Well...no good NBA pic's today, so here one of my 5 months pregnant and very prety missus...

As the NFL Combine continues, Maryland TE Vernon Davis is the latest workout freak…he benched 225 pounds 33 times and then the 263-point Davis ran the 40 in 4.39. How fast was Davis? During the pass-catching workout he was outrunning many of the passes tossed in his direction….

How historic are RedMo's achievements? Consider: Never in the 58-year history of the Associated Press poll have the nation's top two scorers finished the regular season on top-five teams. If Redick and Morrison can maintain their national scoring supremacy this week -- and if their teams can avoid losing --they will be the first.

Paul averaged 17.2 points per game and 9.5 assists per game in February. He's the first NBA rookie to average 17-plus points and 9-plus assists in a calendar month since Toronto's Damon Stoudamire (20.5 points per game and 10.1 assists per game) in March 1996. (Minimum: 10 games played in the month.)

Cliff Robinson played 21 minutes and passed Michael Jordan for 15th in career minutes played with 41,022. In his 17th season, Robinson is now 37 behind Scottie Pippen for 14th

How can these players be left off the US Olympic Team list:

Allen Iverson
Chris Webber
Rasheed Wallace
Baron Davis
Stephon Marbury
Jason Richardson
Mike Bibby
Ricky Davis
Antawn Jamison
Richard Jefferson
Wally Szcerbiak
Sam Cassell

1) Kevin Hench of FOXSports.com looks at the divergent careers of Zeke and Joe:

