Evan Turner Breaks D-Wade’s Ankles (Video)

Had to make sure you guys all had access to this video to watch over and over again. If we get a better quality version we will update this post. Turner that’s just dirty son…

Indiana Freshman Victor Olapido Dunks Over 8 People [Video]

Of course the highlight of every school’s Midnight Madness is the annual dunk contest. We have seen creativity taken to a whole new level this pre-season with a number of amazing jams and throw-downs, most namely Andre Dawkins skying over a freshman at Duke and Pepperdine’s Keion Bell setting a record by dunking over 7 people.

But one incoming freshman from Indiana University, named Victor Olapido has one-upped Bell by dunking over 8 people. That’s right,………8 people. Ok, he cheats a little, but when will the madness stop?

Victor is an under the radar 3 star prospect(rated #144 by Rivals) who is arguably one of the most athletic shooting guards in the nation. He gained some national notoriety by winning a National HS Dunk Contest as a senior. Certainly Coach Crean is looking for big things out of the 6‘4 Olapido, as he comes highly regarded from the legendary DeMatha HS in the Washington DC area.

Victor, along with fellow incoming freshman Will Sheehey should provide a breath of fresh air for a program still struggling to compete in a tough Big 10 Conference. He should provide immediate help for returning team leaders, including injured leading scorer last season Christian Watford, Maurice Creek, and senior Verdell Jones III.

Check out Olapido Putting in an impressive performance, including dunking over 8 people (6:01 minute mark) to win the Hoosier Hysteria Dunk Contest:

Be sure to also check out our 2010-2011 Early NCAA Top 25 Team Rankings

Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.  Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.

Paul Pierce’s New “The Truth” Tattoo [Pic]

While most other 30+ year old ball players on the Boston Celtics roster are either auditioning for the next season of Punked, lip syncing to Rick Ross videos, or becoming a human statue, team captain Paul Pierce has been maxing-and-relaxing in preparation for his 13th NBA season, all with the Celtics.

Pierce can again rest easy because after making it to the Finals in 2 of the last 3 seasons, management has brought in front-court help in an attempt at making a run at the franchise’s 18th World Championship. While some will argue that bringing in Shaquille O’Neal was a mistake, adding Jermaine O’Neal, Delonte West, and talented rookies Avery Bradley and Luke Harangody are obvious improvements from last year’s runner-up squad.

But getting back to the point, before the season begins, a lot of players like to visit their favorite tattoo artists to get some new ink for the upcoming season. Most players tend to go overboard like Denver’s Chris “Birdman” Andersen’s colorful “Free” tattoo or DeShawn Stevenson’s Abe Lincoln and Frankenstein tats last season.

But Paul’s new ink is a mixture of loud and obnoxious and yet respectful to the organization that gave him a shot back in 1998. Sure, tattooing your nickname on your forearm is a little arrogant but it’s the little finishing touches that make this ink cool. He pays respect to the Celtics with a 4 leaf clover in the lower left corner(even though the C’s emblem has 3 leaves) and the dice in the upper right hand corner, conveniently roled to a “34“ (Pierce’s jersey number) is a nice touch.

As for tattooing your current team on your forearm, let’s just hope he finishes his career in Boston, and as for the number of leaves on the clover faux pas, at least he spelled “The Truth” correctly!

Allen Moll has been a lifelong NBA and NCAA College Basketball fan who watches and studies games religiously, and coaches youth basketball in his native Lehigh Valley region of Pennsylvania.  Allen also provides content to Bleacherreport.com, Upperdeckblog.com, in addition to being a tenured NBA and NCAA columnist for TheHoopDoctors.com.

THD’s NBA Preseason Highlight Mix

Meir Erginbas or better known as “Meir21″ on YouTube is one of the best in the game at producing NBA highlight mixes. That is why we were happy to announce a couple weeks ago that Meir would be joining The Hoop Doctors team this season to bring you weekly mixes on anything from the Top Dunks to the Top Plays to the Top Dimes of the week, and much more.

