Denver's previous coach wasn't bashful about title talk.
"To win a championship, you've got to talk championship,'' Michael Cooper said on several occasions as members of the media attempted to keep from snickering.
Let's just say Cooper, who compiled a 4-10 interim coaching stint before being silenced in January 2005, didn't do much more than talk championship.
Now, the guy who replaced Cooper is doing a lot of such spouting. But nobody is snickering.
"I believe this team can win a championship,'' said George Karl, who has led the Nuggets to five straight playoff berths since taking over.
Stanford has ruled the Pac-10 Women's basketball landscape for the past 20 years, and California and Arizona State have recently emerged to make the conference a three-team scramble for supremacy. But two recent hires by Oregon and USC have made it apparent that women's basketball is indeed becoming a higher priority on the West Coast.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.
Los Angeles Sparks star Candace Parker is an amazing basketball player averaging over 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists a game. She is one of the leading candidates for WNBA rookie of the year. In this video we talk to Parker and find out to which NBA superstar her fans are compairing her. We also catch up with Coach Michael Cooper who shares with us his successful coaching philosophy.
We don't do much WNBA around these parts, but this is definitely worth checking out. The Sparks' Candace Parker became just the second woman to dunk in a WNBA game, breaking away for the one-handed jam during a home victory yesterday.
Besides the dunk being a semi-historic event, there are a couple of other great things about this video. The announcer for the highlight reel is John Ireland, a sideline reporter for the Lakers who is clearly still bummed about the beating his team took in the NBA Finals, and couldn't care less about Parker's feat. Then there's Sparks' coach Michael Cooper. Coop's been known to say some dumb things in the past, but calling the dunk "exuberating" is really pushing the boundaries of the English language (exhilarating, maybe, coach?). And comparing the dunk to something Michael Jordan might have done? Well, let's just say I'd be in favor of drug testing for head coaches.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video we catch up with two of the hottest names in the WNBA, Candace Parker and Lisa Leslie, the stars of the Los Angeles Sparks. We also learn what the term "mouse-in-the-house" means on the basketball court. Around 1:50 into the video we find out from Candace who would win if she played Kobe Bryant one-on-one. AOL Video link. Youtube link.
Elie Seckbach, the Embedded NBA Correspondent, brings his exclusive NBA reporting to FanHouse. Check back here regularly for more videos.
In this video, we talk to basketball star and the number one draft pick Candace Parker in her new Sparks uniform. Around 1:55 into the video we catch up with Lisa Leslie who tells us about her game face.
That's from the annual Magic Johnson All-Star Game in 1986, a charity game organized by Magic every summer that looked a lot like the actual All-Star game played in February. And to think, not only was that dunk contest epic but most of the players showed their stuff without needing 16 attempts at a single dunk.
On a side note, did they really call Spud Webb "Lil Tater" back in the day?
Update: It really is impossible to "discover" anything on YouTube, these days: Shoals had this months ago, though this version sticks with the hokey announcers instead of a snazzy soundtrack.
Despite the general consensus amongst my Fanhouse colleagues, as well as the experts on TNT's post game show last night, I don't think LeBron made a mistake by passing the ball to Donyell Marshall. I actually think he made a good play. Especially with Tayshaun Prince smothering him and other Pistons coming to help. He's great, but he's not superman.
Although, I do agree that the chance for him to get to the foul line on that play was pretty high. But if he gets the call and if he makes both, they still were going to overtime with at best a 50-50 shot of winning (given that the game was in Detroit, it probably was less than that). LeBron just saw Marshall open in his money spot and decided to give it up to him. Marshall shoots around 40% from the right corner this season (See: his NBA Hotzone profile). And I guarantee that most of the time Marshall isn't that wide open when he shoots from that spot. I say the odds of Marshall hitting a wide open three from his money spot had to be at least 50%.
So basically the Cavs odds of winning were about the same. About a 50% chance to win the game if he gets fouled and makes both free throws or if he makes a miraculous left handed lay up or dunk to send the game into overtime, versus a 50% chance of Marshall hitting a wide open three. Not really a big difference in my eyes. The funny thing is that if LeBron would have taken an ill advised shot, everyone and their mother would be ragging on him for not finding the open man. As well, if Marshall's shot would have gone in, everyone would be praising LeBron for being unselfish. Welcome to Kobe Bryant's world, LeBron.
Side note: It's funny how Magic Johnson could be so critical of LeBron's action's last night, when I can recall him making similar plays throughout his career. Here's one off of the top of my head: Game 5 of the Lakers/Jazz 1988 series. Magic has the ball in his hands, drives and then kicks it out for an open Michael Cooper. Before that play, Cooper had never hit a game winner in his entire career. Yet Magic was praised for his decision making. Hey Magic, thank goodness you played before the age of the internet, or you might have had your every move second guessed constantly like Kobe and LeBron.
FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.
Despite the general consensus amongst my 