Thomas, Dumars going different ways ... again

If you're going to build a basketball team in your own image, you better know who you are. Are you a narcissist who displays "a pattern of traits and behaviors which signify infatuation and obsession with one's self to the exclusion of all others?" Or, are you an altruist, willing to sublimate personal desire for the greater good of the whole? Were you a superstar at age 13, for whom the game always came quite easily? Or were you a long-underrated grinder who had to work hard for everything you earned? And, perhaps most important, which of these two players do you want on your team when you need a stop with the shot clock winding down in a tight playoff series? Are you Isiah Thomas, or are you Joe Dumars? While they once played side by side, Dumars and Thomas now reside at opposite ends of the NBA — the penthouse and the outhouse. And they have each arrived at their respective places by assembling rosters that are largely reflective of their own personal histories. Thomas was practically born a star, a gifted natural in hoop-crazy Chicago whose road from middle school phenom to a high school powerhouse to big-time college program to NBA Hall of Fame hit nary a speed bump. Dumars played high school basketball at a small-town football school in Natchitoches, La., before enrolling at McNeese State. When Dumars was drafted by the Pistons, it was to back up Thomas, whom he had listed as his favorite player in the McNeese State media guide. Thomas was always, unquestionably "The Man." Dumars was so often referred to as "underrated" as a pro that he took to asking reporters, "How do you get rated?" Along these different paths, you learn to admire different qualities. For our purposes, a basketball narcissist would be a me-first player capable of demoralizing his teammates with selfish tendencies on offense and indifferent defense, like, say, Stephon Marbury, Jamal Crawford or Steve Francis. Though Thomas was a more effective distributor than this three-headed monster he's brought together in New York, it should be remembered that he averaged 16.2 shots per game for his career, which is more than Francis (15.4) and almost as many as Marbury (16.9). Since getting regular minutes beginning in 2003-04 with the Bulls, Crawford has averaged 14.9 shots per game. By comparison to the Knicks' trigger-happy trio, team-first point guard John Stockton averaged just 9.1 shots for his career. Like Thomas before them, Marbury, Crawford and Francis were stars seemingly upon picking up a basketball. By middle school, Thomas was already becoming a Chicago hoop legend and he was recruited by hoop power St. Joseph's, where he led the school to a 73-15 record over four years. Drooled over by every major college program, he chose Indiana and led the Hoosiers to the national title in 1981 before bolting to the NBA after his sophomore year as the second overall pick. Marbury, too, was a star before high school, earning dropped-jaw praise as a 13-year-old in the book The Last Shot. After leading Coney Island's Lincoln High to city and state championships, Marbury swung through Georgia Tech for one year before fulfilling his birthright and signing an NBA contract after being selected fourth overall. Francis didn't have the stellar high school career that Thomas or Marbury enjoyed. Multiple matriculations from school to school and the death of his mother his senior year contributed to Francis starting only one game in high school. But his individual talent was undeniable and he quickly made up for lost time, dominating at two junior colleges before spending one year at Maryland and then going pro. After being drafted second overall, he shared NBA Rookie of the Year honors with Elton Brand in 2000. Crawford was a prep star, twice named Washington State Player of the Year, who wanted to turn pro right out of high school. He played only 17 games as a freshman at Michigan, missing 12 due to an NCAA suspension for declaring his intention to enter the NBA draft out of high school, though his letter of declaration to the NBA arrived a day late. After that one abbreviated season in the Big Ten, Crawford was drafted eighth overall by the Bulls. But in constructing the Knicks in his own image, Thomas hasn't limited himself to perimeter prima donnas of whom nothing difficult — like defense — has ever been asked. He also brought in fellow Chicago schoolboy legend Eddy Curry who was drafted right out of high school by the Bulls with the fourth overall pick in 2001. After dominating high schoolers with his mass, Curry — listed at 6-foot-11, 285 — saw his rebound-per-minute totals decline in each of his first four years in the pros. He's kicked it back up a notch this year, but at 6.3 rebounds a game, he's not going to make Knicks fans forget Willis Reed any time soon. When you've been coddled with the star treatment ever since the onset of adolescence, it's very hard to develop the qualities that make NBA champions. No one should underestimate the importance of Michael Jordan being cut from his high school team or Bill Russell being offered only one scholarship in forging the greatest competitive spirits in the history of the NBA. If there were one guiding principal for an NBA general manager to tack up on his wall, it should be: Beware the player for whom it has all come too easily. Dumars has learned this lesson because he lived it. A prolific scorer at his small college, he made himself into an All-NBA defender. While Isiah was getting most of the ink during those back-to-back championship seasons, Dumars was learning that lots of guys could fill it up — especially if they dominated the ball — but that guys who relished rebounding and defense — and playing without the ball — were harder to find. And so Dumars has built a championship team in Detroit, assembling a group of players whose gifts were often overlooked or unappreciated by others. He acquired the unloved and undrafted Ben Wallace from Orlando in the Grant Hill deal and made him the anchor of his defense. He traded the overrated Jerry Stackhouse, who piled up numbers by dominating the ball, for the underrated Richard Hamilton, who became an All-Star by playing brilliantly without the ball. After four teams had given up on Chauncey Billups, Dumars gave him the reins and watched one of the most remarkable transformations in NBA history. Perhaps Dumars, himself a "tweener" — undersized at shooting guard, yet not really a point guard despite being an excellent passer — empathized with Billups, who has emerged as an MVP candidate this season. Dumars drafted Tayshaun Prince with the 23rd pick in 2002. To others, he was too skinny, too ungainly and had no real position. To Dumars, he was the kind of guy a right-handed shooter would have nightmares about, a long, 6-foot-9 lefty who could move his feet. And then Dumars brought in the final piece of the puzzle: the volatile Rasheed Wallace. While many viewed it as a risk and a potentially combustible addition to a stable mix, Dumars took comfort in two things: 1) Rasheed came cheap and 2) through all the technicals, pouting and fits of persecution, the 6-foot-11 forward/center had remained a solid defender. Having spent his entire career checking Jordan, Dumars appreciates hard-nosed defense above all else. He has built a team in his own image, and it's a good image. In his outstanding book, The Rivalry: Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain and the Golden Age of Basketball, John Taylor chronicles the difference in the college courtships of Russell and Chamberlain and how it informed their careers. Everyone wanted Chamberlain, a star at Overbrook High in Philadelphia, and he knew he'd be bestowing a great gift on the college he chose (Kansas). This came to be how Wilt viewed his every moment, a great gift to those lucky enough to share it. Russell, contrarily, felt deeply indebted to the University of San Francisco and coach Phil Woolpert, repaying them with back-to-back national titles in 1955 and 1956. He never felt entitled to anything on the court; every rebound, every blocked shot, every ounce of respect had to be earned, night in, night out. Chamberlain and Russell were the original basketball narcissist and altruist. It's not Isiah's fault that he was idolized too much too young. Nor was it Joe Dumars' fault that he was rebuffed by Louisiana State University. But if you want to know why one of these guys is going to preside over a 60-loss season while the other is winning another championship, it's all right there in their bios.