Check out Meir’s first video mix for The Hoop Doctors of the preseason highlights to kick things off for an amazing NBA season in 2010-11:

Cavaliers Owner Dan Gilbert Standing Behind his Statements About Lebron James

Everyone realized Dan Gilbert had plenty of reasons to be upset about the fashion in which Lebron announced his decision to the Cavaliers organization with no heads up. But at the same time, Lebron did have every right to do what was best for him and his family in free agency. All that said, I doubt Dan Gilbert’s prediction of winning a title in Cleveland before Miami will hold true. But the NBA is a funny place, who knows….

Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert isn’t taking back one word about LeBron James — or as he called him, “the player that left.”

Gilbert, who harshly criticized James after the two-time MVP announced he was leaving as a free agent this summer, said Wednesday night before Cleveland’s season opener that he doesn’t regret calling out the superstar, now with the Miami Heat.

Shortly after James announced he was leaving, Gilbert fired off an angry letter to Cleveland’s fans vilifying James. He called him “narcissistic” and accused him of “cowardly behavior.” “I don’t regret it,” said Gilbert, who made similar comments earlier in the day on WKNR radio. “That letter was to the fans and the supporters of the Cavaliers and it wasn’t to the player that left, it wasn’t to the rest of the world. It wasn’t to anybody but them. I wanted them to understand not only how I felt but how everyone felt in the entire organization.”

Not long after posting the infamous letter on the Cavs’ team website, Gilbert told The Associated Press that he felt James quit during last season’s playoffs against Boston. Gilbert — whose comments drew a $100,000 fine from Commissioner David Stern — didn’t take back those remarks, either.

“There are some of the things everybody has to make their own personal judgment on,” Gilbert said. “It’s a subjective judgment when you watch a game or watch a tape. You make those kinds of judgments. I’d rather not answer directly. I’d really rather not comment what my feelings are any more, but everybody has to make their own decisions on that.”

Gilbert has taken a low profile since July, when James left the Cavs after seven seasons. James’ decision caught Gilbert by surprise because in the days leading up to his announcement, the 25-year-old maintained re-signing with Cleveland was still a possibility. Gilbert felt betrayed by James and was upset that the All-Star forward did not communicate his intentions to the team until an hour-long TV special to announce his decision was already on the air. In his letter to Cleveland fans, Gilbert not only ripped James but he guaranteed his team would win a championship before his former player. He still believes that’s possible.

“You never know,” he said. “Look, these things will play themselves out and we’ll see what happens. It was certainly something that put more emphasis on the future and put more pressure on everyone here to say, ‘Hey, let’s deliver as smart and efficiently as we possibly can.’ We’ll see what happens.”

Read more details via AP on NBA.com

The Heat Looked Anything But Hot Against Boston, But There’s No Cause for Concern

Nine first quarter points. Above all, that’s what really stuck out to me in the Heat’s 88 – 80 loss to the Boston Celtics last night to open up a highly anticipated season for the south Florida club. In fact, an eight point loss doesn’t even begin to describe how one-sided this affair seemed early on in the contest. The Heat were extremely unimpressive for most of the game and the only guy that looked like he actually came to play ball was LeBron James, who ended up with 31 points.

Was he nervous and accompanied by a stern demeanor? Yes. But you couldn’t tell by his performance as he hit his first jumpshot attempt. As the game wore on, I really forgot that he was now a member of the Heat. That’s because the Heat looked like James’ Cavs teams of yesteryear. He was left to score 30+ points while his teammates were innocent  (or in this case, guilty) bystanders. Where was Wade (who finished with just 13 points)? Where was Bosh (who contributed a grand total of 8 points)? Nowhere to be found. Even though the other two members of the alleged “Big 3” were no-shows, the Heat only lost by eight and had it within four late in the 4^th quarter. They woke up in the second half like you knew they would and made it somewhat competitive down the stretch. Therefore, there’s not really a cause for concern regarding the Heat at this point. Had they lost by 20, then I’d see it a bit differently, but despite a putrid 1^st quarter, they actually made it close down the stretch.

In the grand scheme of things, it was just one game. That’s it. Just one. There are 81 more of these to go.  But the team definitely has holes and their lack of a legit presence down low was exposed. And I like Carlos Arroyo. I think he’s serviceable NBA Point Guard, but reminiscent of Cleveland, LeBron played the point for most of the night.

