A Legend Becoming an Even Greater Legend: Mike Krzyzewski

In his 37th season as a college basketball head coach, "coach k" Mike Krzyzewski will tonight if not already, make his mark as the greatest college basketball coach in history.

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski, whose name's pronunciation is just as difficult to figure out as trying to beat his team, will have the record of 903 wins as a division I coach if Duke can overcome the Michigan State Spartans tonight.

Krzyzewski is currently tied with Bob Knight, who coached Krzyzewski when he played for army.

Duke has only missed the NCAA tournament 3 times since Krzyzewski has been the head coach and that isn't counting the one half of a season in 1994-95 he had to miss due to illness.

When it is all said and done, if he loses or wins tonight, it won't take long for him to reach 903. To me, he has already reached his greatest potential. The moment i saw him take USA basketball to gold medals in the Olympics, I knew this guy was a basketball genius.

He is in the ranks of a Pat Riley, Phil Jackson , a Joe Paterno without the scandal. He is Duke university.

As Small As A Giant : Austin Rivers

In a year full of forwards and center draft prospects, Duke freshman guard Austin Rivers, son of Celtics coach Doc Rivers, is my top NBA prospect this year. He stands at 6 feet 4 inches tall and was the number one high school basketball player in the nation.  His penetrating ability and 45 inch vertical leap will make him a one a done college basketball player.

This is becoming a repeating occurrence within college basketball players.  We have seen Kevin Durant, Tyreke Evans, Derrick Rose, Eric Gordon , and John Wall show their college basketball skills for one year and make their mark in the NBA. What is next ? Can we see in the near future a middle school basketball player dominating NBA players in a street game?

I'll just stick with Austin Rivers being my top draft prospect. You be the judge. 

First Locked Out and Now........Divorce

After only 72 days and multiple episodes on reality television, Kris Humphries is now an unrestricted free agent in an NBA lockout and an unrestricted bachelor. 

In a perfect world, I would say I saw this coming.  In our world of harsh reality, I saw it coming as well.  Kim Kardashian, who is a model and reality TV star, has been known to date a couple of athletes back in her day.  She just so happen to marry this one, then divorce him.

Kardashian has dated wide receiver Miles Austin of the Dallas Cowboys and former New Orleans running back Reggie Bush.  Her sister Khloe is also one with the athletes as she is married to Lakers forward Lamar Odom.

As an unemployed basketball player, Humphries probably regrets signing a prenuptial agreement with Kardashian, whose net worth is $35 million.

According to TMZ, Humphries still wants to make it work, but we've seen situations like this with celebrities all the time.  Even when celebrity relationships look heaven sent, they still end.  Singers Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson were the epitome of that on their reality show.  Then again, we don't always know what happens beyond the camera.  As I saw, the relationship of Humphries and Kardashian wasn't too pretty.

With that said, at least Humphries, who averaged career highs in rebound and points last season, can have more time to work on his game. 

The Wade Era?

In a recent conversation on ESPN's 1st & 10, analysts Stephen A. Smith and Skip Bayless named their top NBA players and agreed that Miami Heat superstar Dwyane Wade is the best player in the NBA. 

For a long time, the "black mamba" Kobe Bryant was named the best player in the NBA.  He was the new Michael Jordan and the face of NBA superstars.  Times have changed and Dwyane Wade's Commendable skills have taken him out of the shadows.  I always believed that he was one of the most underrated players in the game and probably still is. As an undersized shooting guard, he dominates the game in a way Michael Jordan did, with acrobatic finishes and clutch performances. Call Smith and Bayless crazy, but I agree with their assertions.

ESPN and The True Hoops Network had LeBron James on the top of the list.

"It's pathetic that LeBron is No.1," said Smith. 

Just by the number, Wade qualifies to be called the best player. In eight years, he has career averages of 25 points, 2 steals, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds a game. He has also been titled the best blocking guard by multiple analysts.  He will probably go down as the best player to never win a regular season MVP. 

Wade has never won a regular season MVP but did lead the Miami Heat to a championship in 2006 against the Dallas Mavericks and was awarded with the playoffs MVP.  

Smith and Bayless both included Kobe Bryant and scoring champ Kevin Durant in the top five, but left out LeBron James because of his habit to become invisible in late-game situations. 

NBA Lockout Hero: George Cohen ??

The Associated Press reported that George Cohen, who was also the mediator of the NFL lockout will try to mediate the NBA dispute.

His position as the Director of Federal Mediation and Concilation Service has not even given me the slightest bit of hope for this lockout to end. Cohen does have a nice resume though, helping out in dispute with the Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball. Unfortunately, every sport and the individuals within these sports are different.

The players don't need another rich official telling them what they need to do. Let us be real. A lot of these players come from broke down homes and communities and have people to feed. They are also the ones putting those ticket buyers in the seats. No one goes to watch owners eat popcorn in the presedential seating. The players and owners are asking for 53 percent of the revenue. It is reasonable for the players to get that that 53 percent because they out number the owners by a billion.

According to Derrick Fisher and Dywane Wade, the players aren't to blame. The owners probably feel the same way. This dispute isn't going anywhere, but i feel one of the sides have to show that this game is not for the money. This is for the fans and the love of the game and it is time to give up the money.

Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman believes the players should just give up. He thinks most players don't even care for the game, just the money. I can help but think that "money makes the world go round."

Baller Turn Rapper: Brandon Bass

I have yet again found another NBA player that is pursuing a rap career during this lockout.  Orlando Magic Power Forward Brandon Bass is telling the people about his "Billion Dollar Dreams".  At this point in his career, he is no where near a billion dollars because he already lost his pay check for the first two weeks of the season.

Brandon Bass averaged a career high of 11 points and 6 rebounds a game for the Magic last season.  He is undersized but his athleticism makes up for what he lacks in height.  He has a nice mid-range jumper and a great build.  I can say his NBA game is better than his rhythmic poetry.

Kobe Bryant Doesn't Think Kwame Brown Can Play Basketball

At a recent interview at the University of California, Santa Barbara, Kobe Bryant told a story about Kwame Brown, claiming that it was a tough start to the 2007-08 season because playing with guys like Kwame Brown. They later traded Brown for Pau Gasol who helped the Lakers win two championships.    

Kwame Brown, like Kobe Bryant was a number one overall draft pick out of high school, but they have no relation when actually talking about their NBA games.  Kwame Brown is known as the biggest "bust" in NBA history.  For his career he averaged 7 points and 6 rebounds a game.  That isn't horrible, but it also isn't worthy of a number one overall draft pick. 

If Kobe wants to talk about a horrible player, can we not remember players like Sean Bradley, the 7 foot 6 inch tall center whose greatest defensive attribute was getting dunked on. I could talk about Mark Madsen, who was a teammate of Kobe Bryant for several years and had a stronger bench presents than his actual play on the court.  Let us not forget the second overall pick in 2003, Darko Milicic, who has been on more teams than his rebound average. 

Kwame Brown may not be the best or worst basketball player, but he sure is bigger than Kobe Bryant.  If I was Kobe, I'd watch what i say.  Here is what Kobe had to say: