getty Images

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LOVE CONNECTION

Many people say Love is a throwback of an NBA player, but which player are they really talking about? We couldn’t just pick one, so here are some diverse cats that Love reminds us a bit of.

Dick Raphael (2); Nathaniel S. Butler; Bill Smith/NBAE/Getty Images

Dennis Rodman: Love says, “I’m trying to be on that Dennis Rodman type of rebounding” and he actually is on pace. Love has a career rebound rate of 21.2 percent and he’s only 21 years old. Rodman did not hit that mark until his fifth season, when he was 29 (FYI, Rodman’s career rebound rate was 23.4 and he peaked in the ’94-95 season at age 33 with a 29.7 rebound rate).

Kevin McHale: Not only was McHale the GM that traded for Love and the coach that later elevated him from role-player status, but he was the Hall of Fame power forward who Love studied as a kid via videotape, thanks to his dad, Stan Love, who supplied the VHS. Years later, the T-Wolf got personal tutelage from his boyhood hero, saying, “McHale was very hands-on as the coach my rookie year. He’d take myself and Al Jefferson aside and work basically after every practice.” Even this year, Love maintains he has some new McHale-taught tricks to show us.

Like what, Kev? “Like I said, I have a bunch of tricks up my sleeve, but I can’t necessarily share. I’m just excited to get my post game going again because I can have a lot of success on the block.”

HOOP: You got 11 rebounds in 29 minutes per game last year and that translates to a rebounding title if you get 35 mpg this year, you know?

Love: One of the things I want to accomplish in my career is to have a rebounding title or numerous rebounding titles. But that all relies on minutes played and how much you’re out there on the floor. So I’m looking forward to trying to accomplish that.

HOOP: Your team, like yourself, has so much upside. Potential salary-cap space, three first-round draft picks and the future rights to Ricky Rubio.

Not to mention you, Corey Brewer, Al Jefferson, etc.

Love: I think a lot of people sleep on us. Obviously a 15-win season after a 24-win season will do that, but it’s going to be interesting to see what happens in the near future. Obviously, you need veteran guys to win.

You need age to win. I think we’re in the top five youngest teams in the League, so I could see some moves being made to bring some veteran guys in. I just know that we can’t keep blowing up the team. We need to find our guys, stick with them, fine-tune everybody and get everybody on the same page playing together and playing well. I think we’ll all be looking to make some big moves and some big strides real soon. I’m looking forward to a lot. I’m looking forward to USA Basketball tryouts in July. And then I’m looking forward to training camp. Looking forward to really having a breakout great year next season. It’s funny. We’re a wellkept secret in Minnesota. I’m looking forward.

Larry Bird: Kevin knows he’s not another Larry Bird. But his dad made sure Kevin watched plenty of Larry Legend tapes as a kid—Celtics video was big in the Love household— while he also had his son shoot 500 jumpers a day. So it should be no surprise that Love, a good midrange shooter, has started to take his game way outside, a la Legend.

After virtually ignoring the NBA longball his rookie year, Love has became a 33-percent trey shooter in Year Two. Bird was similar in his development—the Hall of Famer was only a 31-percent three-point shooter his first five years in the NBA, before rolling off four straight 40-plus-percent threeball shooting seasons. Who knows? With another summer or two, Love may be in the 40 Club, too.

Kurt Rambis: Love wanted to think like a coach on the floor, so he jumped at the opportunity this spring to hang with his Timberwolves mentor at various playoff games. Not only was Rambis the king of hustle in the ’80s—inspiring the Rambis Youth cult following—but the bespectacled Laker known for court savvy also collected eight rings as a player and assistant coach.

Wes Unseld: His name is Kevin WESLEY Unseld for a reason. Yup, his father—a teammate of Unseld on the Baltimore Bullets—named his son after the Hall of Fame center. With his strong arms and strong hands, Kevin was coached by his father to outlet passes after rebounds like the great Unseld once did. Anyone who’s seen Love get fastbreaks going, knows he’s living up to his namesake.—#21

BONUS POINTS 1. Dwight Howard (22.0 and 21.8) and Joel Przybilla (21.6 & 22.8) are the only two players to have better rebounding rates than Love (21.5 & 21.0) in each of his first two seasons, which places the Timberwolf on the pantheon of the other top chairmen of the boards: Marcus Camby (22.3 & 20.7); Greg Oden (21.9 & 20.0); Samuel Dalembert (21.8 & 20.6).

2. Love’s 20.72 Player Efficiency Rating ranked 22nd in the NBA in ’09-10 and only one person ahead of him played fewer minutes per game than the T-Wolf (Oden, who had a 23.14 PER in 23.9 mpg, compared to Love’s 28.6 mpg). If Love gets more playing time (say, 35 mpg?), the statistical improvement on last year’s 14 points and 11 rebounds per game will be quite phenomenal (the NBA’s only 17 & 14 guy perhaps?)

3. Stan Love, a 6-9, 215-pound forward, played with the Baltimore Bullets and Los Angeles Lakers from 1971-72 through 1974-75, averaging 15 minutes in 227 NBA games. He also played 12 games in the ABA with the San Antonio Spurs.

4. Kevin Love didn’t shoot many threes as a rook (only 2-for-19 in 81 games), but brought his longball out for his sophomore season, going 35-for-106 in 60 games this season, shooting 33 percent (League average was 35.6 percent).

5. Love saw his one-year adjusted plus-minus improve from -7.63 as a rook to -0.46 as a soph, while his defensive rating improved from +1.97 to -0.46. Plus, the only player younger than Love with a better PER (20.72) was fellow 21-year-old and MVP runner-up Kevin Durant (26.23).

6. Love’s summer schedule is bananas, working out separately in SoCal with noted trainers Rob McClanahan and Kent Katich in both Santa Monica and Westwood. Love’s got basketball 6 days a week, lifting and cardio five days and yoga three days a week. Love also religiously registers his eating at LiveStrong.com, planning on coming to camp in the best shape of his life, once again.

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The

By Brett Ballantini #97

Measure of Greatness

Walter Iooss Jr./NBAE/Getty Images

If asked to name the top centers of all time, names like Russell, Wilt and Kareem often get mentioned. But another great deserves to be included in the conversation: Nate Thurmond.

The pantheon of great centers is stocked with role players. There are the offensive powerhouses like Wilt, Kareem, and Shaq. On the flipside, you’ll find all-time great defenders like Russ and Hakeem. For good measure, toss some wild cards into the discussion—a pre-shot clock superman like George Mikan, the groovy and outrageous Bill Walton, the brutal artistry of Artis Gilmore, the sweet stroke of Patrick Ewing and the gracefulness of David Robinson. But few of these elite pros were equally adept on both sides of the ball, able to intimidate with growling defense and stubborn offense in the space of two possessions.

Hall-of-Famer Nate “The Great” Thurmond was a center with such superpowers, averaging the ultimate in statistical equanimity, averaging 15.0 ppg and 15.0 rpg1 in his career. “I came into the League at a time when Wilt and Russell were nearing the end of their careers,” AbdulJabbar says. “The toughest guy I had to play against when I was learning the League was Nate.

Nate was all arms, legs, hands, elbows, and sheer power. When I scored on Nate, I knew it was an accomplishment.”

“Nate’s worth has to be measured not for scoring, but for team play,” Russell says. “He could easily have scored 24 or 25 points a game—but his teams wouldn’t have been as good if he’d been a selfish player.”

Even Gilmore, whose lone experiences against Thurmond came in ABA-versus-NBA exhibition games, knew how staunch an opponent his 6-11 foe was: “Nate wasn’t fancy—he just played you hard. He was the kind of player who made you sweat. No matter what the obstacles might be, he’d get in your way and slow you down. You knew you played a ballgame after facing Nate.”

What the San Francisco Warriors, who drafted Thurmond and suited him up for his first 11 seasons, asked of their superstar was simple, in a complicated way: 40-plus minutes per game, 20 points, 20 rebounds and a half-dozen blocks, all while setting solid picks and weeping-willow screens and guarding some of the biggest and best players in NBA history.

For all of his ability on the hardwood, perhaps Thurmond’s greatest skill was, as Russell cites, his team play. Warriors teammate-turned-coach Al Attles asked Thurmond straight up to save himself on the offensive end in order to slam the door shut on defense, possession after possession. And fellow Hall-of-Famer Rick Barry, a teammate of Thurmond’s for four seasons and in one NBA Finals, feels there is a special place in the annals of basketball for guys like his one-time pivot man.

“Nate was as unselfish a player as I’d ever been around,” he says. “I have no doubt that on a team like Boston, Nate could have won as many championships as Bill Russell.”

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Walter Iooss Jr./NBAE/Getty Images

“I always wanted to be known for two things,” Thurmond says. “First, as a guy who came to play every night, but also as a guy who had his teammates always in mind.”