If there was any doubt coming into last night’s tilt, allow me to be extremely clear: this is LeBron’s team. Period. When LeBron made his decision, he was criticized by people who thought that he would be Robin to Wade’s Batman. Not the case. Wade has said before that he wasn’t going to get caught up in the “who’s team is it?” debate. He said he wasn’t concerned with that. That’s what he has to say, but yeah right. He’s human so of course this realization bothers him. He’s a human that ran the city of Miami so much that it has been dubbed Wade County. He was the man in South Beach, and that has clearly been diminished to a degree.

For all of you NFL fans out there, this Heat loss reminded me of the Jets week 1 Monday night loss to Baltimore. The Jets were the NFL’s version of the Miami Heat during their off-season with all of the acquisitions they made and they stunk up the joint week 1 in front of the entire country. Now, they’re quite possibly the best team in the league, so let’s not get carried away just yet with this Heat loss by already thinking that it won’t work.

But the Heat have no bench. At least, not last night anyway. As the summer went on and they kept acquiring guys, I was bamboozled into thinking that they had a descent bench. They don’t. Mike Miller didn’t play because he was hurt but I’m still trying to convince myself that he’s as valuable as most people say he is.

Having said all of that, I do believe the Celtics are the better team as of right now and are one of the 3 best teams in the entire Association, so don’t expect the Heat to look this bad every night unless the schedule was changed and they’ll be playing their remaining 81 games against Boston. In all fairness to the Celtics however, they looked very good. Personally, I think Paul Pierce should let Rondo borrow his nickname because Rajon (along with his 17 assists from last night) is the truth. Not that Paul isn’t deserving of the title, but I’m just saying. Paul Pierce does more with less, more so than anybody I’ve seen in a long time. He’s proof positive that athleticism in basketball is greatly exaggerated. He can’t really jump, nor is he quick, but he can play the game well. But I really wish he would stop flopping. The Celtics pride themselves on defense, so what’s all the flopping about? Sorry, I digress.

Something that completely boggled my mind was the booing of LeBron during the starting lineups. Did I miss something? Was Boston in the running to get him this off-season? That made no sense to me. But that’s what this team will have to endure for their remaining 40 road games. Hopefully during those 40 road games, LeBron will actually get some help so that the team doesn’t look like the Miami Cavaliers.

If you’re looking for your everyday, predictable basketball talk, then go somewhere else, because Kevin Burke of The Kevin Burke Project brings provocative, thought provoking content about basketball as only he can. Kevin also hosts The Hoop Doctors weekly podcast show, which you can subscribe to for free on iTunes. Follow Kevin on Twitter and Facebook

No. 2 Overall Draft Pick Evan Turner to Come Off Bench for Philly

Philly fans are not going to like this. Not one iota. If there is one thing i’ve learned over the years watching the NBA it’s that some high draft picks who don’t start for their club take it in stride and work hard to crack that starting squad. Others regress. Let’s hope for the Sixers, Turner takes it as a challenge and comes out with energy to prove himself….

Evan Turner will begin his first NBA season on the bench.

Philadelphia coach Doug Collins decided against putting Turner in the starting lineup for Wednesday night’s opener against the Miami Heat. The 76ers selected Turner with the No. 2 overall pick in the draft.

While not really considered a franchise player coming out of Ohio State, most scouting reports had Turner as perhaps the most NBA-ready prospect in the draft. Turner, who turns 22 on Wednesday, was expected to team with point guard Jrue Holiday for a backcourt that would help lead the Sixers back toward respectability.

Collins, who makes his Sixers coaching debut, scoffed at the idea that Turner was the most “polished” prospect in the draft.

“Polished for the college game? This is a totally different game,” Collins said. Turner, The Associated Press Player of the Year, averaged 20.3 points, 9.2 rebounds and 5.9 assists while leading the Buckeyes into the round of 16 in the NCAA tournament.

The Sixers will start Holiday and Andre Iguodala in the backcourt; forwards Jason Kapono and Elton Brand and center Spencer Hawes. “Evan’s had his moments,” Collins said. “With Evan, it’s about as much as who’s he on the floor with that gives him a chance to be successful.” The Turner-Holiday pairing may very well happen, perhaps soon. They just won’t be introduced together against the Heat. Kapono, once one of the NBA’s top 3-point specialists, gives the Sixers an extra shooter who can help open up the floor. It does weaken them defensively and doesn’t really help them build a nucleus for success this season and beyond.