2) From the AP, NCAA schools are not all about academics:

Ninety-nine teams at 65 schools produced failing marks under the NCAA's new academic measurements and could begin losing scholarships next fall. Teams that fall below the NCAA's cutoff line would not be able to replace those scholarships when academically ineligible athletes leave school. The NCAA has limited penalties to a maximum of 10 percent of the scholarships. Football teams had the worst overall results Thursday, followed by baseball and men's basketball. Nine women's programs were penalized. The NCAA also released a list of schools that consistently outperformed the academic standards. Among those were Brown, Harvard, Yale, Notre Dame, the three U.S. military academies and William and Mary. NCAA officials said they were pleased with the improvement over last year when it appeared 6 percent of schools could be sanctioned. Less than 2 percent of all teams were actually penalized Thursday because of their academic performance. NCAA president Myles Brand attributed some of the improvement to a statistical adjustment made for squad size -- something that will eventually be phased out. "Our goal is not to sanction schools but to change behavior, and we are seeing some positive results," Brand said. "But those schools who were helped by the squad-size adjustment are at risk." Sacramento State in California had the most teams affected (six) and could face the loss of as many five athletes. The school could lose as many as 2.3 scholarships. Prairie View A&M, in Texas, was among the hardest sanctioned schools. It could lose nearly 10 athletes in five sports and be penalized 5.3 scholarships in football and nearly eight altogether. Ten schools could lose more than 17 athletes in football alone. Only seven teams in the six power conferences -- Atlantic Coast, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12, Southeastern and Pac-10 -- were sanctioned. Four schools -- Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and Texas of the Big 12, and Tennessee of the SEC -- had insufficient scores in baseball. West Virginia of the Big East was penalized in men's wrestling and Mississippi of the SEC was sanctioned in men's indoor track. DePaul of the Big East was the only power conference school to be penalized in football or men's basketball. It could lose one scholarship in men's basketball. There is some concern that historically black colleges and universities were affected disproportionately. "It is an issue," Brand said. "A number of those institutions received mission exemptions, but there are a number of institutions that are still not performing as well for student-athletes as they are for the rest of the student body." Kevin Lennon, the NCAA's vice president for membership services, said 63 teams received waivers, primarily based on mission statements. Sixteen waivers were rejected. Forty-three football teams fell below the cutline, with 23 actually sanctioned. Baseball was second with 40 teams missing the cutline and 21 facing penalties; and men's basketball was third with 37 teams failing to make the grade and 17 receiving sanctions. Brand said baseball has been hit harder because more players leave school early for professional leagues and transfer rules do permit baseball players to sit out one season before continuing their college career. Harsher penalties will be handed out in the future. Next year, the NCAA will begin sending warning letters to schools whose teams have historically fared poorly in academics. In 2007-08, those schools could face the loss of scholarships and in 2008-09, the penalties could include a ban from postseason tournaments.

3) ESPN.com’s BJ Armstrong thinks Shaq is coasting too much:

