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?
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.
The Warriors love to play gracious antagonist to all seeking stupendous, silly, stupid and downright outlandish individual lines. And really, it's hard to pick between three of Sunday's Golden State opponents.
On the one hand, Mehmet Okur went gonzo, scoring 23 points in just 26 minutes. Then there's Ronnie Brewer, a cat on an absolutely vicious tear of late: one night after dropping 26 on the Kings, Brewer put up a 21/9/6/3 line on GSW. But it's impossible to look past a nice round number like 20. As in Deron Williams' 20 assists. D-Will had a rough night shooting, but did I mention the 20 assists?
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.
When assistant coaches have to pick just nine rookies and nine sophomores for the Rookie Challenge to be played on All-Star Friday, it's likely that a good player or two will be left out. Big names (Greg Oden) earn deference, bit players on good teams (Rudy Fernandez) get a bump in recognition, and sometimes the snubs and their associates feel a little spurned.
Maybe the most biting comments came from Kevin McHale, who coaches a fairly high-performing lottery pick in Kevin Love. For his part, Love called the vote "bulls---" and said it inspired a 17-point, 10-rebound performance against the Pistons. McHale, donning the attitude of a CIA interrogator, started asking questions.
FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't.
HEADLINER Philadelphia at New Orleans, 8PM ET
Quietly, the 76ers are back in your picture. The folks that called third place in the East (or better) ... well, the team's still outside your picture. But if you thought it'd be a solid playoff team, an improved version of the pre-Elton 2007-08 version, then this is about right.
The biggest surprise in Rookie of the Year balloting wasn't (sniveling) Kevin Love's low placement (sixth) -- it was Suns rook Robin Lopez earning a second-place vote.
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.
NBA Essentials provides the must-see links, quotes and videos of the day.
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.
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.
Al Jefferson admitted to reporters on Sunday that he feared the worst after feeling his right knee pop following an awkward landing. On Monday, an MRI exam confirmed those fears: he will miss the rest of the season with a torn ACL. 
When assistant coaches have to pick just nine rookies and nine sophomores for the Rookie Challenge to be played on All-Star Friday, it's likely that a good player or two will be left out. Big names (Greg Oden) earn deference, bit players on good teams (Rudy Fernandez) get a bump in recognition, and sometimes the snubs and their associates feel a little spurned.
FanHouse's NBA Guide gives you a daily look at all the games that matter ... and some that don't. 