Collins said the decision had nothing to do with Turner’s play — but had a troubling explanation for Sixers fans.
“I just didn’t feel that he and ‘Dre and Jrue were a great mix,” he said. “We had very poor spacing on the floor. The ball wasn’t friendly. There’s an expression that when the ball’s moving, it has energy. We went through a lot of lulls with that group. That’s where I started tinkering around with it. Evan’s fine with it.”

Read more details via AP on NBA.com

NBA Power Rankings: Week 1

NBA Power Rankings

1	Los Angeles Lakers Still the champs until proven otherwise.  The Lakers made a few acquisitions to help beef up some holes, but they also added some age.  If the Lakers are healthy, they are still the best team in the NBA.  Keeping that lineup healthy will be a challenge though.
2	Miami Heat With Wade starting to make his way back to 100 percent, it looks like we will not have to wait long to see the stars align again in South Beach.  You have to know ESPN is somehow involved in getting Wade healthy, their NBA coverage is toast without the Big Three.
3	Orlando Magic The Magic return all the important pieces from last season’s squad that railed off eight straight wins to start the playoffs.  Dwight also spent some of the offseason training with Hakeem Olajuwon.  The Magic have a team can take them back to the Finals, but they will need to establish dominance in their state first.
4	Boston Celtics Nothing like a couple of vets to increase the average age on one of the league’s oldest teams, but Doc Rivers has been written off before.  Many writers and critics had all but forgotten the Celtics after limping through the second half of the season.  But when healthy, the Celtics could beat anyone in the NBA.
5	Oklahoma City Thunder This season’s sexy pick is with Kevin Durant and the Thunder.  After pushing the Lakers to six games, Oklahoma City enters the 2010-2011 season without the element of surprise.  No longer able to sneak up on opponents, the Thunder may find themselves getting better competition out of their opponents.  How they react will determine how far they can go.
6	Chicago Bulls Boozer being out and a weakened preseason is making me less high on the Bulls by the minute, but they still had a fantastic offseason and a chance to jump into the Eastern Conference elite.  They will likely sputter a bit at first, but overcomingBoozer’s absence will make them stronger down the line.
7	San Antonio Spurs The Spurs found a young nucleus to build for the future around Hill and Blair last season, now if they can get a few more good seasons out of their aging core they could post a very real threat in the West.
8	Phoenix Suns Phoenix will miss Amar’e this season, but they won’t be out of contention without him.  As long as Nash is healthy, the late season emergence of Robin Lopez should help fill in gaps in the paint.  Bringing in Hedo does not give the Suns enough firepower to keep up with the Lakers, but it could come close.
9	Dallas Mavericks When healthy, the Mavericks are a very deep team with the talent to compete with the best teams in the West.  However, chances are they will be streaky during the regular season but still finish in the top four and lose a first or second round playoff series.  There is just very little about this team that says “Title Contender.”
10	Milwaukee Bucks Upgrades to an already impressive late-season team a year ago have some critics tagging the Bucks as sleeper division winners.  After his first season of enduring the full NBA schedule, Jennings will be better prepared to keep his legs all year long.  Throw in Corey Maggette, an improved Carlos Delfino, and defensive specialist Scott Skiles should lead this team right back to the playoffs in 2011.
11	Utah Jazz I am not completely sold that the Jazz have come close to replacing Carlos Boozer with Al Jefferson, but if there is any situation for Big Al to thrive it has to be under Jerry Sloan at Utah.  No longer being counted on as the primary/only offensive option, Jefferson will have more freedom around the basket.  Something he has not had since entering the league.
12	Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks have gradually progressed over the last couple years by keeping their core unit intact.  After experiencing their first 50+ win season in quite some time, they spent a good amount of money to keep Joe Johnson and the crew together.  Now seeing if they can continue to improve is the challenge.
13	Portland Trailblazers Injuries have kept this relatively young team from truly fulfilling the “up and coming” mantra.  But another year gives the Blazers another opportunity to try and make a dent in the Western Conference.  Until they do, they will be another talented team falling just short of rising to an elite level.
14	Houston Rockets The Rockets did not have much time to try and get in a new rhythm after reconstructing the roster at the trade deadline, so it will be interesting to see how they have meshed after a year of training camp.  Yao will be playing, but on a time limit.  It may take a while for him to figure out how to maximize his production in that time.