Shaq's on and off approach

There goes Ryan Gomes beating him up court. Raef LaFrentz is running ahead of him, no problem. Delonte West is shooting open shots. And Paul Pierce is driving unimpeded to the hoop. Watching Shaquille O'Neal and the Miami Heat in Wednesday night's 103-96 win over the Boston Celtics, you see ample evidence of the big man sticking to a belief that he can turn it on and off, and peak at the end of the season. Even as a Celtics team is sprinting past him. "I always break the season down into four parts, and this is the third part for me," Shaq was quoted as saying in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, "so I'm just trying to pick it up a little bit and in the next 20 games really pick it up and have a different sense of urgency before we go into the playoffs. It's just me getting into my flow, into my rhythm." Um, Shaq, I don't know if this is going to work. What Shaq is telling me with this, is "we'll do just enough to win the game." Well, what if you don't win? Shaq's older now, and his experience tells him what lies ahead, and he must conserve his energy. But the downside of his experience is that it's easy talk yourself into shortchanging your approach. You can't control winning and losing. But you can control effort. At some point, you've got to show up and play ball. I believe that defensive play is the one thing that carries over from the regular season to the playoffs. Offense? You miss your shots and you're out. Another problem: The Heat don't seem to have the urgency to achieve as a team that hasn't won a championship should. When we won our first title with Chicago in 1991, we as a group knew that we were only as good as our last effort. Effort or no effort, this is a subpar Miami defensive team at best. I see some glaring weaknesses: Their inability to defend on the perimeter against dribble penetration; perimeter shooting is average; and they have difficulty defending the power forward position. Antoine Walker and Udonis Haslem are undersized at that position, especially when you consider they could potentially be matching up with Rasheed Wallace or Tim Duncan. Make no mistake, the Heat certainly have a chance. They have the right coach. They have the roster capable of beating the Pistons. With Gary Payton, Alonzo Mourning and Walker coming off the bench, that gives them a solid eight-man rotation. We saw Shandon Anderson giving them good offense against the Celtics. And of course, there's Dwyane Wade. It all returns to the question of turning it on and off. You could count on Shaq in his prime to be going full out for about 79 out of 82 games. Now he's Shaq only about half the time. Shaq had 16 points and nine boards in the win over Boston. Some of his numbers have improved as the year has gone on. For February, his 21.2 ppg average is up from January's 19.6 ppg. I don't know about not giving maximum effort. Either the light is on, or the light is off -- no sense making a point about "off-ness." That's just a shadow in a world of illusion. Living in the illusion is comfortable. It is the truth that you really fear. The truth is you've got to really work, every night. So what does "off" look like? If they're not careful, maybe it's the lights of Miami's home court, turned off earlier than hoped.

4) Chris Ballard of SI.com with a great article on the Clipper Caveman:

Mystery man - Unpredictable Kaman big reason for Clippers' success

It's possible you have not given much thought to the Clippers of late. Perhaps it's been on your NBA to-do list, just after "Watch Phoenix/solve mystery of Boris Diaw's emergence" and just before "Watch Toronto/solve mystery of Rafael Araujo draft pick." But there is only so much time and, understandably, so much of it is necessarily consumed by reading about Isiah Thomas. But now is a good time to consider the Clips, and in particular center Chris Kaman. As of today, the team is 32-23 and holds the fifth seed in the West, its best start in 30 years. More important, these Clippers play with something dangerously close to a swagger, which can't be said of past squads. Just listen to the longest-tenured of the bunch, Corey Maggette (for perspective: he was in L.A. during the Cherokee Parks era, which no doubt has just for the first time been referred to as an "era"). "It's not like the old Clippers," -- and here Maggette imitates a dismissive NBA player -- "'Oh we're playing the Clippers, we'll just check it off as a win.' Not no more. You ain't going to walk in here and expect to get a win. If you don't play, you're in trouble!" In making this proclamation locker room before a recent game, Maggette manages to seem almost intimidating. At least, that is, until a moment later, when Kaman jokingly asks him, "You playing tonight?" Maggette's answer: "Yeah ... with my balls!" (Kaman apparently inspires goofiness: after the game, he can be seen engaging forward Walter McCarty in