Finally, Danny Granger can quit pretending to know anything about building a house. (Getty Images)

Way back in the long, long ago, Indiana Pacers forward Danny Granger told the team's official website in a "getting to know you" feature that, although he considered himself a big-time film fan, acting was "not my cup of tea," and that he didn't harbor the same sort of on-camera dreams as his eventual teammate and "Parks and Recreation" co-star, center Roy Hibbert.

But for someone who literally owns thousands of movies, who seems to like taking hard stances on the artistic merits of big-screen media (for example, "Drive" = bad, while "Country Strong" = good) and who craves the spotlight as much as Granger does — remember how mad he was about the lack of national attention the Pacers got this past season? — there are other ways to strong-arm your way into a position of power in the biz (that's what we call it). Like, for example, by writing for the screen.

So it seems only natural that when Granger was looking for a new home in Los Angeles, where he's spent the lion's share of his summers working out for the past few years, he linked up with Kevin Williamson — best known by most as the screenwriter of three of the four movies in the successful horror franchise "Scream" (including the wildly successful first two installments), best loved by me as the creator and executive producer of "Dawson's Creek," which is what we had to fall in love with in junior high because "90210" was over, "Felicity" seemed too grown-up and "Gossip Girl" didn't exist when I was your age — to make a deal on the writer's Hollywood Hills mansion.

For the princely sum of $3.715 million, according to the Los Angeles Times, the Pacers' leading scorer gets to move into the place where Sidney Prescott and Pacey Witter were dreamt up. And what a snazzy place it is:

The chic contemporary, built in 1990, features walls of glass, city views and 15-foot-tall ceilings, which may have appealed to the 6-foot-8 small forward. Designed for entertaining, the house has three expansive terraces, a pool area bar and a swimming pool. There is a gym with a sauna, a home theater, four bedrooms, 5 1/2 bathrooms and 5,140 square feet of living space.

Bob Ryan retired from full-time duty at the Boston Globe on Sunday. He'll remain with the paper in a rarer, column-heavy capacity; but he's decided to walk away from covering games after 44 years at the paper. To a lot of you outside the Globe's local reach, he's best known for his national TV presence -- appearing on myriad NBA TV and ESPN retrospectives, along with "The Sports Reporters." To a lot of me, he's the best host "Pardon the Interruption" ever had (sorry, Tony and Mike).

And to those of you choosing to take the time to read an NBA blog in the heart of the slow season, Ryan was a basketball fan's greatest hope in the press box. Passionate, yet aware of the sort of nuance and dexterity that it takes to write the perfect column. Armed with the smarts that all sports writers are charged with accruing, and the memory that only the most devoted of fans are able to sustain. To that end, here's one of the more telling reminders of Ryan's devotion to craft, as he effortlessly provides details and anecdotes behind nearly every participant in the NBA's 1972 draft:

Fresh off their return to the United States after their gold-medal win with Team USA at the 2012 Summer Olympics, Oklahoma City Thunder stars Kevin Durant and James Harden made a stop in New York City to appear on NBC's "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon" to discuss their experience in London and how it'll impact the coming NBA season.

The young Thunderers were good sports, despite being clearly jet-lagged from the trans-Atlantic trip (and, presumably, exhausted from all that post-gold Instagrammed celebrating). Durant let the host hold his gold, which I swear is not slang, for all of 10 seconds ("That's probably the first time I put it down," he said) and the duo discussed what it was like to be embroiled in such a close contest with Spain late in the fourth quarter on Sunday. Harden, for his part, said he didn't sweat it.

"To be honest, you've got 12 of the best players in the world, so you know, you see on the court Kevin Durant and LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Chris Paul, 'Melo — at the end of the game you don't have worry," Harden said. "You're not worried at all. That's how I felt."

Durant, however, begged to differ.

"Me, on the other hand, I was a little nervous," said the man who played 38 of the game's 40 minutes, scored a game-high 30 points (a U.S. record for gold-medal-game scoring) and grabbed nine rebounds.

If Harden didn't feel nervous in the slightest, his free-throw stroke told a slightly different tale — remember, he split his four final-minute free throws, making it just a bit warmer under coach Mike Krzyzewski's collar as the clock ticked down. (Then again, that could be attributed to the little-used guard having just pulled off his warmups for his first action of the gold-medal game.)

Still, Team USA prevailed over Spain, which gave U.S. teammate Kobe Bryant bragging rights over fellow Los Angeles Lakers star Pau Gasol.

"Kobe's like ... he's, like, a beast," Durant said. "Like, he don't care about anybody else. So he really hated Pau, actually."

"And we felt the same about [Thunder teammate] Serge Ibaka," Harden added.

Derrick Rose readies himself for 10-12 more months of this [stuff]. (Getty Images)

Tim Hardaway was amongst the initial wave of NBA players that returned from ACL tears to approximate their pre-injury play. One could argue that Hardaway was the first post-tear player to actually improve on his play following what was once a career-ending surgery, as previous vets like Bernard King and Danny Manning clearly had lost a full step after working back toward health. Hardaway, a Chicago native that missed the entire 1993-94 season after tearing his knee in practice, recently reached out to fellow Chicago-native and Bulls guard Derrick Rose in the midst of Rose's arduous rehabilitation from an ACL tear, while also offering some good news to Bulls fans along the way about Rose's return that they may not have initially considered.