15	Denver Nuggets Denver enters the season as one of the most uncertain teams in the NBA.  ”Uncertain” because it is not at all probable that their roster will look the same at the All Star break.  They still have the playoff caliber talent, but the future is too fuzzy to put too much confidence in the Nuggets.
16	Memphis Grizzlies Memphis spent a lot of money bringing Rudy Gay back to Memphis to keep last year’s breakout core together.  After a disappointing finish to the season, the Grizzlies will now have playoffs or bust on the mind.  Anything else is a disappointment after the offseason spending.
17	Charlotte Bobcats The Bobcats waved goodbye to Raymond Felton, and are putting the future of their offense in the hands of D.J. Augustin…for now.  Larry Brown has been notorious for midseason trades, and so far it has worked out for the Bobcats.  They will still be strong on defense, but lack the offensive direction right now to keep up with high-scoring opponents.
18	New York Knicks No the Knicks did not land LeBron or Carmelo. but they did improve their squad in a way that will fit Mike D’Antoni’s system.  Reuniting with Amar’e and bringing in point guard Raymond Felton are instant upgrades for the Knicks.  Look for triple digits on a regular basis in Madison Square Garden.
19	Washington Wizards While many are asking if Gilbert Arenas and first overall pick John Wall can co-exist, others are wondering if they need to.  Gilbert has obviously given up on his time in Washington, so the Wiz might as well work on getting Wall and Hinrich in sync.  The Wiz are much better, but so is the East.
20	New Orleans Hornets Chris Paul is finally healthy and should benefit from having super athletic wings Trevor Ariza and Marcus Thornton to run what could be a very fun Hornets team.  The Hornets are face to face with losing their franchise player, we’ll see if they make any more moves to try and keep CP3 in New Orleans.
21	Los Angeles Clippers The Clippers look to have assembled one of their better teams on paper in recent years.  Unfortunately, history says that Vinny Del Negro-coached teams that look good on paper tend to aim for their foot for stretches during the season.  But if Griffin stays healthy, they at least have a Rookie of the Year frontrunner.
22	Golden State Warriors With Curry out with an ankle injury and new coach Keith Smart, it could be a rough start to the season for the Warriors.  Newcomer David Lee will provide a reliable presence down low that has been lacking in recent years, but the Warriors will struggle to close games out once again.
23	Indiana Pacers With Darren Collison coming over from New Orleans, the Pacers have the starting point guard they have been searching for.  Collison is by no means a game changer, but it is reason for a little more hope in Indy.  Last season’s lottery pick Tyler Hansbrough has apparently overcome vertigo, so maybe he’ll have a breakout season. Maybe.
24	Philadelphia 76ers Doug Collins has a lot of resources and high expectations with this young Sixers squad.  Unfortunately, a lot of unproven talent will not have much time to gel before getting lost in the Eastern Conference shuffle.  Unless Andre Iguodala explodes offensively or Elton Brand bounces back from another disappointing year, it is hard to find a lot of scoring on the 76ers roster.
25	New Jersey Nets After missing on John Wall and LeBron James, the new look Nets are trotting out an awfully disappointing squad for the 2010-2011 season.  Avery Johnson will do his best to repair his relationship with Devin Harris and build around the young point guard and last season’s breakout from Brook Lopez.
26	Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings have a lot of athleticism and could potentially have two straight Rookie of the Year award winners.  That will not be enough to win 40 games though, in fact the Kings could struggle win 30.  But fans of the game will enjoy watching Evans and Cousins develop into the players they will become.
27	Cleveland Cavaliers Cleveland’s time as a championship contender has come and gone.  Yet for some reason team owner Dan Gilbert has not decided to blow up and rebuild yet.  That will leave a season of pain for Cleveland fans who have to count on Mo Williams and Antawn Jamison for primary offensive production.
28	Detroit Pistons The unbalanced team of untapped/overused potential will likely wander through the 2010-2011 season the same way they did a year ago.  Greg Monroe will benefit from getting to play behind a revived Ben Wallace for a season, but one injury to Big Ben could force more minutes out of the Georgetown big man than coach John Kuester would like.
29	Toronto Raptors They said goodbye to Bosh and Turkoglu, and now according to the Raptors’ spending, the future is in the hands of Amir Johnson.  That is not a situation that Toronto fans, or anyone for that matter, wants to be in right now.
30	Minnesota Timberwolves The T-Wolves said goodbye to arguably their best player in Al Jefferson, and only picked up Martell Webster, Luke Ridnour, and Michael Beasley.  [shudders]

