The Starting Five

(Mel Evans/AP)

Davis and Austin Rivers are the future in NOLA

The Kentucky Wildcats became the first school to yield the first two picks in the NBA Draft. Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist were selected by the New Orleans Hornets and Charlotte Bobcats, respectively. Fellow freshman Bradley Beal of Florida went third overall to the Washington Wizards, giving the SEC three freshman selections to open the draft.

The early winners look to be  Boston, Cleveland, Houston, New Orleans and Sacramento.

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 Purchase Fatherhood here…

TSF spoke with Etan Thomas on the old site extensively. I also mentioned Etan in The Nation piece regarding the Black athlete today. He’s one of the very few athletes unafraid to speak his mind with the admirable intention of simply providing a helping hand through celebrity. Educating people in a society searching for a logical sense of reality. The NBA forward gets all he can out of what is now his moment in the professional sports arena. He is one whom inspires and should be spoken of in every realm of what a soul model truly is and can potentially be. I can’t wait to read his book on being a father and his getting so many pops across our culture (and others) to speak of their experiences with their fathers and also as fathers that should make us all want to spiritually and unconditionally forever love our sons.

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This is an easy write. Bernard James. Dodging bullets. 3 tours. Afghanistan, Iraq…Qatar. Air Force.  Military fam. Never wasting a day. College education had to get. Watching everyone hoop through junior high…high school. One of those cats you notice when you’re on the court because you know he can rock but just never does. Soldier pick up games. Eric Dumas handed him the keys. Pop Pop now drives the truck…a rookie in years but not in the physical and equipped with the work ethic of a hungry shark.

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(Getty Images)

I’m not concerned about the negative comments Clyde Drexler allegedly made about Magic Johnson when both were members of the 1992 Dream Team, because I don’t believe Drexler made them.

My concern is when websites and blogs take a man’s words and use them to mislead the reader and misrepresent the story.

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With nearly 24 hours before the start of the 2012 NBA Draft, business in the trade and rumor mill has picked up:

• Houston Rockets traded Samuel Dalembert and their 14th pick to the Milwaukee Bucks for Jon Brockman, Jon Leuer, Shawn Livingston and their 12th pick.
• Detroit Pistons trade Ben Gordon and a future first-round pick to the Charlotte Bobcats for Corey Maggette.
• Dallas Mavericks and LA Clippers are discussing a deal for Lamar Odom
• Chicago Bulls dangling Luol Deng to move up in first round to draft Harrison Barnes.
• Atlanta Hawks and LA Lakers discussing a possible Josh Smith/Pau Gasol deal.
• Brooklyn Nets looking to acquire Thomas Robinson to use in trade for the Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard

On this day 24 years ago, Mike Tyson and Michael Spinks met in Atlantic City’s Convention Hall to decide the undisputed heavyweight championship of the world.

For those too young to remember this fight, by the time you finish reading this Michael Spinks is hitting the canvas for the second time right…about…now!

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(Chris Chambers/Getty Images)

It’s been widely reported top free agent All-Star point guard Deron Williams has narrowed his choices to the Brooklyn Nets or the Dallas Mavericks. What I witnessed during the New Jersey Nets last visit to Philadelphia on April 13th leads me to believe otherwise.

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(Reuters)

Michael Vick’s life has been nothing short of extraordinary since his release from prison. He’s the starting quarterback on a Super Bowl contender, a new shoe deal with Nike and he’s made good as an advocate for abused dogs. He’s even marrying his long time sweetheart who was by his side, for richer or for poorer.

But according to CBS Sports Mike Freeman, the American public has refused to let go of Vick’s past transgressions.

