Kevin Garnett has a reputation as a villain on the basketball court, at least to those wearing the uniform of the team he's going up against that particular night. While he's sometimes been criticized for taking things too far, It's understandable to a point, because in the heat of the game, it's not exactly to your advantage to play well with others.
But what about off the court?
When there's no game, the cameras aren't rolling, and no one else is around, that's when a person's true self is exposed, good or bad. And this little story about how Garnett treated a couple of the Pacers' rookies over the summer shows that his off-the-court persona might be just as rough as the one we're accustomed to seeing on it.
Not long ago, the Indiana Pacers were said to have a character problem, what with players such as Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest and Jamaal Tinsley. That issue, we know, has been taken care of.
Now the Pacers have a talent problem. As in, not enough of it.
Golden boy NCAA champ Tyler Hansbrough, a lottery pick of the Pacers, isn't getting off on the right foot -- err, shin -- in Indianapolis. A nagging shin injury Hansbrough dealt with at the start of his senior season at North Carolina has returned, and the rook has been deemed to be out "indefinitely." That means he'll miss at the least the start of training camp this week, and perhaps the preseason or the opening weeks of the regular season.
The news ain't good for Mike Dunleavy, either. Lil' Dun missed the majority of 2008-09, and he won't be ready on time for this season either. Indy coach Jim O'Brien told media Dunleavy won't likely be practicing until November, which puts the forward on schedule to miss at least a half-dozen regular season games.
The injuries have opened up an opportunity for other players, though. Like Rod Benson.
ORLANDO -- The last time Tyler Hansbrough played a game, there were 70,000 people in attendance and a national television audience watching the NCAA Championship.
This was a little different.
Hansbrough, the Atlantic Coast Conference all-time leading scorer from UNC, made his professional debut Monday for the Indiana Pacers at the Orlando Pro Summer League.
There were 300 people in the gym when the Pacers beat a Nets/Sixers combo team. He played in a reserve role – he said for the first time since his freshman year of high school.
"It was a change. There weren't a lot of people in the stands yelling at me, telling me how bad I was,'' Hansbrough played. "I had kind of gotten used to that. It always motivated me.''
In four years, Danny Granger has gone from the 17th player picked in the 2005 draft – behind such notables as Martell Webster, Fran Vazquez and Yaroslav Korolev – to the NBA's fifth leading scorer, trailing only Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitzki.
His neighborhood has changed dramatically.
Granger spoke with FanHouse Tuesday afternoon, proud of his new association with EAS (Energy-Athletics-Strength, a nutrition/supplement product), but even more proud of the NBA player he is becoming.
He won the league's Most Improved Player Award in 2009, when he averaged 25.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.7 assists for the Indiana Pacers. He has become a franchise foundation, thriving in Indiana while a major housecleaning commenced around him.
In the weakest NBA draft in years, sitting out might have been the best thing to do. All the fireworks were done before it even began. The Cavs traded for Shaq. The Magic added Vince Carter. The Wizards snagged Mike Miller instead of the No. 5 pick. Several teams showed little interest in getting involved.
Keep reading after the jump for the Eastern Conference rundown.
In our first true shock of the draft, Indiana picked UNC senior forward Tyler Hansbrough, the most hard-working athlete in the history of hard-working athlete.
Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski had reported minutes before Indiana's pick was announced that the team would be grabbing a different senior, Sam Young of Pitt. Instead, Young might drop to the 20s. Where everyone expected Hansbrough to land.
The day of reckoning has arrived for some 90 or so prospects hoping to be an NBA Draft pick. The day of reckoning has also arrived for some 9,000 mock drafters, who desperately try to get it right even though no one ever could on a consistent basis.
And, if I may, a word about the recent backlash against mock drafts from the key mock draft writers. The major draft experts from ESPN and DraftExpress told the New York Times last week that they hate mock drafts. But the mock draft is like their version of a test. It's too arbitrary, too black and white. It creates an impossible task. But thems the breaks when you're in a field in which performance matters. If Chad Ford didn't have to put out a mock, he could forever avoid criticism, basically. It's his job to analyze and predict the draft. How could we judge his efficacy without looking at his mock the morning after? It's like Amar'e Stoudemire telling everyone he hates to rebound. (Oh wait ...)
I love mock drafts! You'll find my final version after the jump.
FanHouse was fortunate enough (thanks to the kind folks at EA Sports) to talk with likely No. 1 overall 2009 NBA Draft pick -- and current cover superstar for EA's NCAA Basketball 10 -- Blake Griffin. That's right, as of Tuesday, it was announced that Griffin would grace the cover of everyone's favorite college basketball game.
We talked to Blake about the upcoming draft, what it's like to be on the cover, the fear of being thrown into a losing culture like that of the Clippers, what kind of suit he'll be wearing on draft night, and, of course, his favorite video game of all time. The full interview is after the jump.
As we roll on toward the 2009 NBA Draft, FanHouse's Matt Moore and Tom Ziller turn their attention toward the players who deserve the hype. Previous draft debates focused on Ricky Rubio and Hasheem Thabeet.
Ziller: At the end of our last debate, you asked who I thought deserved more hype. That is, of course, a tricky question, considering the entire draft is built on hype. In fact, the role of the media (professional, semi-pro and amateur) is often to debunk hype. As many have ruminated, it's highly unlikely the next Amar'e, Maravich, Wade and Dikembe are really in this draft.
Kevin Garnett has a reputation as a villain on the basketball court, at least to those wearing the uniform of the team he's going up against that particular night. While he's sometimes been criticized for taking things too far, It's understandable to a point, because in the heat of the game, it's not exactly to your advantage to play well with others.
FanHouse 
Golden boy NCAA champ 
ORLANDO -- The last time 
In four years, 
In the weakest NBA draft in years, sitting out might have been the best thing to do. All the fireworks were done before it even began. The 
In our first true shock of the draft, Indiana picked UNC senior forward 
The day of reckoning has arrived for some 90 or so prospects hoping to be an 
FanHouse was fortunate enough (thanks to the kind folks at EA Sports) to talk with likely No. 1 overall 2009 
As we roll on toward the 2009 
