LOS ANGELES — I didn’t set out to major in Kobe Bryant, having long since graduated when he showed up here at 17. Things just led that way. I covered his father, Joe, whom he called Jellybean, as a 76ers rookie in the 1970s. I knew the family from Baker League games, where I met Joe’s gregarious father, Big Joe. After not having seen Joe for decades, I ran into him at the 1995 Adidas camp at Fairleigh Dickinson where his
NEWS The Celtics are playing without Rajon Rondo after he hurt his back in Boston’s game against New York the previous night Denver Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler needs surgery to repair a labral tear in his left hip and is done for the season. Baron Davis missed the Knicks’ game at New Jersey on Wednesday night because of a stomach virus and was replaced in the starting lineup by Mike Bibby. Chicago Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau says the team’s leading scorers Derrick Rose and
NEWS Rookie Kyrie Irving will miss 10 more days after aggravating his right shoulder. Kentucky coach John Calipari said Wednesday he isn’t going to coach the New York Knicks or any other NBA franchise for the foreseeable future. “Kentucky is the best job in basketball coaching,” Calipari said. “Why would I leave? We just won the national title. We’re chasing UCLA.” ESPN.com NOTES Portland almost certainly will retain restricted free agent Nicolas Batum, but if not, their cap room would balloon to $25.9 million without his cap
NEWS: Suns’ forward, Grant Hill, underwent a successful procedure to repair a torn meniscus in his right knee. The Cavaliers have signed guard Lester Hudson to a 10-day contract. Celtics’ center, Jermaine O’Neal, underwent season ending surgery on his left wrist. NOTES: Los Angeles Clippers’ forward, Reggie Evans, was fined $25,00o for making an obscene gesture. RUMORS: The whispers, though, have already begun to spread on the coaching grapevine that Nate McMillan will emerge as a prime candidate to replace Van Gundy if this is it for SVG
When the McDonald’s All-American Game tips off March 28 at the United Center in Chicago (ESPN, 9:30 p.m.), basketball fans will get to watch 24 future stars before they head off to college. Of course, one of the more intriguing angles to this year’s game is that several of the players selected this past week have yet to pick a school, which ramps up the excitement leading into the game. Below are the SheridanHoops.com Top 5 uncommitted senior prep stars. What do they
It is entirely possible that a decision announced this past week at a small boarding school in New Hampshire will have a profound impact on the 2013 NBA Draft. Nerlens Noel, a 6-foot-10 shot-blocker who has been compared to Bill Russell and Anthony Davis, announced that he would reclassify to the high school Class of 2012 from the Class of 2013. “I’m ready to do it,” Noel, out of The Tilton (N.H.) School, told Dave Telep of ESPN.com in reference to reclassyifying.
If the one-and-done rule didn’t exist and high school players were permitted to go straight to the NBA, Shabazz Muhammad might go as high as No. 2 in the 2012 Draft. After Anthony Davis, Kentucky’s 6-foot-11 freshman shot-blocking sensation, Muhammad might be the most attractive option were he to be allowed to come out this year. “He would be in the conversation for sure,” our friend, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com, points out. “He’s a great prospect. Lots of NBA teams have point guards and
By Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog PISCATAWAY, N.J. — John Calipari has had a slew of one-and-done players during his tenures at Memphis and Kentucky. But he has to go back to his UMass days to find a proper comparison for 6-foot-10, 220-pound Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis. “Marcus Camby,” Calipari said Friday at Rutgers at the first annual clinic to benefit The Brayden Carr Foundation. “Marcus Camby, same. [Davis] shoots it better. Marcus was bigger, but they’re both really good.” Calipari said Davis has worked especially well in tandem