Thurmond was the No. 3 overall choice by the Warriors in 1963. He grew up in Akron, OH, played alongside future NBA bruiser Gus Johnson at Central Hower High and was an All-American at Bowling Green State University as a senior. As far back as high school, Thurmond was seen as a unique big-man talent, able to hold his own on the perimeter. Thus, he saw a lot of time at power forward growing up, which suitedhim well with the Warriors, as Chamberlain was the incumbent center. Thurmond earned AllRookie honors in ’63-64, seeing his playing time increase gradually all season. By the time the Warriors reached the Finals against the Celtics, Thurmond was averaging 34.2 mpg2 and had established himself as a permanent and powerful member of San Francisco’s frontcourt.

Thurmond’s acsension as an elite big man came so quick, in fact, that the Warriors dealt Chamberlain to Philadelphia midway through his sophomore season, sliding Thurmond to center. In the process, San Francisco tumbled to an NBA-worst 17-63, but Barry arrived the next season to reverse the trend.

By ’66-67, with Barry leading the NBA in scoring and Thurmond chiming in with 18.7 ppg and 21.3 rpg3, the Warriors returned to the NBA Finals. They faced Chamberlain’s Philadelphia club, which had cruised to an then-all-time best 68-13 record. Despite spotting the Sixers 24 wins on the regular season, the Warriors pushed heavily favored Philly to six games before succumbing. A big part of San Francisco’s Cinderella run was the 15.9 ppg and 23.1 rpg Thurmond threw on his mentor, Chamberlain.

Using a strategy that would work against O’Neal in today’s NBA, Thurmond tried to outmaneuver the larger Chamberlain. “I didn’t try to block every shot,” he says. “I tried to keep him from getting his best looks at the basket, keeping him as far away from the hoop as possible. The best I could do, even from that first practice together with the Warriors, was shadow Wilt and never give up on him. I brought energy and determination to the floor.”

Barry bolted for the ABA the next season, forcing Thurmond to take up some of the scoring slack.4 In ’67-68, Thurmond averaged 20.5 ppg but still found the energy to pull down an incredible 22.0 rpg,5 permanently establishing himself as a Bay Area blue-collar legend unafraid to do the dirty work.

One example of Thurmond’s thinking came in his approach to scoring. Rather than merely focusing on his offensive output, Thurmond would focus on “net points.”

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BONUS POINTS 1. Only four players in basketball history—Chamberlain, Russell,

Bob Pettit, and Jerry Lucas—averaged more rebounds and points per game than Thurmond.

2. The rookie also averaged 10.0 ppg and 12.3 rpg in his first

NBA postseason.

3. Only Chamberlain, Russell, Pettit, Lucas, and Thurmond have

averaged 20 or more rebounds in an NBA season.

4. Beginning in 1967-68, Thurmond topped 20 ppg in five

straight seasons.

5. The 19th-best rebounding average in NBA history, and

highest by a player not named 6. In the 33 seasons since then, only Alvin Robertson (1986),

Hakeem Olajuwon (1990), and David Robinson (1994) have officially recorded quadruple-doubles.

andy hayt; dick raphael (2)./NBAE/Getty Images

“I couldn’t just shoot more to increase my offensive numbers,” he explains. “That would hurt my team.

So I tried to keep my man 10 points below his scoring average. If I did, you might as well give those unscored points to me. If you added my points scored to the points I prevented, my offensive numbers would look a whole lot better.”

By the early ’70s, Thurmond clearly had become the heir to Russell as the best defensive center in the NBA. But a dearth of record-keeping—the League didn’t note blocked shots until ’73-74, Thurmond’s 11th season— prevents the big man from getting his full due to this day.

“I played with Wilt Chamberlain, and there were nights we were playing volleyball out there on the floor, blocking shots, deflecting passes, tipping rebounds,” Thurmond says. “I’d like to know where I stand with blocks for my entire career. When you look at the all-time list, Russell and I are nowhere to be found. That list is filled with pretenders to the title. Sure, I could put up points, but my game was defense, so I’m sad that so many of my blocks were never recorded.

“I’m not bragging, but I know there were some games where it was ridiculous the number of shots I blocked.

When I was young, there were nights when guys couldn’t get shots off on me. Only Bill would have blocked more in his career.”

In the twilight of his career, however, Thurmond brought his old volleyball mentality back out to the floor. On Octber 18, 1974, Thurmond’s debut with the Chicago Bulls, the 33-year-old led Chicago to an overtime victory against the Atlanta Hawks with an unprecedented feat: 22 points, 14 rebounds, 13 assists, and 12 blocked shots—the first quadruple-double in NBA history.6 “I distinctly remember going back to my apartment after the game, and I was just dead,” Thurmond says. “I never realized I had numbers spread out like that, across four categories.

“Of course, I had 12 blocks in my quadruple-double game and it was my 12th year in the League. That’s with two bad knees and more than 30,000 minutes pounding NBA floors, night after night. So you can bet I had a quadruple-double before 1974. But as I look back now, I realize just what a super performance it was.”

The playoff-savvy Bulls fell short of their first Finals appearance by losing big leads in two games in the 1975 Western Finals—ironically enough, against the Warriors, who went on to win the NBA title. Thurmond was shipped to Cleveland at the start of the ’75-76 season, playing a key supporting role in the Cavaliers’ “Miracle of Richfield” run to the 1976 Eastern Finals.

“To the end, I gave it my all,” Thurmond says. “It was wonderful to hear those fans in Ohio, where it all started for me, chanting my name.”

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Makin’ the

By Michael Bradley #53

Every year a handful of players make the leap from blips to blue chips and ’09-10 saw a dozen players take off Every season, there is a group of players who take a step forward to become more valuable to their teams or even League-wide stars. The ’09-10 campaign was no exception, although the crop of performers who improved their games was perhaps one of the deepest ever.

Take a look at the following group and try to deny that it was a great year to move on up.

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Kevin Durant

George Hill

Forward, Oklahoma City Thunder The Jump-Off

Guard, San Antonio Spurs

PPG RPG FT%

’08-09 25.3 6.5 .863

’09-10 30.1 7.6 .900

066

MPG FG% 3FG% PPG

’08-09 16.5 .403 .329 5.7

’09-10 29.2 .478 .399 12.4

Noah Graham; Cameron Browne/NBAE/Getty images

It’s hard to improve when you’re already averaging a robust 25.3 points per game and tabbed as one of the best young players in the game and seemingly, Kevin Durant pulled it off. Numbers-wise, Durant added another five points and one board per game. And he did it while playing just a half-minute more per contest.

Efficiency nerds can rejoice. Voters took notice to, placing Durant second for Most Improved Player and in a first, he was also second in MVP voting.

But much of Durant’s improvement cannot be found on the boxscore. The improvement was more subtle. The pats to teammates—whether in the form of celebration from a great play or encouragement for a mistake that was made.

The accountability after a big win and especially after a tough loss. The ability to raise the level of the team’s play as evident by the Thunder’s entry into the playoffs. While Durant did struggle in his first postseason as an individual, his poise and effort never took a nosedive as OKC surprised the defending champion Lakers with an extended six-game series that was hard fought the entire way.

Scary thought for the rest of the League: a guy who finished second for MVP and is still seen as improving.

The Jump-Off

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Carl Landry Forward, Sacramento Kings The Jump-Off

MPG PPG RPG

’09-10 30.9 16.8 5.9

Anybody looking for the high-energy, stir-up-the-crowd player who delighted Rockets fans was hard-pressed to locate him when Landry moved on to Sacramento. Instead of playing in spirited bursts, HOOP’s music editor became a more consistent player who was less interested in firing everybody up and more concerned with becoming a valuable offensive weapon.

Sent to the Kings in the Kevin Martin deal, Landry emerged as a player who was less tied to the paint and more able to convert from 15-to-18 feet with his jumper. His minutes jumped from about 27 a game to more than 37, and Landry became more than just a post-up forward. Although he hadn’t shown much of his jumpshot, Landry proved he could play the 3 spot and boosted his scoring to 18.0 ppg in 28 games—all starts—with the Kings.

It’s not like the jump was completely unexpected, since Landry had been averaging 16.1 ppg while with the Rockets in ’09-10. Once he headed west, he joined Jason Thompson in a productive front line and showed he could please crowds in much more productive ways.

Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

Critics of the consistently good Spurs will point out their time might be up, but if they can keep getting jolts of improvement from their young players like Hill, their drop-off might not be as precipitous as forecast.

Hill came into ’09-10 as a late first-round pick in ’08 from a school that has the name of two big time college programs, but is no where as recognized, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI). Playing mostly spot minutes his rookie run, Hill almost doubled his minutes to 29.2 per game, spelling All-Star Tony Parker and even starting in his place during his injury and subsequent return. Armed with a dependable jumper, Hill became San Antonio’s primary deep threat, making good on 48 percent of his shots, including 40 percent of his triples.

