Hooped Up

Smith’s remarkable fourth season included averages of 17.2 points, 8.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.8 blocks and 1.5 steals. Coming out of Oak Hill Academy in Mouth of Wilson, Va. in 2004, he originally committed to Indiana University before becoming the No. 17 pick in the 2004 draft. And he won’t turn 23 until December. All that is why the 76ers, who have about $11.5 million in salary-cap space available, have invited Smith and his representatives to visit today. He and agents Brian Dyke and Wallace Prowther visited yesterday with the Hawks and newly minted general manager Rick Sund, who has said repeatedly that ownership plans to match any offers made to Smith and his restricted free-agent teammate, Josh Childress, the No. 6 overall pick in ‘04.

Philadelphia Daily News

What’s more Canadian than Hockey?  Well…nothing but, Basketball Canada named it’s 12 man roster to qualify for the Beijing Olympics over the weekend.  Samuel Dalembert of the Philadelphia 76ers is the lone NBA player included on the Canadian squad and I’ve gotta say.  Being that Steve Nash is only a two time NBA MVP; Canada should be doing everything short of babysitting Steve and his wife Alejandra’s kids for him to come out of International retirement.

Here is Canada’s 12-man roster:

National Post

Derrick Rose is going home, and a record crowd of freshmen are following him to the NBA. The Chicago Bulls selected Rose, who grew up on the city’s South Side, with the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night, choosing the Memphis guard over Kansas State forward Michael Beasley.  Below are the rest of the NBA draft results.

Round 1 NBA Draft Results

Second round results after the jump Read the rest of this entry »

After months of paying attention to 4th quarters and cursing the Knicks for existing…again! The most holiest of times are upon us my friends. Here are my predictions for the first round. Now I could use my crystal ball to also predict how many games each of these match ups will go but, I left my crystal ball in the Thunder Tank.

Round 1
Western Conference
Lakers vs. Nuggests - Lakers
Jazz vs. Rockets - Rockets
Spurs vs. Suns - Suns
Hornets vs. Mavericks - Mavericks

Eastern Conference
Celtics vs. Hawks - Celtics
Cavaliers vs. Wizards - Cavaliers
Magic vs. Raptors - Magic
Pistons vs. 76ers - Pistons

In between games on the road your coach tells you alot of things.  Stay out of trouble, get a goods night rest, eat a good pregame meal and watch out for Mary Carey…huh?

PORN queen Mary Carey may be sober, but she’s still nuts. The buxom blonde, last seen on VH1’s “Celebrity Rehab,” was at Butter Monday night, where she danced and did leg kicks in a short, tight black dress. She joined a table of Philadelphia 76ers, who earlier sang karaoke for the crowd at Angels and Kings in the East Village. Carey, who has starred in such skin flicks as “Pervert!” and “Cash and Carey,” cornered one basketball player, wrapped her legs around him and made out with him in front of clubgoers. “She’s 28 days sober!” Carey’s pal told Page Six. Wonder what she was like drunk.

New York Post

Maurice Cheeks is close to agreeing on a contract extension to remain the head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers past this season, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer.

He’s currently in the final year of a three-year deal.

Cheeks wouldn’t confirm the rumors before the team’s loss to the Timberwolves on Tuesday night. “I don’t comment on those matters,” Cheeks told the Inquirer. “I am just going out there and trying to win a game.”

The Philadelphia Inquirer 

Sixers executive vice president Larry Brown has drawn interest as a candidate for the Chicago Bulls’ head coaching job. The Bulls fired Scott Skiles on Dec. 24. Three days later, Jim Boylan was named interim head coach for the rest of the season. Brown, a former Sixers coach for six years, has been out of coaching since the 2005-06 season, when he went 23-59 with the New York Knicks.

Philadelphia Inquirer

Philadelphia 76ers President and General Manager Ed Stefanski announced today that the Sixers have acquired guard Gordan Giricek and a first-round pick from the Utah Jazz in exchange for guard Kyle Korver. “We are excited about acquiring a player of Gordan’s ability, as well as an additional asset in the form of a first-round draft pick,” Stefanski said. “This move will provide us with increased salary cap flexibility this off-season and also allows us to continue our evaluation and development of the young talent we have on this team.”

Linked to teams in need of veteran stability at point guard, Philadelphia’s Andre Miller said he’s turning a deaf ear to the rumors. “I don’t have any control, so why worry about it?” he said before Wednesday’s game. “I’m sure there’s interest in a lot of players around this league.”

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

The 76ers are expected to fire Billy King as team president today and replace him with New Jersey Nets general manager Ed Stefanski, two league sources said last night. The team would give Stefanski a multiyear contract to become the franchise’s chief decision-maker on basketball matters, a source said.

The decision to remove King apparently was made in the last few days as the 76ers continued to struggle this season. It is not known whether the decision had been made before last night’s home loss to the Atlanta Hawks .

Stefanski will report to Comcast president and chief operating officer Peter Luukko.