It’s the type of event that unconsciously forces you to remember what you were wearing when it transpired. Ten years ago today, not only am I able to recall what I had on, the company around me, and where I was, but I can equally as vividly remember the single worst day in NBA history. Bad enough to even make Kermit Washington blush, perhaps.

In the closing minute of ESPN’s Friday night game on November 19, 2004, in a game that was all but over, Ben Wallace took exception to a hard foul by Ron Artest and that was the beginning of the end. While laying on the scorer’s table awaiting word from the referee, a fan threw a cup filled with a beverage at Artest and all hell broke loose. This was pre-Twitter, of course, so if you weren’t watching the game live as I was, it was probably a while before you found out. About an hour later, while my body was still shaking, mouth still agape and hands still on my head, my phone began blowing up with friends who had finally caught wind of the malice. I remember being too numb to field the calls or texts.

What happened as a result of this incident would define the NBA for the foreseeable future. The timing of Artest’s trip into the stands couldn’t have been worse because prior to that night, the NBA had already been facing recent popularity and image problems and this did not help.

The early 2000s was a time where the League was still very much influenced by Allen Iverson in the post-Michael Jordan era. Searching for a guy to serve as the de facto face-of-the-League, Stern so happened to find it in the way of A.I. (the biggest trendsetter in NBA history) whether he liked it or not.

Cornrows, tattoos in abundance, headbands and shooting sleeves were on the rise League-wide, and all were equally as distasteful to consumers who did not and could not relate to a number of NBA players. To that end, it was commonplace to encounter a sports fan who would practically brag about not following the NBA. They would stick out their chest with that boastful proclamation. As a result, I constantly found myself unintentionally defending the League to naysayers as if David Stern was paying me to do so.

Naturally, the highly-debated (and now barely-enforced) Dress Code ensued the following off-season and would serve as David Stern’s direct response to cleaning up the League’s image, although he would never openly link it to Artest. His League was headed in a direction that Stern was not pleased with and he needed to enforce something publicly to let mainstream media, fans, and sponsors know he had it under control. Had it not been for Artest, you could argue there never would’ve been a Dress Code.

It felt as if “NBA” was a bad word for several years after mid-November, 2004. The League felt stale. Dormant even, and it was a direct result of Artest. Frankly, the success of the San Antonio Spurs didn’t help in this regard either, as the team was not widely-regarded as fun to watch. Then 2010 rolled around and the sun began to peak through the clouds.

First, the Lakers and Celtics, two blueblood franchises, met in the Finals that year and took the best-of-seven series to its limit. A few weeks later, LeBron James peaked everyone’s interest –sports fan or otherwise— when he took his talents to South Beach. As result of those two 2010 incidences, the NBA was finally officially back and Ron Artest was off the hook, six years later.

It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years. It’s also hard to believe that Ron blossomed into this fun, lovable, caricature despite his 2004 transgressions. That’s probably the most amazing part of the entire story.

Time heals all and this is proof positive. Today, the NBA is as popular as it has been since Jordan was shoving Bryon Russell and that’s a good thing, because 2004 was cold, dark, lonely place for the League. A place it cannot afford to retreat to.

But a year ago, not many people would’ve thought this. In fact, a month ago, it wasn’t on anyone’s radar. As ugly as the split was between LeBron and Cleveland, this whole episode shows you that you can’t even tell what’s in someone’s heart.

One writer accurately predicted LeBron’s return to Cleveland months ago. In fact, he also predicted Julius Randle to L.A. too. Bryant T. Jordan, author of “Saving the Lakers: A Be the General Manager Book” was dead on. Here’s some of what he wrote:

It was shocking news when LeBron James decided to opt out of the final year of contract with the Miami Heat and re-join the team that drafted him, especially after Cavs owner Dan Gilbert went all Adolf and publicly denounced James for leaving. However, the man knows as King James was never stupid. He showed his basketball intelligence when he signed with the Heat and then went out and won multiple titles, and he showed it again this past summer when he left the aging Heat to sign with a Cavs team loaded with young talent and another legit superstar with his best days ahead of him in Kyrie Irving. And now, LeBron is once again reaping the rewards of his prudent basketball decision-making.

