2011 NBA Mock Draft: Tremendous Upside of Josh Selby Interests OKC Thunder

Jimmer Fredette shot the BYU Cougars into the Sweet 16 and shot them right out of it. He forced his shot too often and seemed to press a bit.
But the superb qualities that have gotten him this far have not been forgotten. He has a tremendous basketball IQ and a work ethic that rivals Tim Tebow.
Jimmer may never possess the athleticism that is required of a star two-guard in the NBA, but he is still going to be a strong contributor to the right team.
ESPN draft insider Chad Ford has a few more reasons to like him:
“Amazing scorer, very high basketball IQ, tough, strong player, can score from anywhere on the floor, deep, deep range on his jumper, great at creating space, sick crossover, fearless, terrific leader on and off the court, good passer, ball handler.”
So there you have it.
He is one of the best collegeg players of the last few years and would bring instant offense to the 76ers.
But it’s his defense that is huge concern and somethig that will scare off plenty of scouts.
He struggles to stay infront of his man and simply doesn’t have the foot speed to hang with the fastest players in the NBA.
NBA Comparison: Eddie House
Jimmer is going to be a role player in the NBA because of his defense and will never be a All-Star or MVP. But he will be instant offense off the bench and will be asked to hit some huge shots in his career…just like House.
For all of the latest news, and analysis regarding March Madness…click here.
Most recent updates:
2011 NBA Mock Draft: Could Markieff Morris Take Michael Beasley’s Spot?
2011 NBA Mock Draft: Bobcats Take a Stab on the Unknown Jan Vesely
2011 NBA Mock Draft: High Scoring Jordan Hamilton Gets Plucked by Hornets
View all updates

Jimmer Fredette shot the BYU Cougars into the Sweet 16 and shot them right out of it. He forced his shot too often and seemed to press a bit.
But the superb qualities that have gotten him this far have not been forgotten. He has a tremendous basketball IQ and a work ethic that rivals Tim Tebow.
Jimmer may never possess the athleticism that is required of a star two-guard in the NBA, but he is still going to be a strong contributor to the right team.
ESPN draft insider Chad Ford has a few more reasons to like him:
“Amazing scorer, very high basketball IQ, tough, strong player, can score from anywhere on the floor, deep, deep range on his jumper, great at creating space, sick crossover, fearless, terrific leader on and off the court, good passer, ball handler.”
So there you have it.
He is one of the best collegeg players of the last few years and would bring instant offense to the 76ers.
But it’s his defense that is huge concern and somethig that will scare off plenty of scouts.
He struggles to stay infront of his man and simply doesn’t have the foot speed to hang with the fastest players in the NBA.
NBA Comparison: Eddie House
Jimmer is going to be a role player in the NBA because of his defense and will never be a All-Star or MVP. But he will be instant offense off the bench and will be asked to hit some huge shots in his career…just like House.
For all of the latest news, and analysis regarding March Madness…click here.
Most recent updates:
2011 NBA Mock Draft: Could Markieff Morris Take Michael Beasley’s Spot?2011 NBA Mock Draft: Bobcats Take a Stab on the Unknown Jan Vesely2011 NBA Mock Draft: High Scoring Jordan Hamilton Gets Plucked by HornetsView all updates

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NBA: Chicago 84, New Jersey 73

NEWARK, N.J., March 17 (UPI) — Derrick Rose led the way with 21 points Thursday and the Chicago Bulls closed the game on a 12-4 run to win beat New Jersey 84-73 for their eighth in a row.
The Bulls moved a half game in front of idle Boston for the best record in the Eastern Conference.
Chicago had only a three-point lead with 4:30 to play before finishing the game with a rush to win for the 11th time in 12 outings. Rookie Omer Asik had a career-best 16 rebounds and his 11 points gave him his first double-double.
The Bulls outscored the Nets in every quarter, but by no more than four points in any of them.
New Jersey lost its sixth straight, its longest skid of the season. Brook Lopez led the Nets with 22 points.
© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI’s prior written consent.
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Dwight Howard: ‘I’m not a hothead because I get techs’

