During a news conference on Monday, Kansas Center Cole Aldirch announced that he will be skipping his junior season to enter the 2010 NBA Draft.
“First of all, I want to thank everybody just for the opportunity I’ve had here,” said Aldrich. “It’s been a fun one.”
Aldrich referred to his paternal grandmother, who died during this past season after a long illness.
“I don’t want to get choked up or anything, but the last three years have been pretty special. It’s been a lot of highs, a few lows with my grandma…”
He paused and looked down.
“It’s been a special time for me [...]

Michigan Junior Manny Harris will enter the 2010 NBA Draft. Harris nearly jumped to the pros last year before deciding to return to school in an attempt to lead Michigan to the NCAA tournament. Harris’ Wolverines did not accomplish their goal of making the field of 65, but the blame can’t be placed on Harris, who averaged 18.1 points per game this season.
Harris, 6′5, projects as a Shooting Guard at the next level. Most pundits view Harris as a second round pick.
Mark Snyder of the Detroit Free Press has more on Harris’ decision here.
(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead [...]

Per A.J. Perez of NBA Fanhouse, Gilbert Arenas has been sentenced to 30 days in a halfway house, will have to serve two years of supervised probation, must serve 400 hours of community service, will be forced to register as a gun offender in Washington D.C. and will have to donate $5,000 to the victims of violent crimes fund.
The Washington Wizards released their own statement on Arenas.
“We believe today’s sentencing of Gilbert Arenas can help bring closure to the unfortunate situation that has played out over the last three months. Gilbert has admitted his mistakes and will now pay his [...]

LeBron James was back in the news after making these comments:
“If I really wanted to. If I really wanted to be the scoring champion every single year – every single year – I could really do it. But it doesn’t matter.”
Several have used these comments to label James as a selfish player, but I didn’t take these comments sounded selfish at all. James knows that he could lead the league in scoring every season.
And who are we to doubt James? He has some room to talk – he is the leading scorer (29.8 points per game) in the NBA right now, [...]

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks and Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).

Rookie Guard Toney Douglas, the 29th pick of the draft, has been playing very well as of late.
In New York’s surprising upset victory over the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday night, Douglas looked lost in the first half. Chauncey Billups was abusing the rookie and Douglas was held scoreless in the first half.
But Douglas turned it around in the second half and finished with 16 points and 7 assists. Douglas scored 9 points in the fourth quarter and made the biggest shot of the entire game. After a J.R. Smith three-pointer pulled the Nuggets to within one at 105-104, the Knicks [...]

Gilbert Arenas tried to take the complete blame for the gun situation in the Wizards’ locker room, covering for Jarvis Crittenton. Trey Kirby of Ball Don’t Lie expanded on this.
First, it was to get them away from his family. Then he brought them to sell to a teammate. Then he only brought one gun on the day of the confrontation with Crittenton, and that three guns were already on the premises. However, the memo states that “This story simply defies logic and credulity — because it is false.”
Additionally, the memo calls Arenas’ actions “calculated and premeditated.” Essentially, he meant to [...]

Zydrunas Ilgauskas and the Cleveland Cavaliers did what the basketball world has expected them to do for the last 30 days – they reunited. Ilgauskas signed a one-year deal with the Cavaliers on Tuesday.
Ilgauskas’ deal is said to be worth $1.5 million. Cleveland offered Big Z a two-year deal worth $3 million, but he opted to sign for one year.
“I’m obviously very happy to be back here with my guys,” said Ilgauskas, who rejected overtures from several teams, including Dallas and Denver. “It has been a long month. I’m just anxious to get back. I felt like I left a [...]

According to Scott Carter of the Tampa Tribune, South Florida guard Dominique Jones has decided to skip his senior season and enter the NBA Draft.
Well, maybe.
Jones plans to work out for NBA officials next month and then decide by May 8 whether to leave school for the NBA or return to USF.
According to a new NCAA rule, underclassmen who want to maintain their eligibility must pull their name out of the NBA draft by 5 p.m. on May 8. In the past, they could wait until June 15 without penalty.
If Jones does not hire an agent, he can choose to [...]

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger and a contributor at NFL Mocks and Sir Charles In Charge. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Twitter to follow him daily and you can get the HTD app here).