During the First Round playoff series with Dallas, Hill dropped a monster 29-point, 4-rebound, 4-assist and 2-steals game to help the Spurs take Game 3. For his efforts, Hill was tied for second in this past season’s voting for NBA Most Improved Player. Not bad for a guy who hails from a school with an identity crisis.

’08-09 21.3 9.2 5.0

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Corey Brewer Guard, Minnesota Timberwolves

Andrew Bogut

The Jump-Off

MPG PPG FG% 3PT FG

’08-09 20.5 6.2 .411 5

Center, Milwaukee Bucks ’09-10 30.3 13.0 .431 82

068

PPG BPG FT%

’08-09 11.7 1.0 .571

’09-10 15.9 2.5 .629

Christian Petersen; Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

It’s hard to imagine a horrible knee injury can be a positive thing, but one look at Brewer’s game during the ’09-10 season will tell fans that he was able to turn a huge setback into a step forward.

Brewer played in only 13 games during the ’08-09 campaign, further enhancing the opinions of those who believed he would never become a productive starter in the NBA. He was too skinny. His shot wasn’t good enough. He wasn’t made for halfcourt basketball. It was all there after a rookie campaign in which Brewer struggled to play consistent basketball.

After the injury, Minnesota fans saw a different player. Brewer’s minutes increased to 30.3 a game, seven-and-a-half more than he averaged as a rookie and nearly 10 more than he saw last year, before the injury. His points per game shot up to 13.0 from 6.2. And, most impressively, Brewer became a dangerous three-point shooter for the T-Wolves, converting 34.6 percent of his tries. Though that number wasn’t earth shattering, Brewer made a trey in 33 consecutive games. And for a guy who took just 36 in ’07-08 to try 237 showed just how much he had worked to improve that aspect of his game.

Brewer’s speed and athleticism were down a little in ’09-10, thanks to his injury, but it’s expected they will come back. If they do, he’ll add them to a more fundamentally sound game that features better shooting and a commitment to handle the ball better. Brewer has also shown leadership tendencies by acknowledging that he and his teammates must defend better. His comeback is in full swing, and things should just keep getting better.

The Jump-Off

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Marc Gasol Center, Memphis Grizzlies The Jump-Off

MPG FG% PPG RPG

’08-09 30.7 .530 11.9 7.4

’09-10 35.8 .581 14.6 9.3

Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty Images

If it weren’t for a freak fall in an early April game, we might have been talking about Bogut for more than just statistical jump. After watching his Milwaukee Bucks push Atlanta to the seventh game of their first-round playoff series, one must wonder whether the center’s presence would have given the Bucks the boost needed to win the thing.

But Bogut was out with a broken finger and dislocated elbow, which ended a breakthrough year that saw him become one of the NBA’s top defenders, a more reliable scorer and a strong locker room presence for the young Bucks.

After being picked first overall in the ’05 Draft, expectations were high. The Aussie played well at times, but consistency was elusive. Many wondered whether he would ever become a front line NBA pivot man, especially after a back injury limited him to just 36 games in ’08-09. Instead of wobbling back to the court, Bogut improved his conditioning, dropped some weight and played with a new fervor, particularly on the defensive end. His 2.5 blocks per game were second in the NBA, but his willingness to take charges and provide more enthusiastic help was just as important. Bogut also averaged a career-high 15.9 ppg and 10.2 rpg, production that helped earn him a spot on the All-NBA Third Team.

“He has shown a lot of improvement,” Milwaukee coach Scott Skiles said. “He’s better in the low post. He’s always a good defender. He needs to get even better in the low post and make a face-up shot to keep people honest.”

Do that, and Bogut may be on this list again next year.

If you ever doubt the value of dropping weight for an NBA big man, take a look at what discarding 25 pounds did for Gasol. He wasn’t sloppy during his rookie season, but the Grizzlies’ center was a pudgy version of big brother Pau and not able to maintain a high level of play because of poor conditioning. After working hard during the offseason, Gasol became an unsung hero on the resurgent Memphis team and has the potential to become one of the League’s most productive pivotmen.

Gasol finished tied for second in voting for the League’s Most Improved Player thanks to better production in every major category. His points per game rose (11.9 ppg to 14.6 ppg). So did his rebounding (7.4 to 9.3), his blocked shots (1.1 to 1.6) and assists (1.7 to 2.4). He shot 58.1 percent from the field, good for third in the NBA. While everybody was paying attention to Grizzlies stalwarts O.J. Mayo, Rudy Gay and Zach Randolph, Gasol quietly improved to the point where he became almost as dangerous as his higher-profile teammates and certainly out of big brother Pau’s shadow.

Things could have been even better for Gasol and the Grizzlies, had he not suffered a torn neck muscle that kept him out of the final 13 games. Memphis was flying high through February, but it began to slide after that, and Gasol’s absence in the middle was a big reason for its late-season fall in the standings. Should he continue to get better as he did this season, Gasol could be spending next spring in the playoffs, not on the injured list.

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Andray Blatche Center, Washington Wizards The Jump-Off

PPG RPG FG% FT%

’08-09 10.0 5.3 .471 .704

’09-10 14.1 6.3 .478 .744

070

Fernando Medina/NBAE/Getty Images

It started during the first half of the season, when Washington coach Flip Saunders would use Blatche during the later portions of the game instead of veteran Brendan Haywood, in search of better defense. It continued after the All-Star break, after Haywood and Antawn Jamison had been traded to Dallas. That’s when Blatche became a star in the making.

During the final 32 games of the ’09-10 campaign, there were few big men in the NBA who could match Blatche’s numbers. The fifth-year player averaged 22.1 ppg, 8.3 rpg and 3.6 apg, all well over his previous career highs, and while playing about the same amount of minutes. The young man who had struggled with his adjustment to the NBA from the high school ranks had finally figured it out and was tearing it up.

As the Wizards work on their most recent rebuilding project, Blatche figures prominently. And why not? He doesn’t turn 24 until August, and he has demonstrated a more all-around game, hitting short jumpers to go with his finishing around the basket. As the 6-11, 248-pounder gets stronger and more mature, his rebounding numbers should go up. He’ll also continue to give the Wizards a much-needed interior weapon to go with Gilbert Arenas.

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J.J. Redick Guard, Orlando Magic The Jump-Off

PPG FG% 3PT% APG FTA

’08-09 6.0 .391 .374 1.1 93

’09-10 9.6 .439 .405 1.9 222

Ever since Redick entered the NBA, he hasn’t been able to shake his reputation as a one-dimensional gunner. Sure, he can stand behind the three-point line and get you a three-pointer from time to time, but when it comes to the rest of the game, well, he’s better served waving a towel than trying to dribble, pass or defend.

The Magic used Redick that way for most of his first two seasons in the League after being selected as the 11th pick in ’06 after a distinguished All-American career at Duke, and his numbers reflected it. In ’08-09, Redick started to get some more burn, but he still wasn’t an every-game player. Things changed in ’09-10. Redick played every night.

He averaged a career-high 22 minutes per game. He scored 9.6 ppg and got to the free-throw line more times than he had in his previous three seasons combined. Way more. It had become clear that Redick was more than a specialist. He could handle the ball, get into the lane. Oh, and he could still shoot, as evidenced by his career high 40.5 percent three-point success.

Redick was even more impressive in the playoffs. In the first game of the Magic’s conference finals series with Boston, it was Redick who sparked the comeback. In game two, he scored 16 points and played 34 minutes. He’s not a starter, but he’s not a deep reserve anymore, either. Redick has proven he can do more than just shoot.

Aaron Brooks Guard, Houston Rockets

The Jump-Off

Fernando Medina; Barry Gossage/NBAE/Getty Images

Starts PPG FG% 3PT% APG

’08-09 35 11.2 .404 .366 3.0

’09-10 82 19.6 .432 .398 5.3

When the ’09-10 season started, and it was clear Yao Ming wouldn’t be playing at all and Tracy McGrady was a question mark, Rockets fans wondered whether their defensiveminded team would be able to crack 50.

That’s where Brooks came in. After spending his first two seasons as a high-energy reserve, Brooks took over the starting point job and became the team’s primary scorer.

After Houston acquired Kevin Martin, he teamed with the wing man in one of the League’s highest-producing backcourt tandems. Brooks did it all, scoring (19.6 ppg) at a careerbest pace, handing out 5.3 apg and nailing 39.8 percent of his three-pointers. Not only did he help make up for Yao’s absence; he also shut up those who believed he was too small and slight (6-0, 161) to handle a nightly starting gig, earning the NBA’s Most Improved Player award The University of Oregon product has great speed and can thrive in the open court.

