Los Angeles Lakers guard and reigning MVP Kobe Bryant had two priorities heading into this summer: win a gold medal  and get healthy for the start of the Lakers season. The first goal was realized when the Redeem Team defeated Spain several weeks ago. The later objective, though, looks to be a false hope.

No one doubts his abilities as a coach anymore, but the stakes in college basketball have changed.  Krzyzewski expects his kids to succeed in the classroom and on the basketball court, but in this current climate of NBA or bust, kids do not want to be shackled like that, and as a result the elite players bypass Duke.  Krzyzewski is still putting competitive teams on the court, but the dominance he routinely enjoyed before may have passed him by.

With over 100,000 votes being cast during the length of the tournament, the winner of the first annual Floor Burn Tournament is Shane Battier. It was a wild week of voting as Pistons fans thought Jason Maxiell had this tournament locked up after the first few days only to see Battier have a huge surge and secure the win by the end of the week.

Thanks to “More Than A Game”, a new documentary by first-time director Kris Belman, the story of how LeBron became King James will indeed be told, but in his own words.

After a month long battle to crown the Floor Burn Champion, the final contestants are Jason Maxiell and Shane Battier. Despite complaints from some readers about these players being heralded on message board across the ‘net, I have no qualms with these two finalists because they are a great representation of what the Floor Burn Tournament represents: two players who don’t get the shine they deserve for being glue guys and integral parts of their respective teams success.