George Karl talked with the media about the maturation he’s seen in Carmelo Anthony since he returned from the Olympics and how Chauncey Billups has already formed a cult following in Denver.

The Denver Nuggets won’t just be celebrating a win tonight, they’ll be ringing in the New Year in style as Denver head coach George Karl secured the 900th win of his legendary coaching career.

For basketball fans, 2008 was a remarkable calendar year that will be long remembered. Whether it was the President-elect’s pick up games, the amazing parity of the Western Conference last spring, the renewed Lakers-Celtics rivalry, the thrilling NCAA Men’s Finals, or the brilliance of the Redeem Team, the last twelve months has been a testament to the game’s brilliance.

New Year’s resolutions are certainly not lost on NBA players, coaches and general managers. After all, they are people too; most just have a lot more money and fame than the rest of us. So, let’s imagine what some of our favorite NBA players, coaches and GMs might resolve to do in 2009.

For the third week in a row, the same four teams top Hoops Addict’s College Basketball Power Rankings. That’s not to say there haven’t been changes, as we welcome two new (old) teams this week, in the final rankings of 2008.

After posting modest numbers as a rookie, Jose Calderon’s currently among the league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.35) while ranking third in the NBA in assists (8.7). With gaudy stats like that, does it mean he’s improved enough to warrant consideration to play in the All-Star game this season? His new head coach thinks so.

I thought I’d wrap up 2008 with a look at some of the biggest NBA stories of 2008 which meant I sat down for nearly 48 hours working on this post as I went through hundreds of blogs on BallHype and thousands of posts. The result is Carnival of the NBA #62.

The stockings were opened, the turkey was savored, and the eggnog shared. For NBA fans, the gift atop their wish list was unwrapped in Los Angeles late in the afternoon in the form of a nationally televised NBA Finals rematch.

I was privileged to interview Bob Cousy this summer and within minutes of the start of our interview I knew that it would be unlike any other that I have conducted. Formality and adherence to a routinized Q&A script vanished and was replaced by Cousy’s cordiality, warmth of spirit and graciousness.

College basketball provided us with a few contests for the ages Saturday, as Connecticut against Gonzaga and Michigan State at Texas were both thrilling games with a post-season feel. With just a handful of games until conference play get in full-swing, here is our latest version of College Basketball’s Power Rankings.