Prior to their 2010 National Championship win over Butler, the last time Duke won a title was 2001. To be considered the unofficial best program in the land, that’s  a long time to go in between titles. And first round loses to schools like Mercer doesn’t help, either. So why is Duke still considered Duke? Because their Duke, I suppose.

In light of their championship over Kentucky on Monday night, UConn is the new Duke. UConn is the gold-standard in college basketball and the program that has won the most recently. After all, that’s what it’s all about right?

Over the past 15 years, UConn now has four National Championships: 1999, 2004, 2011 and 2014. There was also an additional Final Four appearance in there as well. No other school has more than two titles in the time period. Those titles alone don’t earn them the distinction of being the new Duke. Their recent path to get here makes the story far more compelling.

A few years ago when Syracuse and Pitt jumped ship and headed for greener pastures and greener dollars in the ACC, naturally, UConn tried to do the same as the Big East boat was sinking. However, they were basically told by both the ACC and Big 10 that their football program wasn’t good enough (despite a BCS game win). Therefore, UConn had no choice but to join this upstart AAC (American Athletic Conference). What a slap in the face to an original Big East school.

During all of this, UConn became academically ineligible for post-season play last year. That meant they couldn’t even play in the Big East tournament during their final year in conference. But don’t cry for them. I mean, it was their own doing. Nor could they play in the NCAA tournament itself. With the news that the school had this one-year tourney ban on the horizon, some guys transferred. Namely Alex Oriakhi who went to Missouri to finish off his career. But key guys stayed. Shabbazz Napier stayed. Giffey stayed. Olander stayed. They had no reason to stay, but they did. Frankly, if they wanted to leave, nobody at UConn could’ve been upset by the decision.

And none of this even addresses the fact that Jim Calhoun retired and rookie head coach and UConn alum Kevin Ollie was to take over, during all of this. That’s alot for any program to handle in such a short time. That all transpired following the 2011 championship season, and here they are. Back as if they never left.

When there was that changing of the guard at head coach and conference switch, UConn was on the brink of being forgotten. The break up of the Big East forever changed the landscape of college basketball and they were at the epicenter of it all.  The fact that they were able to demonstrate resiliency and fight through the tough times shows the character of the program. Not the number of nationally televised games on ESPN.

So while they might not be in the shiny ACC with Dick Vitale calling all of their games, and while many are romanticizing over the allure that Duke and other schools may possess, UConn is busy doing something more often than any other school in the land: winning titles. Impossible to discredit that.

Vogel had just about everyone questioning his decision making (except Charles Barkley, who doesn’t always like to acknowledge when he’s wrong) including Steve Kerr and Reggie Miller during the telecast. Removing Hibbert at that juncture of the game appeared to be the exact opposite of what mad sense.

Vogel’s decision was a head-scratcher to say the least, but it appears as if he is aware of that now. Hindsight is 20/20 and it sounds like he knows he made a mistake.

As we found out after the game, he made the move because he didn’t want Chris Bosh to pull Hibbert away from the basket by spreading the floor. So you take him out of the game all together? Sounds contradictory. To make it worse, Vogel just saw LeBron score rather easily on the prior possession. In my opinion, this loss is squarely on Vogel’s shoulders.

Following the game, he made the following statement regarding how he managed Hibbert, according to TNT’s Rachel Nichols: “I would say we’ll probably have him in next time.”

Ironically, Phil Jackson had the opportunity to coach both of the aforementioned in their respective prime. While he was an active coach, Phil never seemed willing to answer questions where he was asked to compare the two. I understand his hesitancy because that wouldn’t benefit anyone aside from fans.

However, things have changed and Phil has decided to open up a bit. Jackson is releasing a memoir where he goes into detail about the two. These excerpts are courtesy of the LA Times and it sounds like Kobe falls short in many areas in comparison to Jordan, in Phil’s opinion.

“Michael was more charismatic and gregarious than Kobe. He loved hanging out with his teammates and security guards, playing cards, smoking cigars, and joking around,” Jackson said in the book, which was obtained in advance by The Times.