What he did in ’09-10 was prove he could also run a team in a halfcourt setting, finding open teammates, breaking down defenders off the dribble and finishing at the rim and from the perimeter. It was a perfect showcase for Brooks, and it’s unlikely he’ll slow down next season when Yao makes his return.

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Gerald Wallace Forward, Charlotte Bobcats

The Jump-Off

PPG RPG 3PT%

’09-10 18.2 10.0 .371

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

072

’08-09 16.6 7.8 .298

This was quite a season of firsts for Gerald Wallace. He made his first All-Star Game, was voted to the NBA’s All-Defensive First Team and was asked to tryout for Team USA for the first time. For someone who has spent much of his nine-year career working out of the spotlight, it was quite an introduction to the big time.

Wallace has proven himself as a strong scorer for several seasons now, and his 18.2 ppg reinforced that. But he had his finest year as a rebounder, grabbing 10.0 boards a game—good for ninth in the League—and finished 14th in the League in steals with 1.5 spg. Pretty heady stuff, considering Wallace’s modest 6-7, 220-pound size. It’s no coincidence that the Bobcats’ first-ever playoff appearance came in Wallace’s best allaround season.

“I remember when they were talking about most improved [in the NBA],” Charlotte coach Larry Brown said after the season. “The guys who were selected were deserving, but I thought [Wallace’s] name should have come up. Maybe they thought he was already [developed]. Maybe that’s a compliment in itself.”

Perhaps it is. More than likely, it’s just a realization of how good a player Wallace has always been.

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Joakim Noah

Danilo Gallinari

Center, Chicago Bulls The Jump-Off

Forward, New York Knicks

Nathaniel S. Butler (2)/NBAE/Getty Images

MPG PPG RPG FT%

’08-09 24.2 6.7 7.6 .676

’09-10 30.1 10.7 11.0 .744

When Boston coach Doc Rivers said Noah was “a pain in the butt to play against,” he wasn’t just speaking about the Bulls’ forward’s antics. Anybody who can post 28 doubledoubles, despite playing with a painful plantar fasciitis condition in his left foot has to be a difficult assignment for anybody, and Noah is one of the toughest.

This year, he scored 10.7 ppg and pulled down 11.0 rpg to become known for more than just his free spirit attitude, willingness to say anything at any time and wild hair. In the fourth game of Chicago’s playoff series with Cleveland, Noah had 20 points and 21 boards, and his ability to create havoc around the basket was on full display. Noah was so effective that a Chicago sports columnist made good on his word to eat his column (with salsa, natch) if Noah didn’t turn out to be a bust as he stated back in’07 when he as drafted as the ninth pick.

Had Noah not missed 18 games due to the sore foot, he might have been the League’s Most Improved Player. Instead, he’ll have to settle for comparisons to Dennis Rodman and the respect of those who understand that he knows how to play the game and is becoming expert in cashing in on opportunities in the paint. Sounds like a pain all right—a pain to other teams.

The Jump-Off

G MPG PPG RPG

’08-09 28 14.7 6.1 2.0

’09-10 81 33.9 15.1 4.9

When Mike D’Antoni assured Knickerbocker nation the team’s 2008 first-round pick was a keeper, many people wondered whether the Knicks coach’s brain had been softened by too much time in Italy. After seeing Gallinari play just 28 games in his first season, due to a back injury, the same skeptics wondered whether the forward was damaged goods and were having flashbacks to another import bust, Frederic Weis.

D’Antoni looks pretty darn smart these days, thanks to Gallinari’s rebound season.

Now healthy after surgery, the big winger posted strong numbers, showed a surprising willingness to play defense and became a cornerstone for the Knicks’ future. Not bad for a guy who oozed question marks upon arriving in the NBA. Gallinari’s shooting touch was as good as advertised. He made 38.1 percent of his three-pointers en route to 15.1 ppg. Although he still needs to work on his play off the dribble and increase his rebounding numbers, Gallinari proved his value as a main offensive option. He also showed some endurance by finishing second on the Knicks in minutes played. After only one season, Gallinari still isn’t an established player, but he sure made it seem as if D’Antoni knows his stuff.

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Ringing in Another Chip It’s official, with the Lakers hard-fought seven-game victory over the Celtics, Kobe Bryant can start thinking about rings for his other hand.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

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Kobe Doin’ Work

Ragin’ Rondo

As expected, there was little the Celtics—or any team in the NBA—could do against Kobe in the Finals. Despite the rotation of fresh defenders, double(and occasionally triple-) teams and other schemes designed to deny #24, he still expectedly got his, 28.6 ppg to be exact.

Two years ago, Rajon Rondo was the guy whose job was to play alongside the Big Three and do his best to stay out of the way in doing so to a title.

Two years later, Rondo was arguably their most important player with his ability to do everything, especially breaking down the defense and finding the open man.

Christian Peterson/Getty Images Sport

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Clutch Performance

Something’s Gotta Give

For the past decade, Paul Pierce has been one of the most consistent scorers in the game. Over the same span of time, Ron Artest has been regarded as one of the best defenders. During the Finals, Pierce got his (18.8 ppg) but it never came easy at times with Artest hounding him.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

Didn’t Check the Odometer

Boston played a tough series but a big factor in L.A.’s favor was their decidedly big advantage in size. With two seven-footers in the starting lineup and having the luxury of bringing in 6-10 Lamar Odom off the bench, Paul Pierce and the Celtics struggled on the boards.

D-Fish might not be the fastest, jump the highest or even be the youngest (he was actually the oldest player of the Finals) but there’s not doubting the 14-year veteran.

In Game 3 when the Lakers were stalling on offense, the low-key Fisher came up big when it mattered as he always has, chipping in a muchneeded 16 points—including this gutty layup over and through three Celtics—to fuel the Lakers to a 91-84 win.

Steve Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images

Celtics Have Layers

Over the Finals, the tandem of Big Baby (aka Glen Davis) and Nate Robinson provided the C’s with an injection of youth and energy off the bench.

After Davis’ 18-point outburst in Game 4, there was plenty of hootin’ and hollerin’, an impromptu piggyback ride, spontaneous drooling and Nate dubbing the duo, “Shrek and Donkey.”

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Steve Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images

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Legends On The Hardwood

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton hold a moment of silence for the passing of the legendary UCLA Coach John Wooden prior to Game 2. From 1964-1975, Wooden led the Bruins to record 10 NCAA championships in 12 years. Abdul-Jabbar won three and Walton won two titles under Wooden.

Passing The Torch

Had the Celtics beat the Lakers, there would be little doubt as to who the MVP would be. Rajon Rondo was clearly the battery that fueled the Celtics. His ability to control the pace, distribute the ball, contribute on defense and on the boards gave the Lakers fits throughout the seven games.

Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

Still Got Game

No one, not even Kobe, had an answer for Ray Allen during Game 2. The veteran sharpshooter set the NBA record for number of threes in a Finals game, hitting 8-of-11 from beyond the arc en route to a 103-94 Celtics win to even the series. He broke the record previously shared by himself, Scottie Pippen and Kenny Smith, leaving the Staples Center crowd in awe.

Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

Blindsided

Rondo emerged as one of the more versatile players on the court, taking on any assignment Doc Rivers gave him. Being able to consistently knock down threes like Fisher would take his game to another level. But unfortunately for Derek, Rajon has something he doesn’t have: eyes in the back of his head.

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Pretty Tony

Everyone knows about Ray, but the other Allen did his part to provide a spark off the bench. Tony’s athleticism and ability to get to the rim were on display the entire Playoffs, as he averaged 5.1 ppg, and especially in Game 1 with his emphatic dunk over the much longer Lamar Odom.

Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

Pau Fake

Pau Gasol stood toe to toe with the likes of Perkins, KG and Rasheed over the course of seven games, perhaps giving up muscle but certainly not toughness.

The seven-foot Spaniard pulled down 11.6 boards, swatted 2.6 shots and made 61 trips to the charity stripe during the Finals, quickly silencing any notions that he is soft. Gasol was rewarded with his second ring in three tries with the Lakers.

Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images

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In-Nate Desire Two’s Company

With the Lakers 83-79 victory, Kobe Bryant won his fifth NBA Championship, giving him as many as former Laker great Magic Johnson. Kobe also won his second Finals MVP Award in the past two seasons.

The 5-9 Nate Robinson gives up more than just his height when he steps on the court.

The three-time dunk champ’s hustle and determination off the bench in front of the home crowd, led to a 12-point outburst in 16 minutes during a pivotal Game 4 that gave Boston a new life. Despite being overzealous at times, when it comes to intensity and excitement that Nate can bring on any given night, few players in the NBA can challenge the little man’s ability to shift momentum.

Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images

Brian Babineau/NBAE/Getty Images

Obey Your Burst

Shannon Brown might not have won the Slam Dunk Contest back in February, but his one-handed alleyoop slam from Pau Gasol in Game 6 certainly would have warranted a few 10s.

Shannon’s impressive hops helped Los Angeles rout the Celtics by 22 points to force a decisive game seven.

Andrew D Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Putting On Airs

Shannon Brown and Tony Allen have a few things in common. Both stand at 6-4, backup a couple of the best two-guards in the NBA and are Illinois natives. Their unique natural athleticism was on display numerous times throughout the Finals, and was highlighted when they collided during Game 6 in a battle to see who has the better hang time.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

Piercing Dagger

Bryant is often referred to as the best closer in the NBA, but Paul Pierce isn’t too far behind. The Truth erupted for 27 points in Game 5 to help the Celtics cruise to a victory on their home court. Pierce’s 18 ppg during the Finals were right in line with his season average, and he did it as he has done his entire career with clutch shooting down the stretch.

Noah Graham/NBAE/Getty Images

Technically Sound

Sheed started Game 7, filling in for Perkins, finishing with 11 points and 8 rebounds. Although Wallace fouled out, he filled in admirably logging 36 minutes fighting through a bad back, in what could have been his final chance at winning a second NBA Championship.

To which Doc Rivers said a few days after the Finals ended, “I think you have [seen Wallace’s last game].” We’ll miss you, Sheed.

Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

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Balancing Act

Kobe certainly led the way for the Lakers throughout the Playoffs, but couldn’t have done it without some help from his teammates. He averaged 5.5 dishes and 6 boards per game in postseason play, in addition to adding 29.2 points himself—all above his season averages.

There seemed to be a newly lit fire in his eyes against Boston, however, in which he was determined to get anything he wanted.

No More Perks

Just six minutes into Game 6, Kendrick Perkins suffered a hyperextended his right knee that would force him to miss the remainder of the series. The big man’s defensive presence in the paint was sorely missed over the next seven-and-a-half quarters of basketball, leaving the Celtics frontcourt undermanned and no match for Gasol and Co. Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE/Getty Images

Ronald Martinez/NBAE/Getty Images

Breakfast of Champions

Sweet Sixteen

The L.A. Lakers won its 16th NBA Championship in franchise history, and became the first team to repeat as champions since winning three in a row from 2000-02.

Phil Jackson is now 48-0 in playoff series when his team wins Game 1.

Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

KG Vet

Gone are the days of KG dropping 20 and 10 every night, but The Big Ticket’s experience and leadership are invaluable assets for Boston. Garnett still has the ability to contribute across the board, averaging 15.3 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 3 apg, 1.4 spg and 1.3 bpg in the Finals, and despite giving up 11 years and 65 pounds to the likes of Andrew Bynum.

After winning his first title, an excited Ron Artest said in a postgame interview, “I’ve Got Wheaties!” The St. John’s product had every right to be giddy, playing lockdown defense the entire series, capping it off with a 20-point, 5-steal performance in Game 7 to seal the deal.

Les Blumenfeld/NBAE/Getty Images

Snake-Bitten

The Black Mamba did what he does best in Game 6: take over. Kobe and the rest of the Lakers did the damage early leading at halftime 51-31.

Bryant was the only player in the game to score over 20 (he had 26), and he did it from the outside, taking it to the hoop, and from the free throw line.

Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE/Getty Images

Garrett Ellwood/NBAE/Getty Images

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call out 01

True to his nickname, Big Baby, Glen Davis acted like one with the some children during the unveiling of the Learn & Play Center at the Boston Centers for Youth & Families Tobin Community Center on June 9.

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Jesse D. Garrabrant/NBAE/Getty Images

02

Even before the Commissioner calls their name and shakes their hand, NBA draft prospects are out promoting a healthy lifestyle. At the NBA FIT Clinic at Madison Square Garden the day before the draft, the eventual No. 11 pick, Cole Aldrich and No. 12 pick, Xavier Henry (with ball) went through some basketball drills and exercises with some local-area children.

Ray Amati/NBAE/Getty Images

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From life lessons on being prompt to meetings to how to properly lace up sneakers, Coach John Wooden was more than just the greatest head coach in college history, he was an example of how to live a life of class and integrity. The basketball world mourned his passing on June 4. Two of his most famous pupils, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, led the Staples Center in a moment of silence in memory of Coach Wooden before Game 2 of the Finals.

Juan Ocampo/NBAE/Getty Images

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During the Fever’s Bowling Tournament befitting the YOUnique Fund, a grant fund of the Pacers Foundation that assists organizations that serve young women and girls, members of the Indiana Fever “strike” a pose.

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Ron Hoskins/NBAE/Getty Images

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DEDICATION...is a good thing And Brookline College is dedicated to your success. That’s why we offer accelerated programs in Health Care, Legal Studies, and Business that will allow you to graduate and start your new career sooner than you thought possible. It’s why we offer online diplomas and degrees specifically tailored to fit your busy lifestyle*. It’s also why we are committed to providing “world-class service” every step of the way, from enrollment to graduation.

FAST. FLEXIBLE. DEDICATED. Brookline College...Your Success Starts Here!

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COMING THIS OCTOBER FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK.COM/NBAONTNT TM & © 2010 Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. ©Copyright 2010 NBAE. Photo: John W. McDonough/Sports Illustrated, Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE Getty Images

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Cold Fusion

Remember Flywire? Sooo 2008. Nike’s up to their usual knack for changing the game up. This time with Zoom Hyperfuse, their latest basketball offering that promises to introduce another revolutionary step in shoe manufacturing.

Taken from a cue of Chinese ballers who play primarily outdoors and prefer lacing up mesh-based running kicks for runs, the innovators at Swoosh developed an upper that melds a supportive base layer for foot containment, a breathable mesh and a protective skin that reinforces and protects.

Combined this tri-layered upper forms a composite that whose sum is greater than its parts. We gave the Hyperfuse a go—in outdoor courts, natch. Read our review of them on page 93.

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spin moves CHECK IT

BY Seth Berkman #91

Carmelo Anthony Denver Nuggets

There’ll be actually very little off time for Melo this offseason. With a wedding (Ed Note: we’re sure the invitation just got lost in the mail. We’ll make sure to catch the VH1 five-part series of your wedding when it airs) this summer to longtime love, La La Vazquez, there will be little time for him to kick back with his favorite music, movies and videogames (Ed note: a bit of marital advice for you, Melo. DO NOT pack the Xbox 360 to the honeymoon). When we caught up with him at Harlem’s House of Hoops (a day before he rode down Fifth Avenue for NYC’s annual Puerto Rican Pride Parade) we talked about what’s spinning in his life despite his packed summer.

Melo’s Music There’s a lot of good music out right now. The new Drake [Thank Me Later] is hot, Eminem‘s album [Recovery], Alicia Keys’ [The Element of Freedom] I still listen to. New TI is coming out and Kanye is back, he just released the new single “Power.”

Melo’s Videogames I play videogames a lot. Lately I’ve been bowling on the Wii. I’m trying to wait for the fall when the new Call of Duty comes out. I also play FIFA 2010, it’s one of the best games. I like to play with Arsenal.

Melo’s Movies

Melo’s Technology I’m trying to get the new iPhone as we speak. I gotta call Steve Jobs up. If you know anyone who can get it to me, let me know.

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Illustration: matt candela; garrett ellwood/nbae/getty images

I want to see A-Team and Karate Kid but haven’t had a chance to check them out. I’m sure I will.

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triple double

Three albums. Two players. One dynamic pair of music critics

Drake Thank Me Later

Christina Aguilera Bionic

Eminem Recovery

Thaddeus Young

I can’t say I ever saw Degrassi, but when Drake blew up last year, I knew he was here to stay. I’ve been listening to this debut album, and it hasn’t disappointed! Aside from the album debuting at No. 1 and tracks with Jeezy and Weezy, there’s something about his style that’s sets him apart from other rappers. He has an interesting voice, and confronts some real issues. I like the single “Over,” where he struggles with the highs of success and the lows of being a celebrity.

I respect his range, sampling a little more singing, for “Find Your Love,” and I love “Up All Night” featuring Nicki Minaj. Definitely slows it down at times, like “Shut it Down,” something that I can relax to after a game, but not to get me hyped up. Overall, a very good album, just wish it had a few more hits like “Forever” that made him big.

Christina, still doing her thing, and still looking good doing it. Best song by far—“Lift Me Up,” she shows her great range as a singer. “Lift Me Up” is a classic Christina song that she performed at a Hope for Haiti benefit concert. This is definitely a song I’ll have on the inspirational soundtrack. I’m a little disappointed with how mainstream most of the album sounds, but she’s got a lot of catchy fast paced poppy songs that I can listen to once and a while. With the single “Woohoo” featuring Nicki Minaj, Christina has moved to the newer style of music that artists like Lady Gaga have made popular. Not exactly my type of music, but I still enjoyed listening to it (probably only this one time though).