One day after the NBA officially suspended him for one game for picking up 16 technical fouls this season, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard said he’s trying to stay positive.
“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Howard said after the Magic’s practice Sunday.
“I’ll try not to let the officiating affect the way I play. It’s very tough, but I’ve just got to do it. I think it’s like they want to make an example out of me, but I’ll just stay positive and continue to do all the things that I do to bring fun to the game. That’s all I can do. I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a hothead because I get techs, and I think that’s the message that people want to put across. I guess last year it was I smile too much. Now I don’t smile. And now I’m a hothead.”
Howard received his latest tech Friday night during Orlando’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. Howard gathered an offensive rebound and was hit on top of his head by Joakim Noah. Kyle Korver then fouled Howard and hung onto Howard’s arm after the whistle. Howard retaliated by throwing an elbow in Korver’s direction.
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Tonight, Howard will not be allowed inside Amway Center when the Magic host the Portland Trail Blazers because of NBA rules related to suspended players.
So what will Howard do with his spare time?
“I thought about having a viewing party, inviting 500 of Orlando’s finest people out to where we can all view the game,” Howard joked. “That’d be real awesome. We might sit outside. Right on Orange Avenue, they have a big-screen TV, so we might set up a little tent and watch the game.”
New starter
With Howard out, Stan Van Gundy said Ryan Anderson will move into the starting lineup against the Trail Blazers, joining Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Brandon Bass.
Van Gundy said he hasn’t determined which Blazers player Anderson will begin the game guarding. But it’ll either be 6-foot-11 power forward LaMarcus Aldridge or 6-foot-11 center Marcus Camby. Aldridge, who is averaging 22.3 points per game, is the tougher assignment defensively.
Anderson and Bass, both natural power forwards, have played some center since Marcin Gortat was included in the blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 18. Anderson also played the position occasionally during his two collegiate seasons at Cal.
“Obviously, it’s going to be tough not having Dwight out there, but we’re going to fight,” Anderson said. “We’re going to compete and be ready for when he comes back.”
Unfamiliar task
The Magic already have played two games without Howard this season. A stomach virus prevented Howard, Nelson, Mickael Pietrus and J.J. Redick from playing in the Dec. 3 game in Detroit and the Dec. 4 game in Milwaukee. The Magic won the game against the Pistons but lost to the Bucks.
Still, tonight’s game is different in one key respect.
“This will be first time we’ve ever played without him without a true backup center,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve always been able to go with Marcin before. Obviously, missing Dwight is a problem in any circumstance, but it never changed the way we played. It never changed the way we had to defend anything. It never changed much of anything.
“But now, where we’re just all power forwards, then it definitely changes who we are and the way we have to play. We have to do some different things. So it is a big difference for us now, but that’s OK. There can be some good come out of that.”
Layups
• Howard served on the scout team for a portion of Sunday’s practice, taking Aldridge’s role. Howard wore the white side of the Magic’s reversible practice jersey. “I had to wear the white jersey because I was like the quarterback on the football team: no contact,” Howard joked. “But instead of being no contact, it said ‘suspended’ on it. So I had to wear the shirt that said ‘suspended.’ ” Howard added: “It was the jersey of shame.”
• Howard had amassed a total of $45,000 in fines for his first 15 techs. His 16th earned him a $5,000 fine, and he’ll get a $5,000 fine for every tech he receives for the rest of the regular season. Howard’s suspension is without pay, so he’ll have to forfeit about $150,000 of his annual salary, which is about $16.5 million.
jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

