That is the day the National Collegiate Athletic Association allows recruiters to begin calling the basketball players they want to woo.
So Jim continues to call the basketball shots, which would mean that to hire Jackson, he would have to put aside his ego, essentially fire himself, and act for the good of Lakers fans.
Sporty readers can sign up for the store's 12-team Word Basketball League (unofficially called the "nerdy basketball league"); all skill levels are welcome, but would-be athletes have to answer a short quiz about books to make the cut.
These Knicks are called the best basketball team ever, which Mr. Araton doesn't second guess.
The league, now called the Entertainers Basketball Classic, draws such N.B.A. stars as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Allen Iverson and Stephon Marbury.
This was no ghost, but Earl Manigault in the flesh, the man whom Kareem Abdul-Jabbar once called "the best basketball player his size in the history of New York City".
This profitable heir to Mr. Rucker's creation, now called the Entertainers Basketball Classic, has a Web site, a corporate marketing division and its own line of merchandise, from clothing to videos of memorable games.
He spent a year and a half writing for Jimmy Kimmel's late-night show, in the early two-thousands; at ESPN, in addition to his occasional guest-hosting duties on "Pardon the Interruption," he served for a few uneven seasons as a panelist on "NBA Countdown," and later as the host of a short-lived show called "The Grantland Basketball Hour".
The Jordan clip, which was posted on Reddit, begins with Wilbon asking him, "If you care about being called the greatest basketball player ever, does that matter, do you want that?" Jordan replies, "I don't want it, in a sense, because I think it disrespects Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West — you know, all the guys that, prior to me, I never had a chance to play against.