When Eminem dropped his seventh album, he let critics know that he is still one of the best in the game. The album has the classic Eminem feel to it even though his lyrics and sounds are different from his older stuff. He is a lot more serious, but still has a lot of raw emotion. I really enjoyed “Space Bound,” where he shows his range. The hit single “Not Afraid” will be a solid addition to my pregame soundtrack. It has a very inspirational quality. I also really like “So Bad,” surprisingly the only track on the album produced by Dr. Dre, and “No Love” featuring Lil Wayne. Recovery is sure to be another controversial album, but Eminem proves he is still a great rapper.

Carl Landry

Drake had a great deal of success off his So Far Gone mixtape last year. I was excited to check out his first official album. Hate it or love it, this dude is one of the hottest artists in music right now. He has a different approach than most artists right now and has aligned himself with some heavy hitters in hip hop.

Drake already has a certified hit on this album with “Over”. I am really feeling the album. It has a real smooth, laid-back feel. The first track “Fireworks” with Alicia Keys is nice. I like “Fancy” and “Unforgettable” a lot. Jay-Z killed the “Light Up” track. “Miss Me” with Bun B and Lil Wayne is my favorite track on the album right now. All in all, I think Drake did a solid job with this album. He does an excellent job painting a picture with his lyrics and coming up with fresh ideas. I suggest you grab a copy if you’re a hip hop or Drake fan.

I have never listened to a whole Christina Aguilera album. I have definitely heard her music before, however, this was the first time I took the time to listen to her entire album.

She definitely has an outstanding voice.

Most of the tracks had a big “party” or “club” sound. You are definitely not going to sit still listening to her tracks. I feel the majority of the album is way too “techno” sounding for me. I really enjoy her voice, however, I am not a big fan of this type of music. I think she has a few songs that will get a decent amount of play, but nothing as strong as the “Stronger” track she had a while back. The “I hate Boys,” “Vanity” and “My Girls” tracks stick out as possible winners. I also thought it was interesting that there were three intros on the CD. Three intros, really? I felt she could have done more slow tracks to show off her skill as a vocalist instead of the heavy partydriven tracks she selected.

This album is much better than Relapse we reviewed a short time back. It seems to be a more complete Eminem. I guess the “recovery” is going much better. Seriously, I heard some very strong tracks on this album.

He definitely has some strong hits on this one. I liked the first track, “Cold Wind Blows” he really sets the tempo of the album. I heard the “Not Afraid” track on the radio and really like the hook and everything he put together on it. That’s got to be the biggest winner on the album to me. “No Love” with Lil Wayne was another hit. I’m sure we will hear that track a lot this summer. The “So Bad” Dr. Dre track was old, classic Eminem; he ripped it.

The Rihanna joint “Love the Way You Lie” was solid as well, but not the banger I thought it would be. I think this album will do well for Em—this was a very strong album. Production was tight and he put a lot of emotion in it.

Eminem fans should jump on this one.

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Album Covers Courtesy of Cash Money, RCA, Aftermanth; Young: Jesse D. Garrabrant; Landry: Rocky Widner/NBAE/Getty Images

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Keepin’ it reel

Danny Granger goes to the movies danny granger #33

Summer Movie Roundup CHECK IT

The summer is always a special time for movie fans. It’s filled with the usual big-budget releases that everyone clamors for. During the offseason, I go to the movies pretty often, about twice a week (in addition to catching up on a bunch that I missed on Blu-ray or DVD). I usually try to sit in the back, right dead center so I can get a good view. I do that so I don’t block out the person in behind me (Ed Note: Danny is 6-8) and also so people might not notice me. To Fans: I don’t mind interacting with you, but I also just want to watch the movie. I’ll also come into the movie late. I’ll miss the previews but since it’s kind of dark, I won’t be seen as much and I kind of blend right in.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen the following, I suggest you do so.

Iron Man 2 was very good, maybe even better than the first one. The action was as good as expected and the CGI was well done. The action sequences were pretty impressive and the movie overall was really good. It’s definitely a cop when it drops on Blu-ray.

Robin Hood brought the director-actor tandem of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe together again for the fifth time (Gladiator, A Good Year, American Gangster and Body of Lies) and once again, it’s another hit. Scott and Crowe seem to excel in the period pieces and Robin Hood doesn’t disappoint.

The A-Team had a lot of hype (they were all over the TNT playoff coverage, including some funny spots involving Chuck, Jet and Ernie in Mr. T get-ups) but the movie, to me, was just OK. As far as comedies go, Get Him to the Greek was hands-down the best. A lot of folks compared it to The Hangover, but I didn’t think so. I think it’s one of those movies that you’ve got to watch over and over to realize how funny it is. Although I thought it was pretty funny the first time around.

Oh, and if you run across me in the theater, just wait until the credits roll to hit me up.

Granger: Ron hoskins/nbae/getty images; screen shots courtesy of: 20th century fox, warner bros. pictures, universal pictures

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Game Rec Game

nate robinson #4

nate: nathaniel s. butler/nbae/getty images

Summer Gaming What’s up HOOP fam? Playing in the playoffs for the first time meant my gaming had to take a backseat, but this summer I’m definitely looking forward to catching up on lost time. The other day my son and I played the new Transformers: War for Cybertron.

There are so many modes, from combat to driving as the cars or having death matches. My son really likes it a lot. He was up until almost 5 in the morning playing the first night we got it. I think pretty soon HOOP can have their own column by him about videogames! My son loves the Autobots, so when we played, I had always to be the Decepticons.

Of course I’m looking forward to the releases of all the cool sports games in the next few months.

As you guys know, I’m a big college football fan and I’m looking forward to NCAA Football ’11. That will get me warmed up for Madden, There’s also a new football game, called Backbreaker. Kinda Cool. It’s an arcade format football game.

I was shocked by the big announcement that NBA 2K11 will have Michael Jordan on the cover.

They’re trying to make every basketball fan go get the game with a move like that. KD got the cover of

EA’s NBA Elite, but I’m straight 2K still. Of course, as soon as Call of Duty: Black Ops comes out, I might not be playing any other game for a while.

They let me play a demo of that game and it is gonna be awesome.

I also heard the news that Xbox is about to make a Wii-like system, the Kinect. That sounds kinda crazy.

Of course I’m gonna have to try that one out, too.

I’m out for the summer y’all, hit me and the BFAM (my COD clan) up, as we’re always growing!

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the goods

Wagner Paint Sprayer Don’t let Tom Sawyer fool you; painting a fence is hard work. The Control Spray Double Duty won’t make you give up a prized marble for the “pleasure” of whitewashing the fence, but its HVLP (High Volume Low Pressure) air power technology does make the job easier. Stains, sealers and varnishes load up into the 1.5-quart tank and the three-position adjustable air cap adjusts the spray pattern. It made quick work out of a any outdoor painting jobs, freeing up more time spent on the hammock.

$99

CHECK IT

Garmin Garminfone For the road warrior or person whose car doubles as mobile office, the Garminfone is the ideal companion phone. Unlike smartphones with apps that provide rudimentary turn-by-turn navigation functions, the Garminphone’s robust features (think real-time traffic updates) feel more like a real GPS unit with phone capabilities rather than the other way around. That said, the phone features are solid; call quality and reception passed muster even in Midtown Manhattan. For a phone that essentially an energy-hogging GPS unit, battery life was reasonable. We were able to go a whole two days with moderate use of all its functions before it required a charge. The camera, social-networking tools and multimedia were a bit lacking, but for someone who’s primary needs is mobile phone and GPS, nothing on the market can compare.

$199 (with qualifying T-Mobile phone contract)

Flip Video SlideHD Flip video cameras are the perfect tool for quick and on-the-go video (we employ them for our online vids) but they’re ill-equipped for sharing. The latest in the Flip family is the SlideHD that sports a three-inch touchscreen for better video-viewing on the fly and the slide-out screen tilts up for tabletop gawking.

The recording controls are now built into the touchscreen while a touch strip on the unit scrolls through the four hours of HD (720p) video that the SlideHD can capture on its two hours of battery life. The handy flip-out USB cable remains for easy transfers and charging and an HDMI output ports vids to any HDTV.

$279.99

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Apple iPad It’s not groundbreaking in any way. Anyone can accomplish the same things with an iPad with an iPhone or a netbook. What Steve Jobs’ latest creation brings is the wow factor. Photos are bigger and bolder, videos are more engrossing, apps and games are more engaging, the web more wondrous—on the svelte 9.7-inch (diagonal) LED-backlit touchscreen that measures just half an inch thick. WiFi (802.11n) or 3G (different model and requires a data plan) gets you connected to the Interwebs. We were very impressed. Unlike many touch-based devices, the iPad felt very peppy and responsive, the battery life can chug along for 10 hours and the array of apps available for purchase on the iTunes Store means it can be customized to fit your needs.

