FanHouse Tip Off Timer

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Tuesday, there are zero days remaining!

LeBron James is the most important player in the NBA -- both on and off the court.

He's already one of the all-time greats at age 24, and as the reigning MVP, he puts up the type of numbers you'd expect to see only in a video game. And you know what's really scary? No one knows just how good he can actually be.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Monday, there is one day remaining.

He was known as The Big O, but all he wanted to be was No. 1.

His production was unrivaled. He put up fat numbers. Big, fat, succulent numbers; numbers so ripe and beautiful you couldn't help but stand and gawk. Of course, you know about his famous 1961-62 triple-double season (30.8 points, 12.5 boards and 11.4 dimes) and that he averaged a triple-double (30.3 ppg, 10.4 rpg, 10.6 apg) for the first five seasons of his career.

And wIth 29.3 points per game, 10.3 assists and 8.4 rebounds for the first 10 seasons of his career, Oscar Robertson was second to none in the NBA at the point guard position.

But there was another big, fat number that also defined The Big O -- 0, as in zero NBA titles. Zero, as in big, fat goose egg.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 4 days remaining.

Point guard Derek Fisher doesn't wear No. 4 for the Los Angeles Lakers, but he probably should. It's the number that has defined him.

Four has meant good fortune for Fisher.

His catch-and-shoot basket with .4 remaining in Game 5 was the defining moment for the upset of the defending champion San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference final of 2004.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Thursday, there are 5 days remaining.

It takes five years of retirement for a player to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Make it 10 for Dennis Rodman, who always did things differently. He did win five NBA titles.

If you think that Michael Jordan caused a commotion with an unconventional acceptance speech last month when he headlined the Class of 2009, just wait until Rodman shows up in 2010 wearing a dress and lipstick.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Wednesday, there are 6 days remaining.

As much as we like to get lathered up over today's talented stars like Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, it's sometimes good to step back and put them in perspective.

They still don't hold a candle to Michael Jordan.

If you think they do, come back to us when they reach Double 6's, which is the number that explains Jordan's greatness as well as any statistic ever placed beside his name.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Monday, there are 8 days remaining.

This was the kind of domination that puts to shame the Los Angeles Lakers of this decade and the Chicago Bulls of the '90s. It's something those outstanding teams could only dream about.

It's the kind of domination that professional sports will never ever see again.

The Boston Celtics won eight consecutive championships from 1959 to 1966, the most impressive streak in high-profile team sports, a mind-boggling string that sounds almost mythical today.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Sunday, there are nine days remaining.

At first glance, it might appear that the No. 9 hasn't had much meaning in the NBA.

Only two Hall of Famers have worn it (the Hawks' Bob Pettit and Bobby Wanzer, who sported "09" for seven of his nine seasons with the Rochester Royals), only two teams have retired it (the Hawks for Pettit and the Suns for Dan Majerle's tan) and -- with apologies to Literrial Green and Ruben Nembhard -- most of the other 185 players to don the digit have besmirched it with little more than the sweat from pregame warmups.

Yet, upon closer inspection, it's clear the No. 9 has played a significant role in the history of basketball -- from the game's invention to its greatest player to the ball itself (which is just more than nine inches in diameter).

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Saturday, there are 10 days remaining.

Is Phil Jackson really the best basketball coach in history? Or is he just the luckiest coach for all the great players he has had?

The correct answer might be somewhere in between. Or he might be both.

You can't dispute that his 10 championships rings -- breaking his tie with the legendary Red Auerbach -- gives him the most impressive resume of anyone who ever coached in this league.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 11 days remaining.

The NBA All-Star Game every year is filled with players who never score 2,000 points in a single season.

Karl Malone did it a record 11 consecutive seasons, the most significant statistic he recorded during one of the greatest careers in NBA history.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Thursday, there are 12 days remaining.

You would think that a decade into the post-Jordan world, the ubiquitous No. 23 might have become the NBA's most popular jersey number of all time. While the number is popular, it's not the most popular. Nor is No. 1, long worn by self-professed top-notch players (some of which ended up looking deluded).

The most popular jersey number in NBA history is actually No. 12, which some 327 players have worn for at least one NBA season.