a heated fencing match in which each man is armed with shower sandals. Sadly, no official score is kept). Despite the hijinks, the point is that the Clips are finally good and, from all indications, relatively collapse-proof. There are many reasons for this, including the acquisitions of Sam "I am toting Giant Imaginary Testicles" Cassell and Cuttino Mobley; the stewardship of Mike Dunleavy and Elgin Baylor and the inspired play of Elton Brand (about whom I will say little, as I wrote a story about him for this week's magazine). The least-heralded factor, however, has been Kaman. Brand recently argued that Kaman was overlooked for the All-Star Game. This could be interpreted as Brand merely having his teammate's back, the same way coaches are sometimes forced to get technical fouls to demonstrate support for their players' gripes with the officials -- except for the fact that Brand's got a pretty good point. Of the centers who've been healthy this season -- that means discounting Yao Ming, Marcus Camby and Shaquille O'Neal -- only Brad Miller and Zydrunas Igauskas arguably have better numbers than Kaman's 11.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 52.2 field-goal percentage and 1.5 blocks (and neither of them made the All-Star squad either, which is interesting in itself). On a team with a surfeit of scoring options, Kaman does much of the dirty work. He's a smart player, he rebounds well and he's durable (he missed his first game of the year last week with a sprained ankle). Offensively, he has nice touch, is surprisingly agile and goes to his off hand more than any center in the league, shooting lefty runners, hooks and putbacks (a Western Conference scout I sat next to at a recent game pointed out that Kaman's left hand is better than a lot of big guys' right hands). Asked about this, Kaman thinks for a moment. "I probably finish 70 percent of the time with my left hand," he says. "Lately I've been using my right a little bit more, to throw people off a bit. For me, it's easier to shoot with my left hand. If I have opportunities with my right hand I'll take them, but if I don't need to, why would I?" One wants to respond, "Well, maybe because you're right-handed" but this would be to ignore the precepts of Kaman Logic, which is often, shall we say, creative. Much has been made of his appearance -- with the beard and stringy blonde hair that he hasn't cut in two years he looks like the lost Allman brother -- but Kaman would be an interesting dude even if he sported the Fred Hoiberg politician's helmet cut. For example, he has a unique method of managing his finances. "I don't have a checkbook because I spend all my money if I have it," he explains. "I have a $2,000 limit on my bankcard, and I don't even have a credit card. I'm just not a good guy with money. I can't control myself." This apparently stems from his rookie year, when he reportedly blew through his first $50,000 in a week and a half, giving it away to friends and family (the Long Beach Press Telegram had a good story on this). When it is mentioned that he exhibits impressive self-awareness, he shrugs. "I'm not a complete idiot. I know that I get out of control sometimes but I'm smart enough to know that when I need to stop, I need to stop, and the only way for me to do that is to not have something." Then there are his interactions with fans, some of whom dress up and call themselves Kamaniacs. He's been proposed to (more than once), asked for his jersey (while still wearing it) and, on occasion, asked for a lock of his hair. "I have no problem with it," he says. "If I was a fan and wanted something, I would hope that someone would be polite enough to say OK, or politely say no. Sometimes players are kind of jerks about stuff and I want to make sure that I'm never like that. These are the fans that enjoy watching the game and watching you play and you want to keep the fans, you don't want to lose them." That said, Kaman notes that he has yet to actually give up a piece of his hair or his jersey. "I'm not going to take my shirt off and just give it to them." And why not? "These jerseys are like $300 a piece!" he says. "That would get expensive." And how does he know that -- has he paid for one? "No, I suppose I haven't," he says. "But that's what I'm assuming." Told that Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas gives away his jersey after every home game, Kaman looks surprised. "For real?" he says. "Wow, I didn't know that. That's cool." Then he nods, lost in thought, pondering -- well, who knows what he's pondering. Perhaps he's considering doffing his jersey at a future Clipper game (get ready, ladies). Perhaps he's sizing up his interviewer for a flip-flop smackdown (he'd have a distinct reach advantage). Or perhaps he's thinking about an embargo on all right-handed shots. Who knows. He's sort of like the Clippers as a whole right now: pleasantly unpredictable.