“Kobe is different. He was reserved as a teenager, in part because he was younger than the other players and hadn’t developed strong social skills in college. When Kobe first joined the Lakers, he avoided fraternizing with his teammates. But his inclination to keep to himself shifted as he grew older. Increasingly, Kobe put more energy into getting to know the other players, especially when the team was on the road.”

“No question, Michael was a tougher, more intimidating defender. He could break through virtually any screen and shut down almost any player with his intense, laser-focused style of defense,”

“Kobe has learned a lot from studying Michael’s tricks, and we often used him as our secret weapon on defense when we needed to turn the direction of a game. In general, Kobe tends to rely more heavily on his flexibility and craftiness, but he takes a lot of gambles on defense and sometimes pays the price.”

“Michael was more likely to break through his attackers with power and strength, while Kobe often tries to finesse his way through mass pileups,” Jackson wrote. “Michael was stronger, with bigger shoulders and a sturdier frame. He also had large hands that allowed him to control the ball better and make subtle fakes.

“Jordan was also more naturally inclined to let the game come to him and not overplay his hand, whereas Kobe tends to force the action, especially when the game isn’t going his way. When his shot is off, Kobe will pound away relentlessly until his luck turns. Michael, on the other hand, would shift his attention to defense or passing or setting screens to help the team win the game.”

So in every way imaginable, Phil seems to think Michael was better than Kobe. Both personally and professionally. That’s pretty telling. So is the fact that the above probably aren’t even the tip of the iceberg of what he will share.

Yesterday, we learned that of a possible 121 first-place votes, LeBron received 120. That means one lone writer did not vote for LeBron, and everyone was speculating as to who that may be. That writer is Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Today, Washburn raised his hand, acknowledged that it was him, and that he voted for Carmelo Anthony because he feels Anthony is more valuable to his team than LeBron to his. As Washburn explains:

Anthony led the league in scoring average and basically carried an old Knicks team to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference. Amar’e Stoudemire missed most of the season with knee issues, Raymond Felton missed six weeks, and Tyson Chandler dealt with nagging injuries, leaving Anthony, J.R. Smith, and a bunch of lottery picks from the mid-1990s to win 54 games and beat the Miami Heat three times.

Firstly, when I submitted my vote in mid-April, I had no idea I would be the only voter to leave LeBron out of first. This isn’t Mrs. Wilson’s class, I don’t walk around asking fellow sportswriters their answers to the US History quiz. I had no idea whom the writers were voting for, so this was no LeBron conspiracy.

Secondly, this isn’t the Best Player in the Game award, it’s the Most Valuable Player award, and I think what Anthony accomplished this season was worthy of my vote. He led the Knicks to their first division title in 19 years.

Washburn is right in that the award is often-times regarded as the Best Player in the Game award. If that’s the case, LeBron will win that every year, as Washburn also mentions.

Frankly, I am surprised that LeBron got 120 of the 121 first-place votes. None for Kevin Durant, Chris Paul or Tony Parker? I mean, you’d figure LeBron would win, but I didn’t think by this margin. I thought a few others would’ve received votes too.

But here’s quite possibly Washburn’s biggest point:

So my vote had more to do with Anthony and less to do with the dominance of LeBron. If you were to take Anthony off the Knicks, they are a lottery team. James plays with two other All-Stars, the league’s all-time 3-point leader, a defensive stalwart, and a fearless point guard. The Heat are loaded.

If LeBron was taken away from the Heat, they still would be a fifth or sixth seed. He is the best player of this generation, a multifaceted superstar with the physical prowess of Adonis, but I chose to reward a player who has lifted his team to new heights.

So, does Washburn have a point in all of this? At the very least, he makes it clear that it was a case of someone who was trying to prove a point, as so many suspected. (However, he is overstating Mario Chalmers a bit in the quote directly above).

But back when Jordans were being released on an individual, annual basis (before multiple Retro releases became a thing) the kicks had different meaning. Far too often these days, you hear of violence and criminal behavior being applied by consumers to get their hands on Jordans. But as I recall coming up, and as a friend the same age confirmed to me, “Jordan weren’t that serious when we were in school. Either you had them or you didn’t. Simple as that.”

Of course, that’s no longer the case.

But what if this never happend? What if Jordan never signed with Nike?  Would the shoes still be as powerful? Perhaps, but we’ll never know.

