It's almost unfair to judge a draft after one year, but this is what we're going to do. The final edition of our Revisiting the Draft series examines the 2008 Draft and believe or not, there are teams already harboring regrets from their picks.
Despite the extensive scouting, workouts and interviews involved in the draft, teams still make major mistakes and these days, prospects don't get three years to develop. Of the 14 lottery picks in 2006, six have already changed teams and players such as Patrick O'Bryant and Mouhamed Sene are not guaranteed jobs next season.
The NBA waits for no one, especially if they are taking too long to make an impact. So while teams won't freely admit they made mistakes 12 months after draft night, they will privately admit they overestimated talent and heart, and sooner or later, that will cost front-office jobs.
There's no official confirmation yet, but as you can see above, Kevin Love seems to have let the cat out of the bag on Twitter: Kevin McHale, who led the Timberwolves to a 20-43 record after Randy Wittman's dismissal, is apparently no longer a candidate to resume coaching in 2009-10 and beyond.
Robin's season in Phoenix wasn't too bright. He played in only 60 games despite flawless health; in those contests, he averaged only 10 minutes a game. His campaign ended with per-game averages of three points and two rebounds. Not exactly awards material ...
... which means that in all likelihood one of the voters -- a fraternity of writers and broadcasters -- meant to vote for Robin's twin, Brook, who ended up in third place in balloting. As far as I know, the ballot isn't a "fill in the bubble" affair -- you write in the names. Some voter really can't keep the Lopez brothers straight. (Hat-tip to Phoenix Stan.)
It's trophy time in the NBA, and the FanHouse crew has submitted its ballots. Find out which players deserve to take home the hardware and which ones don't, in our NBA Awards series. Next up: Rookie of the Year.
Coming into the season, most projected the rookie of the Year race to be fairly hotly contested between Derrick Rose and Michael Beasley, the top two picks in the NBA draft. But it wasn't: while Beasley spent time learning to contribute coming off the bench, Rose became one of the leaders on a team that made its way back to the playoffs. As such, the young Bull was our unanimous choice for Rookie of the Year honors.
Kevin Love's faux infomercial / Rookie of the Year viral marketing campaign cracks me up, not only because of the initial gag but also because it's so ... freaking ... long. Just like real infomercials, it's repetitive and annoying, but taken in context, the whole "art imitating life" schtick makes me laugh.
NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.
* "[Roy Hibbert]'s sitting next to Travis [Diener], which I find very interesting. You have to watch Travis because he can be very tricky on flights. Roy has an expensive bag he uses as a carry-on and on our last flight from Boston, Travis thought it would be a good idea to hide a meatball in it. Now, this was not a meatball in tin foil or anything but a meatball with pasta sauce and parmesan cheese on it. Roy was not amused, to say the least." -- Troy Murphy's blog, via Indy Cornrows.
Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the "lig." Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.
At some point, Dwyane Wade's wings will melt, for he flies too close to the sun. Another 40-point night for Flash -- 42, to be exact, on 17-of-23 shooting. He added eight assists, six rebounds and (an unfortunate) eight turnovers.
Wade has broken the 35-point threshold in four straight games, and topped 40 in three of those. Since the All-Star Break, he has averaged better than 36 points per game on 58 percent shooting with 10 assists to boot. Wade is, for lack of a better word, insane. He has a great shot to not only win the scoring title, but to get over 30 ppg. You think someone wants that fourth seed?
Elie Seckbach, the AP-recognized Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
Valentine's Day is a special day for people in love. Some people propose, some just go out, but there are do's and don'ts. We wanted to know what those things were, so in this video we talk to Shaquille O'Neal, about his tips on love, as well as the best way to propose. His answer will surprise you. We also talk to Kevin Love, who tells us which NBA player is nicknamed the "Plucker," while his teammate Mark Madsen continues looking for his future bride. Plus, we get tips from Maurice Evans and more.
It's unfortunate when any player goes down, but it's especially heartbreaking to see this happen to a guy who's playing the best ball of his career -- he's one of three players in the league averaging at least 20 point and 10 boards a game this year, and he's put up an incredible 26.9 and 11.8 boards in his last 10 games.
A report from the US Airways Center in Phoenix, where the Timberwolves faced the Suns on January 16th.
At first glance, you probably wouldn't have expected the Timberwolves to go into Phoenix and beat the Phoenix Suns as they did on Friday night. After all, Minnesota was just 11-26 before this one, and the Suns -- though up and down at times -- have begun to figure things out and seem to be a team on the rise.
But if Minnesota's win was really that much of a surprise, you probably haven't been paying close attention.