FanHouse Dan Majerle

PHOENIX -- As the arena began to fill up, Dan Majerle was working on his half-court shooting, warming up for the Haier Shooting Stars event. FanHouse NBA writer and next-door neighbor on press row Brett Pollakoff said Majerle practices knocking down the shots from halfcourt before every Suns home game, but it didn't rub off on Saturday in Phoenix.

Today the NBA announced the judges for the 2009 NBA Slam Dunk Contest. Since All-Star weekend is in Phoenix this season, the league decided to select a panel of former Suns to judge the contest. The judges are Cedric Ceballos, Larry Nance, Kevin Johnson, Dan Majerle, and Tom Chambers. Of course, all of them were known for their dunking ability at some point during their career. Ceballos and Nance are both former Slam Dunk Contest champions, while KJ, Majerle and Chambers served up a few facials in their day.

So which of this year's judges was the best dunker? Watch some videos of all the judges throwing it down after the jump.

t's funny how NBA coaching jobs fill up in waves -- within a matter of days Terry Porter, Vinny Del Negro and Michael Curry were all hired by the Suns, Bulls and Pistons, respectively. Only Porter has previous head coaching experience (and only two years at that), which means there will likely be a run on veteran assistant coaches for these guys to lean on.

According to Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic, Porter is open to Steve Kerr's suggestion to bring former Hornets and Cavs head coach Paul Silas on board as his lead assistant. Alvin Gentry, who served under Mike D'Antoni, may be retained, and Dan Majerle is also a candidate for a spot on his staff.

Considering how long it took the Bulls to settle on Del Negro, you have to wonder if they'll be able to put together a staff of assistants before the season starts. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune indicates that Bob Hill, who's been a head coach of the Knicks, Pacers, Spurs and Sonics, is being considered as the lead assistant. John Paxson is also on the record saying that he anticipates hiring one of the myriad of head coaching candidates to join Del Negro's staff. Considering Del Negro has never coached before at any level, the Bulls will probably want to surround him with an extremely experienced staff.

As for Curry, Keith Langlois of Pistons.com indicates that Dave Cowens, who served alongside Curry under Flip Saunders, will be retained. Cowens has previously coached the Hornets and Warriors (as well as the Celtics, if you include his player/coach days from 1978-79), but it's unclear if he's being considered for the lead role. Langlois added that Igor Kokoskov may follow Porter to Phoenix, but Chris McCosky of the Detroit News says that Kokoskov will also pursue head coaching opportunties in Europe.

TheDirty.com is absolutely on fire lately, in terms of giving us some controversial photos of athletes getting their party on. First it was NFL quarterbacks Matt Leinart and Alex Smith, yesterday it was Terrell Owens, and today it's retired Phoenix Suns great Dan Majerle. Thunder Dan is pictured hanging out with a young lady enjoying an adult beverage, and this supposedly took place at his restaurant. Not really a big deal, right? Until you learn, from this girl's Facebook page, that she's only 18 years old.

Majerle isn't doing anything wrong or seedy in these pictures necessarily, he's mostly just smiling next to this young lady, or receiving a harmless kiss on the cheek from her. But as you peruse the other photos TheDirty has to offer, you can clearly see this girl chugging down a few brewskis while still hanging at Majerle's restaurant, which could theoretically cause the place to lose its liquor license.

Now I understand that Majerle is likely not the one standing at the door or the bar checking people's IDs to make sure that they're of legal age. But as the restaurant's owner, these pictures certainly aren't going to be good for business, at least as far as the authorities in Phoenix are concerned.