One day after the NBA officially suspended him for one game for picking up 16 technical fouls this season, Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard said he’s trying to stay positive.
“There’s nothing I can do about it,” Howard said after the Magic’s practice Sunday.
“I’ll try not to let the officiating affect the way I play. It’s very tough, but I’ve just got to do it. I think it’s like they want to make an example out of me, but I’ll just stay positive and continue to do all the things that I do to bring fun to the game. That’s all I can do. I’m not a bad guy. I’m not a hothead because I get techs, and I think that’s the message that people want to put across. I guess last year it was I smile too much. Now I don’t smile. And now I’m a hothead.”
Howard received his latest tech Friday night during Orlando’s loss to the Chicago Bulls. Howard gathered an offensive rebound and was hit on top of his head by Joakim Noah. Kyle Korver then fouled Howard and hung onto Howard’s arm after the whistle. Howard retaliated by throwing an elbow in Korver’s direction.
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Tonight, Howard will not be allowed inside Amway Center when the Magic host the Portland Trail Blazers because of NBA rules related to suspended players.
So what will Howard do with his spare time?
“I thought about having a viewing party, inviting 500 of Orlando’s finest people out to where we can all view the game,” Howard joked. “That’d be real awesome. We might sit outside. Right on Orange Avenue, they have a big-screen TV, so we might set up a little tent and watch the game.”
New starter
With Howard out, Stan Van Gundy said Ryan Anderson will move into the starting lineup against the Trail Blazers, joining Jameer Nelson, Jason Richardson, Hedo Turkoglu and Brandon Bass.
Van Gundy said he hasn’t determined which Blazers player Anderson will begin the game guarding. But it’ll either be 6-foot-11 power forward LaMarcus Aldridge or 6-foot-11 center Marcus Camby. Aldridge, who is averaging 22.3 points per game, is the tougher assignment defensively.
Anderson and Bass, both natural power forwards, have played some center since Marcin Gortat was included in the blockbuster trade with the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 18. Anderson also played the position occasionally during his two collegiate seasons at Cal.
“Obviously, it’s going to be tough not having Dwight out there, but we’re going to fight,” Anderson said. “We’re going to compete and be ready for when he comes back.”
Unfamiliar task
The Magic already have played two games without Howard this season. A stomach virus prevented Howard, Nelson, Mickael Pietrus and J.J. Redick from playing in the Dec. 3 game in Detroit and the Dec. 4 game in Milwaukee. The Magic won the game against the Pistons but lost to the Bucks.
Still, tonight’s game is different in one key respect.
“This will be first time we’ve ever played without him without a true backup center,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve always been able to go with Marcin before. Obviously, missing Dwight is a problem in any circumstance, but it never changed the way we played. It never changed the way we had to defend anything. It never changed much of anything.
“But now, where we’re just all power forwards, then it definitely changes who we are and the way we have to play. We have to do some different things. So it is a big difference for us now, but that’s OK. There can be some good come out of that.”
Layups
• Howard served on the scout team for a portion of Sunday’s practice, taking Aldridge’s role. Howard wore the white side of the Magic’s reversible practice jersey. “I had to wear the white jersey because I was like the quarterback on the football team: no contact,” Howard joked. “But instead of being no contact, it said ‘suspended’ on it. So I had to wear the shirt that said ‘suspended.’ ” Howard added: “It was the jersey of shame.”
• Howard had amassed a total of $45,000 in fines for his first 15 techs. His 16th earned him a $5,000 fine, and he’ll get a $5,000 fine for every tech he receives for the rest of the regular season. Howard’s suspension is without pay, so he’ll have to forfeit about $150,000 of his annual salary, which is about $16.5 million.
jbrobbins@tribune.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog. Subscribe to our Orlando Magic newsletter at OrlandoSentinel.com/joinus.

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20-year-old Bayne wins the Daytona 500

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Leading on the final lap of the Daytona 500, a pack of veterans baring down on his bumper, Trevor Bayne didn’t panic.
He figured it would be a cool story to tell someday, how he led a lap in NASCAR’s biggest show.
Somebody, maybe Tony Stewart, would pass him any moment and Bayne would dutifully push him to the win.
But the pack never came. Nobody ever passed him, and with one smooth block of Carl Edwards, Bayne pulled off a stunning upset.
Unlikely? Absolutely.
Unworthy? He sure thought so.
Unbelievable? That’s Daytona for you.
“This is so crazy. I don’t even know what to say,” Bayne said after Sunday’s win. “I almost feel undeserving because … all these guys out here that are racing against us that have been trying to do this for so long.”
It took Dale Earnhardt 20 years to win the Great American Race, and on the 10th anniversary of his death in an accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, Bayne because the youngest winner in race history.
Bayne won a day after his 20th birthday, in his first Daytona 500, in his second Sprint (News  – Alert) Cup Series start. And he did it with the Wood Brothers, NASCAR’s oldest team, a pioneering organization that had fallen on hard times over the last two decades.