5) Joe Stevens of the Long Beach Press-Telegram with an interesting article on Chris Kaman:

Kaman's look that of a winner for L.A.

Donning long blond wigs and fake beards, a handful of fans came to a recent Clipper game calling themselves "The Kamaniacs" and emulating their new hero Chris Kaman. The fans cheered every time Kaman touched the ball and had such an outrageous look to mimic him that it could be reasonable to make this conclusion: Not only has Kaman arrived in the NBA this season, but with hair that hasn't been cut in two years and a scraggly beard in perpetual need of a trim, some fans even view him as a cult figure. “I don't know what you're talking about," Kaman said. "I'm not in any cult. I don't know anybody that's in any cult." What he does know, however, is what it takes to average 11.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in the NBA. In his third professional season, Kaman already has emerged as one of the top centers in the league. He might simply look like an oddball or a throwback to the 1970s or a man not too concerned with grooming. But as he deals with attention deficit disorder and as he yearns to hunt and work on muscle cars, it is obvious that there is much more to the Clipper center than his out-of-the-ordinary appearance. And if you ask him, his look is not out of the ordinary, and neither is he. "I'm not like a wild, Ted Nugent psycho," Kaman said. "I'm not crazy. I don't like heavy metal. I don't enjoy drinking. I'm not a big drug guy. I've never done drugs." Kaman is a 7-footer who has the ability to use both power and finesse to score and defend. When he faces 7-foot-6 Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets tonight at Staples Center, if Houston has the advantage at center, it may not be that significant. Sure, Yao was voted as the starting center for the Western Conference All-Star team and is among the elite players in the league. But Kaman is an All-Star in the making. At least, that's what his teammate Elton Brand says. Actually, Brand is upset that Kaman was not selected to the squad this season. "Kaman … I don't understand. Who's playing better than him right now?" Brand said. "At least he'll have more years to come to be an All-Star, but I really can't name any center, especially in the West, that's playing better than he is." The Clippers have a lot of reasons why they stand at 30-19, more games above .500 than any other team in Clipper history. Kaman is one of those reasons. With Brand making the All-Star squad and Kaman among the league's top centers, coach Mike Dunleavy says the duo gives the Clippers the best inside game of any NBA team. A few statistics support that. Both Brand and Kaman are in the top 10 in field-goal percentage and rebounding. As a team, the Clippers lead the NBA in both rebounding and blocks. Though Kaman has made huge strides with consistency, compared to his first two seasons, Dunleavy says he's not the least bit surprised. "I've said all along and everybody from Day 1 when I've said this has looked at me like I'm out of my mind that this guy is like the white Tim Duncan," Dunleavy said. "Not right away. He's not ready for that. But three, four years down the road, I said, that's what I see. He's quick, athletic, very skilled fundamentally. There's nothing that he won't be able to do." Kaman's success has been far from overnight. He was a work in progress his first two years and a living exhibit of inconsistency. Dunleavy says the center's insatiable work ethic is what has keyed his development. The 23-year-old from Grand Rapids, Mich., credits his parents for that work ethic. Leroy and Pam Kaman, who have been married 28 years, raised Chris as a Christian and instilled blue-collar, Midwestern values. Leroy worked 25 years as a city employee in Wyoming, Mich., a suburb of Grand Rapids and had duties that including plowing roads and painting fire hydrants. Pam is a teacher's aide in a kindergarten class. By applying those values to his basketball game, he's been able to advance past being just another player with potential to a borderline All-Star. "My whole life, my parents gave me the Christian background," Kaman said. "Smoking, drinking, drugs, all of that was wrong. They raised me the right way." In Grand Rapids, Kaman picked up hobbies and a style that isn't common in the NBA. While his teammates enjoy hip-hop, he's into country music. While some players in the NBA wear jewelry and fancy suits, he prefers hooded sweatshirts and says he doesn't own a suit. He prefers working on cars, driving his 1972 Chevy Chevelle and hunting as opposed to going to clubs or doing anything flashy that is common among his pro basketball peers. In his home in Redondo Beach, three of his friends from back home live with him and act as his chef and assistants. Grand Rapids is a manufacturing town whose businesses have been hit in recent years by layoffs and cutbacks. In fact, Kaman's high school, Tri-Unity Christian School, had 200 students when he graduated in 2000. Now, the school has 120 students. One thing that Kaman learned growing up was not to take anything for granted. That's one reason why, even though he signed an $11.2 million contract when the Clippers made him the sixth overall pick in the 2003 NBA, his personality has not changed. "The nice thing about Chris is that he really does have a kind heart," said Mark Keeler, Kaman's coach at Tri-Unity. "He does care. When he was here, he cared. He cared about his teammates. He cared about his classmates, cared about his teachers. To see what he has accomplished doesn't surprise me at all because of who he is with his character and work ethic." Part of that caring manifested itself shortly after he signed with his agent, Rob Pelinka. With huge NBA paychecks on the horizon, his agent lent him $50,000, and he turned into some type of strange 7-foot charity. "I just gave it away to everybody friends, family," Kaman said. "After a week and a half, it was all gone, and my accountant was like, 'What the heck did you do with all of that money?" Right then, he knew I couldn't have a checkbook. So I haven't had a checkbook since. I don't have a credit card either. I just have a bank card, and the most I can spend in a day is $2,000." Throughout his life, Kaman has battled ADD, a neurological condition that hinders concentration. In high school, the battle was its fiercest. "I was a troublemaker," he said. "I was ADD. I was out of control. It wasn't criminal stuff, but stupid little things, that I didn't mean to do, but I did." When Keeler coached Kaman as a junior, he had a stretch in which he just couldn't get through to the center. Kaman was on Ritalin, always feeling tired and losing weight. Eventually, he switched from Ritalin to Adderall, and that made a huge difference. Ultimately, the switch helped him get on a path to landing a scholarship at Central Michigan. His mom, Pam, however, wasn't always sure her that would happen. "He was a handful," Pam said. "I used to wonder would would happen with him. He was difficult as a child, very difficult. I didn't know if he would end up in jail or what. He always had a great heart and good intentions, but he was so impulsive that he did things he shouldn't do." Chris was diagnosed with ADD at 2, and problems persisted practically from birth. When he was 4, he locked a babysitter out of the house and stayed inside, trying to cook. "We always wanted Chris to be successful, but didn't know how it would work out," Pam said. What would he have done, if it hadn't been for basketball? "I wouldn't have gone to school," he said. "I didn't care about school. It's probably bad to say that. I went to class and did my work, but it wasn't what I liked doing. I'd rather be outside, messing around outside." At Central Michigan and with the Clippers, he has not taken medication for ADD, but that does not mean the struggle with the disorder is done.Shortly after Kaman was drafted, Dunleavy wasn't pleased with his progress, but soon had an epiphany. "At one point, he just wasn't doing great, and I was wondering why we drafted him," Dunleavy said. "I got frustrated, and I took my jacket off and went on the court and started doing things, saying, 'Can you do this? Or what about this?" He kept doing what I was doing, and at that point, I got it." Dunleavy's discovery that Kaman was a visual learner opened the doors for the coach and his staff to get through to him. Throughout this season, fans like "The Kamaniacs" could be having their own epiphanies, seeing that Kaman has become more than just another high Clipper draft pick with potential. It might be easy to make fun of him because of his wild look or offbeat demeanor, but opponents certainly aren't laughing when they face him. "If you look at how I've played since I got in the league, it's been a steady incline," Kaman said. "It's not like it's been going down. I've been trying to make myself better every year. I think I'm just getting more opportunities, and I'm getting older. It's not like I have a lot of years, but each year, comes more experience, you know?" And more fans.