As ESPN’s Darren Rovell explains, if Michael had it his way, that was nearly the case. He wanted to wear adidas, but they never offered him a contract.

All Michael Jordan wanted to wear was adidas in the NBA. 

But adidas wasn’t making an offer. It wasn’t that they didn’t think Jordan was worth anything; they were just caught at a bad time. After company founder Adi Dassler had died in 1978, his wife, Kathe, took over the business, but she had her son, Horst, and her four daughters each running separate divisions.

The husbands of the daughters also were closely involved, which didn’t make things easy. By the time of the Jordan negotiations, tensions were high and thoughts of a succession plan were of top priority as Kathe was not in good health. She died later that year.

“They were definitely in a state of flux,” said Frank Craighill, who represented Horst at the time. “It wasn’t an easy thing to split.”

Jordan was extremely disappointed.

The rest, as they say, is history. Michael Jordan and Nike made the perfect marriage and the brand will never die. Even though the most loyal consumers today never saw Michael play.

One of the most interesting nuggets I found in Rovell’s piece on ESPN.com is that Nike had benchmarks in their deal with Jordan that he had to adhere to.

In order to protect themselves, Nike had a clause in Jordan’s deal that said if he didn’t accomplish one of these three things — win Rookie of the Year, become an All-Star or average 20 points per game — in his first three years, it could end the deal two years early.

I wonder what would’ve happened if Michael didn’t achieve those during the allotted time, but still wound up being as great as he was.

Now, it’s silly for me to defend the team with the worst record in the NBA, but I will say that the Wizards aren’t as bad as their record suggests. But I know, “you are what your record says you are.” I get it. They rarely get blown out, and lose close games on the final possession or two, as if it’s going out of style. I often wonder what their record would be if they had the services of John Wall and Nene for the entire season. But every team has to endure injuries, so it is what it is. However, last night’s win aided my point about this team.

When I arrived at the Verizon Center in D.C.’s China town area, I quickly made my way through the media area towards the spot that the Wizards had reserved for me in section 107. Because I arrived shortly before the game’s tip, I didn’t have time to do much beforehand other than simply get to my seat.

The game itself was entertaining, as the 101-99 final score would suggest. As they tend to do from time to time before imploding, the Wizards got off to a hot start, much to the delight of some of the 16,917 in attendance. I say most because Kevin Durant is from D.C. and a portion of the crowd was cheering pretty loudly for him when he scored any of his 29 points, so I knew where their allegiance rested.

The Wizards led 30-20 after the first quarter, much to my surprise. OKC came out strong in the second quarter to shrink that gap a bit. The highlight of the quarter by far, was when Kevin Durant ended what is remaining of Trevor Ariza’s career. KD had Ariza near the top of the key, when he hit him with an impressive crossover, before dunking on the Wizards front line with his left hand. The building erupted.

Up until this point it was a balanced offensive attack for the Wizards, while Durant and Serge Ibaka did the heavy lifting for the Thunder. Russell Westbrook was relatively quiet as the Wiz took a 55-51 lead to the locker room.

The third quarter was more of the same: balanced offensive scoring for the Wizards, who scored 25 that quarter, and a heavy dose of KD and Serge Ibaka for OKC. Serge knocked down multiple mid-range jump shots en route to a 26 point performance on 12-17 shooting. It was still a quiet night for Westbrook. A move that Westbrook resorts to a lot, particularly on the fast-break is a stop-and-pop jump shot from about 18 feet away. He missed many of those, but kept on taking them. The Wizards defended him well in transition as he finished with a quiet 17 points on 4-17 shooting.

But as we came down the stretch in the fourth quarter, the Thunder began chipping away thanks to Durant. He hit a huge three with under a minute left to tie the game at 99 and the building went crazy. He even gave a random court side fan a hi-five as he retreaded back on defense.

The stage was now set for big finish. Wizards coach Randy Wittman put trust into his rookie shooting guard, Brad Beal, as he put the ball in his hands on the final possession. Beal tried driving the lane, but got cut off. So he improvised and threw in a 17-foot one-hand jump shot with 0.3 sends remaining. The building went crazy once again. You could almost feel it shake.