Although Bayne gave the Woods’ its fifth Daytona 500 victory — and first since David Pearson in 1976 — it was the team’s first Cup win since 2001.
That’s what happens, though, in NASCAR’s version of the Super Bowl, a race known to break the hearts of the most hardened veterans. This year was no different, with a record 74 lead changes among 22 drivers, and a record 16 cautions that wiped out many of the main contenders.
That included Dale Earnhardt Jr., who found himself in the middle of the pack and out of contention because of a late flat tire when he was wrecked on the first attempt at NASCAR’s version of overtime. His entire Hendrick Motorsports team had a rough day: five–time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon (News – Alert) and Mark Martin were all caught in an early 14–car accident.
And Richard Childress Racing, the class of the field all of Speedweeks, lost Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton to engine failures, and Clint Bowyer, who led 31 laps, was wrecked late.
So it put a slew of unusual suspects out front at the end, and Bayne took over the lead when David Ragan, winless in 147 career starts, was penalized for changing lanes on the first restart. Bayne thought it was neat to be out front, but the aw–shucks Tennessean figured Stewart and Co. were coming.
“I’m a little bit worried that one of them is going to come after me tonight,” he said. “I’m going to have to sleep with one eye open. That’s why I said I felt a little undeserving. I’m leading, and I’m saying, ‘Who can I push?’
“We get to turn four, and we were still leading the band,” he said. “It seemed a little bit too easy there at the end.”
The rookie had been great throughout Speedweeks, even proving his mettle by pushing four–time champion Jeff Gordon for most of a qualifying race, a performance Bayne said convinced the veterans he could be trusted on the track.
“I figured they had a chance after seeing that boy race in the 150s,” said Pearson, who will be inducted into the Hall of Fame in May. “I talked to him this morning. I told him to keep his head straight and not to do anything crazy. I told him to stay relaxed. I’m proud of him.”
With the win Bayne breaks Gordon’s mark as the youngest winner in Daytona 500 history. Gordon was 25 when he won the 500 in 1997.
“I think it’s very cool. Trevor’s a good kid, and I love the Wood Brothers,” Gordon said. “I’m really happy for him. And I think it’s great for the sport. To have a young talent like that — he’s got that spark, you know?”
The victory for NASCAR pioneers Leonard and Glen Wood ended a 10–year–losing streak and came the week of the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt’s fatal accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
This was only the fourth win in the last 20 years for Wood Brothers — NASCAR’s oldest team — which hasn’t run a full Sprint Cup season since 2006 and hit the low point of their 61–year–old existence when they failed to qualify for the 2008 Daytona 500.
“When you miss a race, like the Daytona 500, it’s like somebody died,” said Eddie Wood, part of the second generation of Woods now running the team. “When you walk through the garage and you run into people you see every week, they don’t look at you, they don’t know what to say.”
The rebuild has been slow, and they got Bayne this year for 17 races, on loaner from Roush–Fenway Racing, the team that snatched him up late last season when Michael Waltrip Racing — which gave Bayne his start in 2009 — couldn’t promise a sponsor for this season.
So it was on to Roush, which plans for Bayne to run for the Nationwide Series title this season, and a deal was made to get him some seat time in the Cup Series with the Woods. It wouldn’t be for points, and he wasn’t eligible to run for rookie of the year.
But the stunning Daytona 500 win — and the $1,462,563 payday — might change everybody’s plans. The team already said it now will go to Martinsville, the sixth race of the season, which had not been on its original schedule.
Bayne could possibly retract his decision to run for the Nationwide title.
“I don’t even know if that’s an option,” Bayne said.
Edwards wound up second in a Ford and seemed genuinely happy for Bayne.
“Second place in the Daytona 500 feels way worse than any other position I’ve ever finished in the Daytona 500,” Edwards said. “But that is made better by listening to Trevor and how excited he is. He is really a nice young man, a great guy to represent this sport with this win.
“I think the world’s going to like him a lot.”
David Gilliland finished third and was followed by Bobby Labonte and Kurt Busch. Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth, Regan Smith seventh, and Kyle Busch, Paul Menard and Martin rounded out the top 10.
Stewart, who was second behind Bayne on the final restart, faded to 13th and is now winless in 13 career Daytona 500s.

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