6) Ballard also gives it to Isaih:

Thomas succeeds in destroying Knicks' future

Attention everyone, I have an announcement. We are all being unfair to Isiah Thomas. I can't take credit for that statement though, because this decree comes from Thomas, who last week chided reporters, columnists, broadcasters, the pretzel guy, basically everyone within earshot of the Knicks hoop el jefe for falsely accusing the GM of running the Knicks payroll upwards of $125 million dollars. It's only $93 million. C'mon, the guys he paid to go away don't count. Thomas is right, of course. As reputable journalists we shouldn't count the $18.5 million he paid Shandon Anderson to buy a house on South Beach. Nor should we count the $12.5 million salary amnesty casualty Jerome Williams is being paid over the next two years to act as Toronto's community representative. And we can't forget Allan Houston: New York fans can tune in to hear Houston's insights on the MSG network for the low, low price of $16 million. It could be worse; had Houston not retired, the Knicks would have been on the hook for $24 million more. Thank God for insurance. Arguing semantics about the Knicks salary cap is like pointing out that the toilet won't flush on the Titanic. Regardless of when Thomas' dead weight comes off the cap, the Knicks still will be strapped with a completely unmanageable payroll. Steve Francis, Stephon Marbury, Quentin Richardson and Jamal Crawford are all under contract through the 2007-2008 season, with Marbury's contract coming in at a cap-killing $21.7 million in the final year. Like the Titanic, the Knicks are sunk. What to do? Try looking at Orlando as a blueprint for success. In the summer of 2000 the Magic were $20 million under the salary cap and used that flexibility to acquire two superstars, Grant Hill and Tracy McGrady. Injuries and indifference plagued Hill and McGrady's tenure in Orlando, but the philosophy itself was sound: develop young talent while getting far enough under the cap to bring in a star that can make the difference. Six years later, Orlando is at it again, this time with one key component that was missing in 2000: Dwight Howard. With the expiring contracts of Penny Hardaway (thanks, Isiah) and Hill set to come off the books in '06 and '07, respectively, Orlando could conceivably be more than $25 million under the cap after the 2007 season. Picture this Magic fans: opening night, 2007. The Magic boasts a lineup of Howard and Darko Milicic, a couple of lottery picks (Adam Morrison, Greg Oden) and two free agents (Paul Pierce, Chauncey Billups) in the prime of their career. It could happen. Not to worry, though, Knicks fans. In 2007-2008 your payroll will be all the way down to $87 million, assuming Thomas doesn't add to it before then. But that's a safe bet ... right?