$699 (as tested 64GB WiFi model)

Norelco 180-Degree Clippers Any DIY haircutter—especially those that prefer a closely buzzed or shaved head—knows the difficulties of maneuvering a pair of traditional hair clippers through the head. Bumpy craniums, wayward ears, awkward ergonomics and tangled cords are just a few impediments to a proper haircut. Norelco’s 180-Degree Clippers take a few of those hindrances to task with a pivoting and rotating clipper blade that glides over the rockiest of scalps and makes it as easy to wield as a comb. The built-in adjustable guide ensures the right cutting length and a built-in rechargeable 60-minute battery means there are no cords to strangle yourself with.

$39.99

Kodak Playsport The perfect summertime camera has to be able to do two things: snap pictures and shoot video with ease and be portable. The Playsport accomplishes both and raises the bar by having the ability to capture video in 1080p goodness (it also takes 5.3 megapixel stills) and being durable enough to survive a drop or two—and in our case, four or five—even in water (it’s waterproof up to 10 feet). The LCD glare shield feature was also a boon in viewing the two-inch screen in bright sunlight and the bright assortment of colors available means it was tailor-made for the capturing summer memories. Videos and images are stored on the SD card slot and can be edited on the onboard tools to edit, trim and narrate your footage. We also dug the included HDMI cable (usually an optional accessory for most cameras) for quick viewing on any HDTV.

$149.95

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Tech Editor and gadget junkie Shane Battier test-drives the latest in tech goods. in This issue, he takes on the Epson moviemate 60 projector.

As a child of the ’80s, one of my favorite memories was watching old videos on the family’s good old 16mm projector. Dad would of course, throw a white bedspread on the wall for a screen and family movie night would begin. The old projector was loud, the playback was choppy and the sound quality was poor, but that’s all we had and it was pretty darn good for those days. (If you were born after 1981, this paragraph would make no sense to you…sorry). In those days, we’d never imagine a product that would play home movies with razor sharp projection, clear sound, and even the ability to play movies off an iPod. (even iPods seem so dated now…). Today, we have the Epson MovieMate 60 projector, the instant home cinema that brings big-screen entertainment wherever we go. The Epson MovieMate 60 is a powerful projector, DVD and music player combo that makes portable movie nights a reality. While most projectors are built for the boardroom to show boring PowerPoint presentations, the MovieMate brings the theater literally anywhere you want to go. Setup was very simple. I just plugged in the MovieMate, slipped a DVD into the front loading slot, hit play and pointed the MovieMate on the side of my house. Viola! Movie night. The sound quality was clear, however, if I had a large group it may be difficult to hear what is playing. It could be a little louder. I was impressed with the quality of the image on the side of my house though. The MovieMate can project movies and images up to eight times larger than they would have appeared on a 40-inch screen. Huge picture. Good quality. The best part of the MovieMate is the fact that you can easily enjoy videogames, your iPod, your camcorder, or different media from your home computer—in a plug-and-play manner. The MovieMate has a number of inputs in the rear of the device for connectivity. HDMI, component, you name it, the MovieMate has it. The Espon MovieMate retails for $700, which is pretty inexpensive for a projector. At only 960 x 540 resolution, it’s not high-def, but if you entertain large groups often or just like to watch sports on the ultimate big screen, especially outdoors or on the go, I believe that there is value in this price. I wish the sound was louder, but by plugging in more powerful external speakers, this issue is solved. You can even plug in a karaoke mic, slip in a karaoke DVD and have a karaoke jam on the side of your garage. That is enough to sell me. The Epson Movie Mate 60 gets the thumbs up. As someone who entertains quite frequently, this will be sure to be a crowd pleaser.

Epson MovieMate 60 Projector $699.99

Pros: + Good picture quality + Portability + Connectivity + Ability to watch a movie pretty much anywhere Cons: – Sound could be louder – Not HD

For video reivews of Shane’s TECHed page, check out hoopmag.com

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It’s kind of crazy to think that Nike’s much vaunted Flywire system of shoe manufacturing is but two years old and the folks at Beaverton are already rolling out another revolutionary way of putting a shoe together with the Zoom Hyperfuse. Based on research of Chinese basketball players who typically play outdoors and in meshed running shoes which lack the proper lateral support and durability required for the sport, the Hyperfuse marries the lightweight and breathability of a running shoe with the toughness and support of a basketball sneaker.

The upper is a tri-layered composite that is made up of sturdy base material that holds the shoe together, a mesh layer for ventilation and strategic placement of a skin layer (reminds us of Foamposite) for added protection and durability. The fusion of the three materials, besides offering performance benefits, will potentially allow for some cool aesthetic combinations (think different colored layers). We’re certainly looking forward to seeing Nike getting creative or letting users let their imaginations run wild on NikeID. Once cinched, the first thing you’ll notice is the lockdown fit. That coupled with its smidgen-over 12 ounce weight, and the Hyperfuse feels like you don’t even have a shoe on—a mark of a good fitting shoe. Lateral movement was good, the upper and outsole remained true with no slipping even during the most aggressive of cuts. With a shoe that features so many panels of mesh, we were surprised to find the ventilation lacking. It wasn’t terrible but we’ve had better results from other shoes. Cushioning wasn’t pillowy (never really is with Zoom) but it did the job. Lastly, for a shoe built for the outdoor player, the traction of the Hyperfuse was a bit iffy. We experienced some slippage on decent paved courts.

During the playoffs, only Rajon Rondo was spotted wearing them and his results speak for themselves. Like Rondo, the shoe is really designed for the lighter speedier player (you’ll be seeing them on Nike athletes this summer at the FIBA World Championship). Our only concern is the long term durability. Being a new upper material made up of three thin skins, we wonder how it’ll hold up over time. Otherwise, there’s no better shoe out there right now.

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Nike

Zoom Hyperfuse $100

Weight (size 9): 12.25 oz.

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We’re not sure how Jordanaires will take the Jordan Air’s. Many fans of the brand are drawn to the upscale look and design of Jordan’s offerings; the Air’s are a bit different, looking more a technical shoe that Nike would drop. From the Huarache-like ankle cutout, the mesh inlays and visible Air Sole, it resembles a bit of a training shoe. Looks are always subjective, but most of the folks we encountered during trials gave the shoe approving nods, including us. It evokes a throwback look of shoes in the ’90s.

The first reaction once we inserted our foot in was the comfort the inner neoprene sock liner provides. After a few runs up and down the court, we notice that the shoe has a clunky feel to them. The shoe’s chassis sits high, the soft midfoot and relative weight all contributed to it. Big men might not be bothered as much by these things, making this a good buy for them. And even with the abundance of visible mesh—perhaps due to the inner sock liner, the shoe left feet overheated and wet. Cushioning, especially in the rear, was excellent.

We walked away with the conclusion that the Air’s is meant for the bigger player; we expect to see a summer leaguer or two rock these in Vegas.

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Air’s $115

Weight (size 11): 18.8 oz.

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We think it’s rather cool to retrofit something old internally with the latest tech while keeping the exterior the same—a car, house and definitely with shoes. Earlier in the year, Jordan did that with the Alpha AJ1, tricking the original AJ1 with Zoom Air and tuning it for what a modern player expects out of his basketball kicks. The Jumpman folks have taken it another notch, taking the Alpha AJ1 and kitting it for the outdoor game.

The biggest addition to the Outdoor version of the Alpha AJ1 is the ankle strap. Removable, the strap, which sports the original Air Jordan “winged basketball” logo, connects to the shoe via Velcro on the heel tab and we’re pretty sure it was meant to be decorative as it easily slips off the shoe during play since the front of it isn’t tethered. But like Rasheed Wallace’s trademark AF1 Highs, the straps are more form than function.

The shoes hold their on a court. The Zoom Air brings the AJ1 into the 21st Century. If you ever balled in the original AJ1, you know exactly why. The interior of the shoe is lined with additional padding, increasing the comfort and the perforated upper (we were going to have an intern count them, but spared him the misery) kep[t things nice and cool. Laterally movement could have been better as hard cuts brought some rocking sensation on the side.

Overall, the experience reminded of the KD2, Kevin Durant’s signature joint.

What we liked most about the Alpha AJ1 Outdoor is the looks. While some purists hate any sort of updating of a classic, we have no problems with it as long as they’re subtle. Personally, we could’ve done without the Jumpman logo in the heel counter, but it’s not a deal breaker.

It’s definitely a shoe that can transition from game to postgame and with the many color variations of it available, could certainly see people buying it just for that reason alone.

Jordan

Alpha AJ1 Outdoor $115

Weight (size 9.5): 16 oz.