Chip Patterson writes for CBSSports.com’s College Football Blog and contributes at TheHoopDoctors.com.

Are Star Rookies Evidence Against the One and Done Rule?

Remember the days of rookies having a tough time transitioning from the college game to the pro game? Or, midway through the NBA season a rookie hitting the dreaded rookie wall? While some rookies still go through their lumps transitioning to the NBA, more and more rookies these days have an immediate impact on their teams, seamlessly, with no transitional period. The top three rookies from last year’s draft: Tyreke Evans, Stephen Curry, and Brandon Jennings all had immediate impacts on their respective teams. With only one professional season under their belts, these three players are considered by many to be the best players on their respective teams.

John Wall, the number one overall pick in the 2010 draft, is expected to have an immediate impact for the struggling Washington Wizards this season. Wall has not played one regular season game and is arguably Washington’s best player. It is not unfair for bottom dwelling teams to have high expectations for rookies to immediately help their teams, as Evans, Curry, and Jennings proved last year by putting up big numbers and playing like grizzled veterans. However, what may be unfair is: talented rookies not being able to help struggling franchises sooner than they already are.

With more and more rookies stepping in and having an instant impact on their teams, the one and done rule seems more irrelevant than ever. With players having immediate impacts on teams, it makes one wonder if they wouldn’t be better suited being able to go straight from high school to the NBA, therefore, helping themselves and the struggling team drafting them sooner than they already are. It is impossible to tell if players would have completely bypassed college if they had the chance, or if they would have had the same impact coming straight from high school. But, if a player feels he is ready and a professional basketball team would benefit from his immediate services, shouldn’t both the player and team be able to take advantage? I know this has been argued a million different times and ways, but the immediate impact first year players are having on NBA teams is a sign the NBA should put away the one and done rule, for the benefit of players and teams.

Joshua Sexton is a lifelong basketball fanatic, who watches as many games as possible. In addition, He has played and coached the game at the high school level. He has recently started writing about the game of basketball.

Celtics Spoil Season Opener for Miami’s Big Three

The Miami Heat had their two biggest weaknesses exposed on the regular season opening night against the Boston Celtics. Those weaknesses are size in the paint, and point guard play. The combination of Shaq, Garnett, and Jermaine O’Neal controlling the boards all night long proved to be too much for the Heat’s bigs.

Add to that, the fact that the Miami Heat point guards had no chance of slowing down Rajon Rondo or making him work in the least on the defensive end, and you have a recipe for a dream matchup for the Celtics. Maybe the Heat shouldn’t have been so quick in the offseason to scoff at picking up a cheap one year contract on a player like Allen Iverson. AI was was more than willing to play another year in the league, before ultimately signing in Turkey. Are you seriously trying to tell me the Heat execs believe Carlos Arroyo and/or Mario Chalmers is a better PG option than even an aging Iverson? Meanwhile back at the ranch….

LeBron James was a rare bright spot for Miami with 31 points as the new Big 3 fell in its debut to the old Big 3 of the Boston Celtics, 88-80, before a loud crowd that shouted “overrated!” at the Heat on Tuesday night.

Boston led 45-30 at halftime, but Miami cut that to 63-57 after the third quarter behind James’ 15 points in that period. A layup by James made it 83-80 with 1:10 left in the game. But Boston, which once led by 19, got the last five points on a 3-pointer by Ray Allen and two free throws by Paul Pierce.

The other members off Miami’s trio struggled, with Dwyane Wade scoring 13 points and Chris Bosh adding eight points and eight rebounds

Read more details via AP on Yahoo.com

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