NBA Nba Awards

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Wednesday, there are 27 days remaining.

The NBA created the Sixth Man of the Year Award back in 1982-83, some 27 years. It was an attempt to recognize great team players who subjugated their egos to come off the bench despite obvious talent. Eventually, the award became a coronation of the league's top scorer who happened to start fewer than half of his games.

Early winners include Philadelphia stud Bobby Jones, Kevin McHale (who won twice) and Bill Walton. For all his virtuoso work, Manu Ginobili has only won one Sixth Man award, in the 2007-08 season which followed San Antonio's third title of the decade. Two players other than McHale have won twice: Detlef Schrempf and Ricky Pierce.

Who doesn't like a list, especially on a Monday morning when that's about all you can handle?

Here is each Hall of Fame Inductees' best line from Friday night's ceremony in Springfield, Mass.:

Jerry Sloan: "Tom Boerwinkle ... 6-foot-11, built my backyard. When he bought the house behind me, I said: 'Tom, we were roommates one day and next day you're in my backyard looking out the window. He said 'I've got that figured out; I'll build a fence 6-feet-10, I can see over it and you can't.'

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. -- When it's your party, you can cry if you want to, and you also can embarrass yourself if you want to. Just ask Michael Jordan, who spent his induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame on Friday night doing his version of dancing naked on a coffee table with a lamp shade on his head.

What was that?

Whatever it was, it wasn't good. It rivaled anything you can name through the decades as the most brutal Hall of Fame acceptance speech ever. Soon after receiving a standing ovation of 73 seconds from a packed and adoring house at Springfield Symphony Hall, he went from sobbing to reflective to vicious.

The hardwood will be replaced by the red carpet when Michael Jordan and four others are inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight in Springfield, Mass.

Jordan, perhaps the greatest player to ever play the game, will be honored at the ceremony along with David Robinson, John Stockton and coaches Jerry Sloan and Vivian Springer.

Of course, Jordan's induction is a mere formality. But that doesn't mean it isn't creating more of a buzz than inductions past.

Tip-Off Timer counts down the days until the first game of the 2009-10 season. On Friday, there are 60 days remaining.

In 1957, the NBA draft sprawled some 14 rounds, with each of the league's eight teams picking out a handful of additions. Most of the 83 players selected never played a second of NBA basketball, especially those taken in later rounds.

But there was one diamond in the rough. The Philadelphia Warriors spent their eighth round pick -- No. 60 overall -- on forward Woody Sauldsberry of Texas Southern. And Sauldsberry turned out to be the best pick of all, winning the 1957-58 Rookie of the Year award.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

For the past nine years the Harold Pump Foundation, created by David and Dana Pump (known as the gurus of high school and college basketball) has raised over $3.5 million dollars to fight cancer. The foundation's efforts have not gone unnoticed. Major stars such as Magic Johnson, Paul Pierce, Sugar Ray Leonard, Pete Sampras and Denzel Washington have all joined the Pump brothers. In this report we also hear from young NBA stars like Kevin Love, Brandon Jennings, and Blake Griffin.

Check out the video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

The Hangar Athletic Exchange is the most advanced basketball gym in Los Angeles, with six full-size courts under one roof. It's a gym where NBA stars like Elton Brand and Paul Pierce rub elbows with up-and-coming players of all ages. But HAX is much more than a place to shoot hoops, it's the place where kids can get academic assistance. So it's no surprise the Wizard of Westwood John Wooden has teamed up with HAX to help them raise money for their foundation. On Sept. 12 Coach Wooden will be honored in a special gala, with proceeds going to the HAX foundation. In this FanHouse exclusive, we talk to coach Wooden about his success and what advice he has for young players.

Check out the video after the jump.

Elie Seckbach, the Embedded Correspondent, brings his exclusive video reporting to FanHouse. Check back regularly for more videos.

Shannon Brown, a member of the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, is one of the most popular players on the team. Besides his basketball skills, Shannon gets a lot of attention, especially from his teammates, because of his resemblance to singer Chris Brown. In this FanHouse exclusive we hear from Shannon, Josh Powell, Jordan Farmar and Sasha Vujacic as they all tell us about the Shannon Brown - Chris Brown saga.

Check out the video after the jump.

Of course you bite your lip a little bit when you congratulate Peter Vecsey for being named a recipient -- along with Doug Collins -- of the Curt Gowdy media award for 2009.

Vecsey, the long-time writer for the New York Post, and Collins, NBA and Olympic television analyst, will be honored by the Basketball Hall of Fame during its enshrinement ceremonies in September.

You begrudgingly tip your cap to Vecsey because he was a beat writer's nightmare. And I was a beat writer for a while, covering the Golden State Warriors. As a national writer, Vecsey had a knack for interjecting himself into your team's beat every now and again, and in general, making a general nuisance of himself.

Kobe Bryant is on top of the world, enjoying one of his best years ever as an NBA player after his impressive haul of hardware -- the NBA championship, Finals MVP, co-MVP of this year's All-Star Game. And don't forget about the Olympic gold medal from last summer.

So how does he top it all off? By starting a new charity in China. In this FanHouse exclusive we catch up with Kobe at an awards ceremony as he was being honored by the Asia Society Southern California. We also hear from T-Mac and Tim Leiweke, the CEO of AEG, who was also honored on this night.

Check out the video after the jump.