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His is a legacy for the duration…(read the piece first and get back to the links later)

I’ve written many pieces on LeBron James. The reactions to parties he’s thrown, before The Decision, what I thought he would do this year, the Ohio perspective while I was out there before his return with the Heat (one on that night is definitely coming), and asked others to chime in as well. So many pieces that I’m sure some will view me as a sycophantic hack. That is your choice. Nothing I can do about it and therefore none of my business. I’m a basketball fan, not a specific player fan and definitely not a drama fan. Can we watch basketball again please? Y’all turned the sport into something indurate, sick and twisted, missing and soulless but I guess that’s how y’all rock? After The Decision, America went hard on LBJ as if he was a killer of men. What was up with that? Why so much of a rabid response? He’s an athlete people. He’s no different than any top level professional in any genre. Their make up must be different because so many speak their names in love and hate. We should learn from them. Why did this one man get y’all so crazy eyed with mouths of foam? Peyton Manning ever get slammed, crushed…and with unmerciful reckless abandon poked and prodded of his postseason difficulties before he finally won? Hell no. This piece is for history. Can’t suck up to now. OK, let’s get to it then…

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Now that the NBA and NHL playoffs are in the books, how will you quench your sports thirst. The baseball season isn’t even half done and we’re a few weeks away until the pads start poppin’  in NFL training camps. Shoot man, the Olympics are even a month away. We do have the final rounds of Euro 2012, the British Open and Wimbledon on the radar.

And of course there’s always Arena League Football.

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(David Dow/Getty Images)

**Mizzo will be posting a LeBron James piece sometime this afternoon**

LeBron James is the most scrutinized, criticized athlete of all time. -ESPN’s Chris Broussard

I’m not sure how truthful that statement is but it carries plenty of weight behind it. LeBron James is officially an NBA champion but expect the malice to subside just a little. You can count on Skip Bayless to look for something with his minions hanging on his every word.

At some point people are going to get tired of riding James, especially if the titles begin to pile up. So my question is who’s next in the pecking order of scrutinized African-American athletes?

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Drops September 11th 2012

Yeah, the time is now. NBA Baller Beats is about to rock the block, the ‘burbs, the board room and maybe even the gym/training facility. You dribble a basketball to interact with the game to the sound of beats. You might have thought of this but shook it off as something just not possible with the gaming technology available. Dribbling an official NBA ball while working on a handle to break all kinds of lower extremities with on the court. Think about it, instead of lounging playing Madden and eating up all the grub, you can actually have more fun with your boys/girls while working out. What about all the times you’ve told your kids to work on that left? Now you won’t have to and for you and the wife, what can be better than a fun and challenging couples workout? NBA Baller Beats will be available in stores exclusively on Kinect™ for Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft on September 11, 2012. Dig this interview with the two time NBA champion and current TNT NBA analyst Kenny Smith the game spokesman, and CEO Jesse Sutton of Majesco Entertainment, the company behind the game that is surely to explode and create a new sports gaming genre, NBA Baller Beats.

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Social media gives us a great forum for discussions, rants and debates on sports. At the same time providing a compass, navigating us through the wilderness where many fans are being led. It’s unsettling at times to see how many fall in line with what’s it for now, continuously being fed a stale narrative.  

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Homage to the brotha Dwayne Wayne…

“I’ll be ready for Game 5″ says LeBron James. Should you have come out in Game 4? Just asking. More on that later.

Team effort. It’s over people. Save yourself the frustration of thinking it’s not now. Trust.

Yo…it gets real quiet when the Miami Heat win huh? Experience bust pipes? Inauspicious turnovers and dumb end game fouls? Miami is winning games it has to to become NBA Champions. LeBron had 26 points, 12 assists and 9 boards (Bird in 1986 the last to do that in the Finals). Mario Chalmers had the biggest 25 points since that Kansas shot sunk Derrick Rose and Memphis. Dwyane Wade had 25 as well. Chris Bosh had 13 and 9 rips. Norris Cole had just eight, but his two threes in the first half were big when the Thunder shot out quick and hot. Russell Westbrook went the hell off and had 43. He also had 7 boards and 5 assists. Kevin Durant had 28. No one else was in double figures. In fact, the only OKC double digit stat was James Harden’s 10 rebounds. Heat win 104-98 in Game 4 104-98. This was a game I thought Miami would lose. It’s now 3-1 Miami so I guess not…

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A Lavaca County Texas Grand Jury refused to indict a father who killed a man that he saw sexually molesting his daughter.

There’s no way I can blame the father for his actions according to what he witnessed. I do wonder if this is just small town, mom and pop courtroom justice or would justice have been just as swift in any major city in the United States.

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