John Wall puts on a happy face (Ned Dishman/ Getty).

It is no great shock to learn that NBA players are confident in ways that exaggerate their measurable on-court contributions. However, that's not even typically a mark of a delusional personality — irrational confidence is often a necessary component of success in the league. Guys can't believe they have skills they don't have, but they do sometimes have to think they're better at something — like, say, shooting — than they really are in order to perform better. It's illogical, but that's not exactly a foreign concept to human psychology.

Sometimes, though, such a statement has implications well beyond a player's belief in his own abilities. Take, for instance, these statements from John Wall in a wide-ranging, substance-heavy interview with Zach Lowe of Grantland:

Vince Carter smiles after a dunk, thereby disproving this post's premise (MCT via Getty Images).

Dallas Mavericks shooting guard Vince Carter has played a lot of roles in his career, from rookie sensation to franchise cornerstone to malcontent to valued scorer to journeyman veteran. Yet, despite that convoluted history and the likelihood that he'll make the Hall of Fame, Carter is going to be remembered for one thing above all else. In his day, he was inarguably one of the best dunkers — whether in games or in his sole, legendary dunk contest — that we've ever seen.

Carter is now 36 years old and can't get up like he used to, but he does dunk with some regularity. However, he apparently doesn't take the same pleasure from it that he once did. From an interview with Steve McPherson for The New York Times (via TBJ):

On Wednesday night, Los Angeles Clippers teammates teamed up for an amazing dunk that we deemed "the fanciest alley-oop possible." On Sunday night against the Detroit Pistons, DeAndre Jordan finished an alley-oop on the other end of the spectrum. This one wasn't so graceful, but it did potentially register on the Richter scale.

With approximately 4:30 remaining in the second quarter, superstar point guard Chris Paul brought the ball up the court, immediately drove to his right, and threw a very high pass for Jordan in the general vicinity of the basket. With his superior athleticism and strength, Jordan caught the ball, turned to finish, and absolutely detonated on Pistons guard Brandon Knight with a ferocious right-handed dunk (technically his weaker hand). Knight fell to the ground flat on his back, got called for the foul, and presumably saw his life flash before his eyes.

It has not been a good few weeks for Knight's public image. At All-Star Weekend's Rising Stars Challenge, he ended up on the wrong end of the game's signature highlight when Cleveland Cavaliers star Kyrie Irving broke his ankles with a vicious crossover and stepback jumper. Somehow, that embarrassment looks minor in comparison to the aftermath of this dunk.

Fernandez and Real Madrid faced the Raptors in October during a preseason tour (Ron Turenne/ Getty).

This summer, Spanish shooting guard Rudy Fernandez opted to return to his home country after four seasons in the NBA. While he showed flashes of brilliance and even set the NBA rookie record most three-pointers in a season, Fernandez never became the star many hoped he could be. At times, it looked like he never got entirely comfortable with the NBA.

It turns out that Europe isn't always a great environment, either. On Thursday, Fernandez's Real Madrid team traveled to Lithuania to face Zalgiris Kaunas for a Euroleague game. Real won 105-104 in overtime, but it's the aftermath that has grabbed headlines. On his way to the team bus, Fernandez was accosted by two fans. Here's a brief explanation from the Associated Press:

Mark Cuban yells while Bulls legend Scottie Pippen watches (Jonathan Daniel/ Getty).

The NBA is a multibillion-dollar corporation that requires lots of travel for each team, and so it's not surprising that each franchise either owns or contracts out a private plane for the season. Athletes need comfort to allow their bodies to recuperate, and there's no way to do that by flying commercial. Plus, can you imagine if a team on a tight schedule had to depend on the rampant delays of commercial airlines?

The problem here is that NBA teams really depend on their planes, so when one breaks down it becomes a major issue that needs a quick fix. On Saturday night, the Chicago Bulls had some mid-air plane trouble on their way to Indianapolis to face the Pacers. They returned to Chicago and borrowed the plane of the still-undefeated Chicago Blackhawks, but that was only a short-term solution.

So, when they needed a plane, they called on a member of their NBA competition. From ESPNChicago.com:

The Los Angeles Clippers disavowed their "Lob City" moniker only a few months after coining it, but the fact is that this team completes a lot of alley-oops. With several big-play guards and athletic big men, they're built for it. The Clippers are a good team for many reasons, but it's also not terribly surprising that they get singled out for this one.

Yet, there are alley-oops, and then there's whatever Clippers Jamal Crawford and Blake Griffin teamed up for on Wednesday night in a 117-101 win over the Milwaukee Bucks at Staples Center.

As defending champs and the clear top team in the East, the Miami Heat are the current favorites to win the NBA title. Since Feb. 3, the Heat have gone about proving as much, winning 15 straight games heading into Wednesday night's contest against the lowly Orlando Magic. Fans could be forgiven for assuming that Miami would have few issues pushing their streak to 16 wins.

That was not the case. After coming back from a 20-point early third quarter deficit, the Magic held a 96-95 lead with 12 seconds left, giving the Heat one last chance to pick up the victory. Not surprisingly, they want to LeBron James. Instead of settling for a jumper, LeBron crossed over rookie defender DeQuan Jones and drove to his left. The help was late, and James finished a one-handed lay-up at the rim with three seconds on the clock. Arron Afflalo's prayer missed, and the streak stayed intact.

Dwight Howard and Jameer Nelson tolerate each other's handshakes (Fernando Medina/ Getty).

On Tuesday, Los Angeles Lakers center Dwight Howard grabbed headlines when he claimed that his Orlando Magic team was "full of people that nobody wanted." It was a jerky move, to put it mildly, a case of a franchise ex-star casting aside a wealth of experience, relationships, and memories because his colleagues couldn't get him where he wanted. That's just a wee bit selfish and not particularly indicative of the personal characteristics we like to see in athletes and teammates, or really just people in the world.

Not surprisingly, at least one of Howard's former teammates did not take kindly to his words. From Brian Schmitz for the Orlando Sentinel (via Orlando Pinstriped Post):