Ballgame.

Following the game, I packed up my belongings and headed to the media area to wait for Wittman’s post-game presser and to catch up on some of the BCS National Championship game. It was 21-0 Alabama by that point. When Wittman walked in he said a few words before taking questions. He first talked about his backcourt stating,

“I got good contributions from A.J. Price tonight, who was cleared by doctors to play. I just want to make that clear. He was cleared by doctors.”

The room filled with laughter as he was clearly poking fun at the Washington Redskins and their Robert Griffin III debacle from the day before.

After fielding a few questions, I asked coach if he did anything special to hold Westbrook to 4-17 shooting.

“We knew we had to key in on him and that’s what we did. We were willing to let Serge Ibaka beat us with jump shots if we had to, and he almost did. He hit a lot of jump shots”, said Wittman.

That was the final question and the brief press conference was over. I then walked back to the media room for a quick drink and saw that it was now 28-0 Alabama. I then made by way to OKC’s locker room, which was filled with reporters. The one thing that will always be strange is watching a group of reporters waiting for these half-naked young men, who just stepped out of the shower and only have a towel on, to get dressed so that they can swarm them with questions.

Naturally, Durant had the biggest crowd around him, waiting for him to put on his tan suit, which indicated that he was ready to speak. KD was asked if the Thunder took the Wizards too lightly.

“No, we didn’t. This is the NBA. Any team can get beat any given night. They are professionals over there and they got the best of us tonight. We play hard every night”, said KD.

Time with him was brief. We then made our way over to Russell Westbrook who was also getting dressed. Another weird situation. Once he was fully clothed in a classic Russell Westbrook outfit, he was asked about his 4-17 shooting night.

“They played good defense, but I also missed a lot of shots that I typically make. You have to give them credit though. They played well”, said Westbrook, taking nothing away from Washington.

James Harden is a solid NBA player, but make no mistake: he has benefited greatly from playing alongside stars Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. From an on-the-court standpoint, Harden was in heaven in OKC. He has been dubbed OKC’s best playmaker (rightfully so). But again, that’s primarily because he played alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook.

James Harden had become a household name within basketball circles and was named to the Olympic team. He’s even the beneficiary of endorsement deals and has his own commercials. All of those were made possible by the fact that he played alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. Do you sense the theme developing here?

If James Harden played for a lesser team where he was truly “the man”, not only would the team not be as successful, but he wouldn’t be a household name, wouldn’t have been afforded a roster spot on the Olympic team and probably would not be in any commercials. Again, I think Harden is a solid NBA talent, but let’s temper what isn’t reality.

On Saturday, it was reported the James Harden, who becomes a free agent next summer, turned down a 4-year, $55.5 million contract extension from the Oklahoma City Thunder because he feels he deserves a max contract. The way the NBA operates today, with the likes of Roy Hibbert and Brook Lopez being given the max, I’m not mad at him for wanting more money. Far be it from me to tell someone not to think they’re worth more. However, several hours after he turned down that offer, he, Daequan Cook, Lazar Hayward and Cole Aldrich became the newest members of the Houston Rockets, in exchange for Kevin Martin, Jeremy Lamb and at least two 2013 first round picks. OKC general manager Sam Presti couldn’t risk keeping Harden for this upcoming season and having him bolt next summer without receiving any compensation in return. He did what he had to and should have done. If the Thunder offered Harden the max, they would’ve have had to deal with a myriad of cap and financial ramifications that the team wasn’t willing to endure.

But hold on a second. Harden said “no thanks” to a 4-year, $55.5 million deal because he wanted the max. It turns out that the max is actually 4-years $60 million. A difference of $4.5 million. Look, I don’t care how much money you make, $4.5 million is a lot of money, so I get why Harden may have scratched his head. But is that $4.5 million worth it for Harden? Wouldn’t he easily have recouped that in off-the-court endeavors that would come his way because he’s in the spotlight by playing alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook, and because Thunder will be good for the foreseeable future?  As a member of the Thunder, he hadn’t even begun to scratch the surface of his celebrity, and lucrative opportunities were sure to come his way. But in Houston, he’s no longer in the limelight, he’s playing for a team that is rebuilding, thus making him less marketable. His beard won’t be as cool as a member of the Rockets, because it won’t be on TV enough for anyone to see, notice or care about it any more.