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Gear Check

ability; making it decent for cross-training as well.

Like Jumpsoles, it promises to increase vertical leaping ability simply by walking and training in them. Unlike Jumpsoles, it’s without the bulky and impractical forefoot-only sole design. Your calves should begin to feel noticeably lighter after just two days of casual walking. Think akin to a doughnut weight on a baseball bat.

While it may not be ideal for balling or running (see: ankle, twisted) and the fit can be a little snug for a wide foot, the JumpTone packs a unique cushion-like feel that, can take some getting used to, but can be rather comfortable in its mission to make you jump higher. Walking around in these shoes might not be for the balance-impaired, but if you’re ready for an increased vertical and don’t mind a little bounce with every step, then they’re certainly worth a try. And for the record, you definitely feel like you can jump higher. Reverse windmill 360s to follow. Maybe. —Phil D’Apolito #14

Jump Into One Reebok had success with the release of the EasyTone in 2009, which promised firmly toned calf, leg and upper-thigh muscles solely (pun intended) aimed toward women. Now Reebok is set to unveil its male counterpart utilizing the same “balance ball-inspired” technology: the JumpTone.

According to Reebok, the JumpTone is designed for men to help tone and strengthen key muscles used in their vertical leap. In other words, these kicks are supposed to make you jump higher. We know what you’re thinking. Hasn’t every sneaker since the beginning of sports, from PF Flyers to the Air Jordans, said the same thing? Well, this one’s a little different.

The JumpTone uses three pressure points (heel, front sole, and toes) filled with “moving air” to build up those elusive muscles that improve leaping

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Traditionally, Jordan Brand doesn’t do much basketball-wise in the summer but 2010 marks a change in that philosophy. With two shoes marketed for the al fresco player, Jumpman is poised to poised to service a neglected market.

The other shoe with the “Outdoor” designation, the Air Jordan 2010 Outdoor is the latest flagship shoe on steroids. The most distinguishable part of the 2010, the transparent window, has been shuttered. In its place are square perforations throughout and a rubber toe cap. The most eye-catching element is the Air-Raid-like cross straps that “X” the shoe. Functionally, it doesn’t do much; aesthetically, it’s kind of cool, but we could do without the word “Jordan” (left shoe) “outdoor” (right shoe) printed across it. The outsole also gets the beefed-up treatment as does the upper, with more interior padding around the ankle and tongue.

We’ve never understood why shoe companies associate an outdoor shoe with added bulk.

Sure, the typical surface of an outdoor court is harsher than an indoor floor, but the needs of the player—traction, stability, lightweight, cushioning—remain the same. We wished Jordan would re-tinker the shoe rather than just adding two ounces to it. That said, underneath it all is a solidly performing shoe (imagine an armored Ferrari). The shoe is comfortable, especially around the midfoot. The midsole/outsole does not feel too high. At almost 19 ounces, it’s got a little too much junk in the trunk.; a few ounces shaved off would’ve been preferred.

The 2010 Outdoor could’ve been a gem of a shoe had Jordan decided to re-tool the shoe rather than adding to it. Many shoe companies think an outdoor shoe requires more, but we don’t think a rugged shoe can be accomplished without compromising weight.

Jordan

Air Jordan 2010 Outdoor $130

Weight (size 11): 18.8 oz.

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Style: Innovation: Not to be outdone by all the hype and excitement from its little brother the Hyperfuse, the Hyperdunk quietly makes its re-entry into the basketball landscape with some updates and a simple “2010” tag at the end of its name. The original was groundbreaking and is still a staple on NBA courts despite its two-year-old status. The 2010 remains true to the Nike’s commitment in making the Hyperdunk the shoe that stays true to the basketball player without the unnecessary bells and whistles. We sung its praises with 9s and 10s two years ago and it’s still a go-to shoe at HOOP. So for the 2010 Nike decided to not reinvent the wheel, keeping the overall formula for the Hyperdunk the same.

The biggest difference from the 2010 and the 2008 version is the overlay on the vamp.

For the redux, Nike made the entire upper one piece and did away with the translucent Flywire, opting for a synthetic upper with the Flywire peeking over. Also gone is the midfoot Lunarfoam, replaced with a more traditional mid- and outsole (Zoom Air remains).

The minor changes, as expected, did not affect the performance of the Hyperdunk. It’s still rock solid across the board. Like its predecessor, it’s a nimble low-riding shoe that moves well north-south and east-west. Like the ’08 version, ventilation on the 2010 is still bad. Save for a few perforations on the toe and medial side, the Hyperdunk 2010 will gag your feet in heat and sweat. One small detail worth mentioning is the slight lateral lip that protrudes out about 1/8 of an inch. It’s found on many of Nike’s basketball offerings and while it may go overlooked or taken for granted, it does seem to help with lateral stability, keeping the foot from rolling over the shoe. It’s nothing new (we remember seeing it as far back as the Huarache 2K4 and perhaps even before) but it’s worth pointing out.

If the ’08 Hyperdunk was the 1.0 version of the shoe, the 2010 is more a 1.1 than a completely new shoe. It largely keeps its original DNA (a good thing). Design-wise it opts for cleaner lines (also a good thing). As a basketball shoe, you could not do much better.

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Hyperdunk 2010 $110

Weight (size 9): 11.6 oz.

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wear (Clockwise from top left) Junk Food Beatles, $32; New Era MVP Delta Shirt, $45; Kangol Jacquard 504 Cap, $45; Jordan V.2 Grown, $90; PUMA Bolt YugoRun, $75

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(Clockwise from top left) adidas Originals MEGA Softcell RF, $100; Jordan Crackle Up Tee, $34; addias Originals Superstar 2, $65; Jordan Air Jordan 1 Retro High, $110; American Classics Yarndye Polo, $9

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(Clockwise from top left) LRG Young Revolutionaries Tee, $26; adidas Originals Hillside, $75; adidas Originals Roundhouse, $85; American Classics Gingham Shirt, $12; LRG Core Collection Cargo Short, $59

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wear (Clockwise from top left) New Balance 574 Sonic, $74.95; ArgyleCulture Multi-Stripe Polo, $48; Jordan Trunning Short, $32; LRG Classic Tree Backpack, $49

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wear (Clockwise from top left) Junk Food Batman Tee, $32; adidas Originals Campus II Suede, $60; adidas Originals Mega Torsion, $80; New Era Sweet Sixteen, $36.99; adidas Originals Jamaica Tee, $25

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(Clockwise from top left) Reebok Court Victory Pump, $119.99; Junk Food The Who Tee, $44; adidas Originals Samba Lea, $60; Kangol Jacquard 504 Cap, $45; New Balance PROHIWT, $59.95

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STEP BACK

March 21, 1995 Milwaukee Bucks vs. golden state warriors Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI

Built in 1988, the Bradley Center in Milwaukee will be the third oldest arena in the League at the start of the 2010-11 season (tied with ARCO Arena and the Palace of Auburn Hills, trailing Madison Square Garden and Oracle Arena).

The stadium was actually a gift from the Pettit family in honor of Harry Bradley.

In a hockey-crazed state, the stadium has played host to three NCAA Frozen Fours and the American Hockey League’s Milwaukee Admirals.

The Bradley Center is the home court for Marquette basketball as well.

Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson was the first overall selection of the ’94 Draft. He was an Indiana “Mr. Basketball” award winner in high school, and an All-Conference player, All-American and College Player of the Year at Purdue.

David Wood played for eight teams from 1988-97, including three teams (Golden State, Phoenix and Dallas) during the ’95-96 season.

Robinson finished his career averaging 20.7 ppg and won a title with the San Antonio Spurs during the ’0405 season. He trails only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the Bucks’ all-time scoring list.

Wood also won a bronze medal as a part of the ’98 World Championship team, coached by Rudy Tomjanovich. This team did not field players active in the League at the time.

A two-time Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year, Carlos Rogers was hampered by injuries during most of his pro career. He went on to play with Toronto, Portland, Houston and Indiana before retiring in 2002.

Along with brothers Scooter, Drew and Brent, Jon Barry carried on the basketball lineage of his legendary father, Rick, by playing 14 seasons in the League.

Known by his nickname “Mister,” Keith Jennings shot 59 percent from deep during his senior year at East Tennessee State. An undrafted guard, he spent three season in the League with Golden State.

Barry wore #17 in Milwaukee due to his admiration of Chris Mullin. He is also an avid golfer and his brother-in-law is golfer Billy Andrade.

The 11th pick of the ’94 Draft, Rogers was originally taken by the Seattle SuperSonics, and was immediately dealt to Golden State in a six-player deal.

The 5-7 Jennings was honored with Keith Jennings Day at ETSU in 2004.

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Now an analyst for ESPN and ABC, Barry has joined Brent and Rick in transitioning from the hardwood to the booth after their playing career.

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