Hardaway, whose niece is apparently dating Rose, told the Chicago Sun-Times' Neil Hayes that Rose's jump shot might be a whole lot better when he returns to complete and full health. Mainly because Rose has no other choice but to work on his form, while he's stuck in rehab. Here's Tim, from the Sun-Times:

''He can only do three things,'' said former NBA point guard Tim Hardaway, who missed the 1993-94 season after suffering a similar injury. ''He can dribble — not run and dribble, just dribble walking up and down the court; he can shoot a bunch of free throws; and he can shoot a bunch of set shots like he's playing H-O-R-S-E every day, all day.

Sheryl Crow, meet Andre Drummond. (Getty Images)

"I'm not saying I didn't like 'Picture' — heck, I'm in Detroit now; I certainly can't speak ill of the Kid — but ... I mean, I guess I'd just prefer to hear you get a little more 'Strong Enough' with it. A little more Lilith with it. I've got some bass tracks I've been working on that I think you'd really dig. ... And seriously, [EXPLETIVE] Lance Armstrong." — Detroit Pistons rookie center Andre Drummond, probably.

Best caption wins the beginning of a beautiful friendship. Good luck.

In our last adventure, lo those many days ago: Team USA gets its Edvard Munch on.

Josh Smith, in the home of "because there are no fours." (Getty Images)

There are several different ways to get to the heart of what is really bugging fans of a particular NBA team. You could check out a team-specific blog to see which column influenced the largest amount of comments. You could lope over to a message board, and see which thread goes for the longest amount of pages. You could dial in the local radio airwaves for an hour. Or, you could watch as Atlanta-based journalist (and presumably particularly ardent Atlanta Hawks fan) Charles Bethea repeatedly and righteously grills new Hawks GM Danny Ferry about Josh Smith's love of the 3-pointer.

It's a great interview, over at Grantland, and we're sorry for distilling Bethea's work into a simple takeaway, but the dude really doesn't like watching Josh Smith shoot 3-pointers. Here's a sampling of Charles' efforts to get Ferry to just about outlaw the shot from Smith's low-percentage arsenal (Bethea's questions are bolded):

[Also: Jeff Van Gundy asks whether it's 'worth it' to be an Orlando Magic fan]

Michael Jordan, following a strenuous workout (Getty Images)

For years, Chicago-based personal trainer Tim Grover worked with some of the NBA's biggest stars as the league's go-to personal trainer. From Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade to dozens of Chicago-area NBA vets and various Chicago Bulls, Grover remains lauded for his work as his Attack Athletics gym served as a destination spot for all manner of NBA-types even in the heat of a muggy Chicago summers.

His most recent real estate venture, a sprawling 65,000-foot facility built in 2007, hasn't worked out as well for Grover, despite his respected work with the best of the best. And his most famous client and investor, Michael Jordan, might lose $1.5 million while various banks circle the waters following his company's bankruptcy filing. From the Chicago Tribune:

Grover's company listed claims for $12.2 million in its bankruptcy filing, including a $2 million second mortgage to Chicago-based SomerCor 504, a non-profit development company certified to make Small Business Administration loans. Jordan's $1.5 million stake topped the list of other unsecured creditors, which also included former NBA player Michael Finley as a guarantor, and the Cook County treasurer.

So this is what it sounds like when doves cry.

After Team USA completed its gold-medal run through the 2012 Summer Olympics in London with a 107-100 win over Spain on Sunday, the U.S. began celebrating their hard-earned victory and sharing pictures of their reverie on their Twitter and Instagram accounts. But while many American players elected to showcase their medals in a variety of poses, the team's elder statesman, Los Angeles Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant, found a different means of social media commemoration — letting the world know that, in his journey through life with an all-encompassing unibrow, little-used USA big man/New Orleans Hornets rookie-to-be Anthony Davis is not alone, because Armenian wrestler Gadzhimurad Nurmagomedov exists.

You can learn more about the interaction in the video above, thanks to our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute, but here's the gist. During a post-medal meeting, Bryant spotted Nurmagomedov, instantly registered the forehead-follicular resemblance, corralled him and grabbed Davis, snapped their picture (which clearly pleased Davis to no end) and then shared it on his Facebook page — which, contrary to what you might expect, Bryant actually maintains himself, according to the Wall Street Journal — with the caption, "Battle of the unibrow!!! Who wins???" A distinctive, buzzy original image, shared through a distribution channel he himself controls, with a simple call to action — Kobe's clearly been working on his social media strat. It's just like the campaign for "The Social Network" said — you don't get to 13,872,869 likes without making a few determinations on virality and stickiness.

Congratulations are in order for Kobe, who recognized a can't-miss photo op when it presented itself; Nurmagomedov, who now simply must be the most famous Armenian wrestler in the world (surpassing even Kazarian); Davis, who one would now assume stands to collect a large sum of money from Nurmagomedov in a trademark-violation suit; and grandpas everywhere for the successful completion of countless "I think [INSERT WHICHEVER GUY'S NAME HERE] wins by a hair!" jokes. Just a really good outcome for everyone, when looked at from a certain light. Unlike unibrows, of course, which are unseemly regardless of lighting.

Hat-tip to Trey Kerby at The Basketball Jones.