However, in fairness to Harden, the Rockets can offer him a 5th year on that extension that would add roughly $20 million on top of what he will be offered. But again, his next deal with the Thunder would’ve rivaled that which brings me back to my original point.

The Houston Rockets, on the other hand, seemed determined to shake things up this offseason and they’ve done just that. After grossly overpaying for Jeremy Lin (even though they cut him less than a year ago), they needed to make another splash, which came Saturday night. Jeremy Lin and James Harden are now the starting backcourt for the Rockets. Lin’s deficiencies as a player were becoming magnified towards the end of “Linsanity”, which is why his season-ending injury late last campaign came just in time to preserve his future riches.

Opposite Lin is Harden: a solid player, who, again, benefited from playing alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook (sorry to be redundant, but I need to hammer home the point). Neither appear to have the prowess to be “the guy” on a team to be taken seriously. They are nice complementary players so I hope Houston is planning on bringing in a sure-fire star player at some point.

The winner in all of this is clearly OKC. They still have Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Serge Ibaka, and have added an underrated Kevin Martin (granted, he and Harden are two different players), a rookie in Jeremy Lamb who has a great deal of promise, two first-round picks, and Perry Jones who they drafted. I don’t think it’s even close.

So, while I can’t fault Harden for chasing dollars, I don’t know that in the long-term he’ll make more in Houston for the aforementioned reasons. And the Rockets, who will give Harden the max, reached on this one big-time. Therefore, I’m not sure who made the worse decision.

The series begins this week with new episodes posting monthly throughout the season.

This year’s cast features the top five picks of the 2012 NFL Draft, including Indianapolis Colts QB Andrew Luck, Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III, Cleveland Browns RB Trent Richardson, Minnesota Vikings OT Matt Kalil and Jacksonville Jaguars WR Justin Blackmon. The other six athletes are Indianapolis Colts TE Dwayne Allen, Carolina Panthers LB Luke Kuechly, San Diego Chargers LB Melvin Ingram, San Francisco 49ers RB LaMichael James and Houston Texans DE Jared Crick, along with his teammate, K Randy Bullock.

The game of H-O-R-S-E between Robert Griffin III and Trent Richardson took place at API Phoenix when the two players were prepping for the Combine as part of a shoot for the Gatorade and NFL Films “Everything to Prove” online series.

The first episodes of “Everything to Prove” are up and can be found at NFL.com/ETP, but our good friends over at Gatorade sent us this clip of this game of H-O-R-S-E.

Check out RG3?s windmill at the end. Not too shabby at all:

The writing has been on the wall for a while, and it was finally announced Wednesday that hall of famer Jim Calhoun will retire as UConn head basketball coach.

I spent four of the greatest years of my life roaming the campus of the University of Connecticut and am from the Nutmeg State. Being a basketball junkie from Connecticut, means you have to follow UConn hoops. Especially if you went to school there.

UConn basketball’s history is really only about 22 years old or so, and it all happened primarily under Jim Calhoun. I couldn’t even tell you who his predecessor was. He took an unknown program and made it arguably the best in the nation for a period of time, while winning three NCAA titles along the way.

The thing I will always admire about Calhoun is his uncanny ability to get marginal big men drafted. Hilton Armstrong and Hasheem Thabeet were both lottery picks. And Josh Boone was also a first rounder. He squeezes every bit of effort out of his guys. The proof is that the aforementioned are fringe NBA players, if they’re even still in the League.

But I definitely think it’s time for him to step down. He has battled cancer, recently broke his hip in a bike accident, the program is ineligible for post-season play next year because of academics (which I hold Calhoun partly responsible for), seemingly half the team has transferred, and the Big East has become a joke. All of those factors make this a transitional year for UConn basketball and is why I think the timing is perfect for Calhoun, who is 70 by the way. However, with this news comes the realization that the program will be down for 2-3 years. Until they make that inevitable and necessary move to the ACC, the program will suffer.

Early reports indicate that former Husky and NBAer, Kevin Ollie, will serve as Calhoun’s successor. I love the idea of keeping it in the family.