Wizards forward Antawn Jamison hasn't been able to help his team on the court after suffering an exhibition schedule shoulder separation. But he's trying to inspire his mates in the locker room. Friday night, that meant the post-game gastronomy in Indianapolis had to suffer.
Washington fell to a rather miserable Indiana team by 16 points. According to the Washington Post's Michael Lee, Jamison gave the business to his teammates in the locker room after the final buzzer. Lee reports that a tray of snacks had been "tossed into a corner, shattered to pieces, with fruit and candy scattered everywhere." Quelle horreur!
ORLANDO -- Danny Granger has all the makings of a great player who may get lost for many years.
Playing for the Indiana Pacers already makes him look like he's standing alone on an island -- waiting to get rescued.
"It doesn't matter how many points you score. If you don't win games, no one really cares,'' Granger told FanHouse Wednesday night before the Pacers played the Orlando Magic. "I've proven I can score. Now I have to prove we can win.''
Granger averaged 25.8 points last season when he won the NBA's Most Improved Player Award, becoming the first player in league history to raise his scoring average by at least five points in three consecutive seasons.
Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Tuesday, there are 14 days remaining.
For everything the NBA has done to level the playing field -- the draft lottery, the salary cap, the dollar-for-dollar luxury tax -- only a select handful of teams have a legitimate chance to win the championship in any given year.
I know optimism is supposed to reign supreme in October, but here's a harsh dose of reality: in the past 26 years, only seven different organizations have hoisted the Larry O'Brien, and six of those teams have won more than once. In fact, in a league where fluke success is rare and dynasties are the norm, there are 14 teams that have yet to win a title.
Will any of these perennial losers buck their unfortunate losing streaks in the near future? While the Lakers, Spurs and Celtics (winners of nine of the last 11 titles) would disagree, it's a very real possibility.
A waiter at a Hollywood restaurant recently was fired after he wrote on his Twitter page how a notable actress stiffed him on a tip.
It seems the actress, Hung star Jane Adams, claimed she had forgotten her wallet and went to her car and never returned. The tab, about $14, was later paid by her agent. But the payment came with no tip, leading waiter Jon-Barrett Ingels to write, "Not a big deal to me financially, but the principle of the thing was ridiculous.''
Fired.
We've seen this scenario before. Last spring, after Brian Dawkins bolted as a free agent from the Philadelphia Eagles to the Denver Broncos, a Philadelphia stadium worker named Dan Leone wrote on his Facebook page about the Eagles being "retarded'' for letting Dawkins go.
FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.
Seven feet, two inches. Two hundred and seventy eight pounds. Only 23 years of age. Size, agility, athleticism, post moves and tremendous upside. Not Greg Oden. Not Andrew Bynum.
His name is Roy Hibbert, and if he finds the right track, lock up your pivots, lock up your wives, lock up your post defense and run for your lives. If he can't, he's doomed to "obligatory tall guy that never panned out" status. It's a thin ledge for the big fella.
Not long ago, the Indiana Pacers were said to have a character problem, what with players such as Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. That issue, we know, has been taken care of.
Now the Pacers have a talent problem. As in, not enough of it.
Bert Smith has been there, done that, so when an NBA replacement official calls him this week to ask for advice, on what to expect from star players and volatile coaches, on what it's really going to be like doing the games, they would be wise to listen closely.
It will range from obstacle course to gauntlet.
Smith was a young, promising official working college basketball games in the Big 12 and Conference USA when the NBA plucked him to be a replacement in 1995 during the last referee union lockout.
He worked 16 games that year, including a Sonics-Pacers game Nov. 18 in Indianapolis when he ejected then Seattle coach George Karl, who kept riding him over a call he didn't like, got a technical foul, then drop kicked the ball into the stands to show his displeasure. Smith tossed him.
Golden boy NCAA champ Tyler Hansbrough, a lottery pick of the Pacers, isn't getting off on the right foot -- err, shin -- in Indianapolis. A nagging shin injury Hansbrough dealt with at the start of his senior season at North Carolina has returned, and the rook has been deemed to be out "indefinitely." That means he'll miss at the least the start of training camp this week, and perhaps the preseason or the opening weeks of the regular season.
The news ain't good for Mike Dunleavy, either. Lil' Dun missed the majority of 2008-09, and he won't be ready on time for this season either. Indy coach Jim O'Brien told media Dunleavy won't likely be practicing until November, which puts the forward on schedule to miss at least a half-dozen regular season games.
The injuries have opened up an opportunity for other players, though. Like Rod Benson.
Every Tuesday this offseason, two of our NBA experts will go at it with a Debate in the Paint. This week, the topic is which team did the least this summer to improve.
Put it this way: I'm just not feeling the Indiana Pacers' offseason. It's not that they haven't done anything, it's just that what they've done isn't much. There have been a few unimpressive offseasons -- with the Knicks, Warriors, Bulls, Heat and Nuggets coming to mind – but we're going with Indiana for least productive.
It's one thing to sit tight if you're knocking on the door to an NBA title and it's fine to simply tinker if you're a playoff team or knocking on the postseason door. But neither of these really describe the Pacers, do they?
Basketball was big in the state of Indiana before Melvin Simon and his brother Herb got involved.
They just made it bigger and better.
Melvin Simon, the older of the two brothers who own the NBA's Indiana Pacers, died Wednesday, leaving a huge hole at the top of the state's basketball fraternity. He was 82.
It was the brothers who bought the Pacers in 1983 and thwarted a probable move to Sacramento, leading the franchise to the success in the '90s that prompted construction in 1999 of Canseco Fieldhouse, one of the league's finest facilities.
Wizards forward Antawn Jamison hasn't been able to help his team on the court after suffering an exhibition schedule shoulder separation. But he's trying to inspire his mates in the locker room. Friday night, that meant the post-game gastronomy in Indianapolis had to suffer.
ORLANDO -- 
Tip-Off Timer
A waiter at a Hollywood restaurant recently was fired after he wrote on his Twitter page how a notable actress stiffed him on a tip.
FanHouse previews a 
FanHouse 
Golden boy NCAA champ 
Every Tuesday this offseason, two of our 
Basketball was big in the state of Indiana before Melvin Simon and his brother Herb got involved.
