On Jan. 28, 1948, Providence Steamrollers coach Nat Hickey decided to activate himself for one game. That was two days before his 46th birthday. Statistics from those ancient days are notoriously unreliable, but the NBA Guide says that Hickey missed all three of his shots, and got an entry into the stat book only by committing one personal foul.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Adm. Mike Mullen said Sunday during an unannounced visit to Afghanistan that he doesn't know whether soldiers will continue to receive paychecks if an agreement over the U.S. debt ceiling cannot be reached.
Graciousness can pay priceless dividends.
It should come as no surprise that a 68-year-old coach should resign after 23 seasons with the same team. But Jerry Sloan's abrupt departure from the Utah Jazz arrived unexpectedly, and with jarring impact.
MIAMI -- By the fifth and final day of the 2006 pre-draft camp in Orlando, most of the scouts and coaches had gone home. The Utah Jazz contingent remained, hoping for one more look at a chunky power forward nobody else seemed to want. Through the first four days of camp, Paul Millsap appeared out of shape and out of place, unable to create his shot or hold his position. But on the last day, Millsap began to assert himself, demonstrating how he led the nation in rebounding two years in a row at Louisiana Tech. The Jazz staff reasoned that Millsap was not the kind of player built for pre-draft camps, which tend to showcase shooters and drivers. He needed a system.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- Some six hours later, they would be inducted en masse into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. But, at 2 in the afternoon on Friday, an assemblage of basketball's all-time greatest sat around a table in the ballroom of the Sheraton Hotel gossiping like high school kids in the lunchroom.
Owing to our belief that there can be only three true recent NBA icons -- the almighty, all-enduring troika of Michael, Magic and Larry -- you can be sure there will be whispers about the shortcomings of Scottie Pippen and Karl Malone as they enter the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame together this week.
DENVER -- The last time George Karl coached the All-Star Game, in New York in 1998, his West team was led by a 19-year-old Kobe Bryant. Karl remembers the Lakers' guard, who, at the time was the youngest player in All-Star history, waving off Utah's Karl Malone during a pick-and-roll so Bryant could take somebody one-on-one.
Former NBA star Karl Malone is an avid hunter who publicly declared his advocacy of the right to bear arms by becoming a spokesman for the National Rifle Association. SI.com asked Malone for his thoughts on the situation involving three-time All-Star Gilbert Arenas, who acknowledged Monday that he stored unloaded guns at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C., and said he displayed them in front of Wizards teammate as "a misguided effort to play a joke."
NBA commissioner David Stern indefinitely suspended Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas without pay on Wednesday.
SEATTLE -- Bring up all the clichés you want: David over Goliath. Substance over style. Team over individual. They all fit Real Salt Lake, which outlasted the heavily favored Los Angeles Galaxy on penalty kicks Sunday night after a 1-1 draw and 120 minutes of last-man-standing soccer (RECAP).
There actually is nothing in the NBA to look forward to in 2009. Everything and everyone is on ice until the summer of 2010, when the league undergoes, simultaneously, a seismic shift, a sea change and a perfect storm driven by the lusted-after free agency of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Amare Stoudemire, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and another half-dozen or so All-Stars or game-changers. Until then, we are all Cleveland, holding our collective breaths, fearing the worst, hoping for the best, marking time.
When it comes to first-year players, it's easy to get overexcited by a couple of promising performances.
Off one list, smack onto another.
To say John Stockton and Karl Malone were big in Utah is like saying soccer is cool in England or Star Trek is popular with nerds.
SI.com: Mettle menupdated: Mon May 14 2007 00:59:00
Pointing to a team's mettle, its ability to rise above pressure and execute with everything seeming ready to fall apart, seems like a cop-out. Most of the time, it's a fanciful notion used to hide an observer's inability or unwillingness to point out the real reasons (rebounds, free throws, turnovers) one team won and one team lost.
SI.com: The mailmanupdated: Thu Feb 22 2007 12:49:00
Karl Malone played basketball. Dana John plays basketball.
When Peyton Manning's Colts meet Tom Brady's Patriots this Sunday in the AFC Championship Game, Manning will be trying to reach his first Super Bowl. That would be an essential step toward keeping him from someday joining the following list of "Best Players to Never Win a Championship." At age 30, of course, Manning should have more chances to salvage his big-game reputation a la John Elway. Then again, that's probably what these guys once thought. (We've restricted the list to retired athletes only, so please save the inevitable emails about Barry Bonds, A-Rod, Mark Martin, etc.)
Good evening. Welcome to my laboratory.
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