IC Cold Links: MIP Mop Up

Here are some links of interest left over from Danny Granger's Most Improved Player announcement along with some draft fodder:

• Granger made the afternoon sports talk rounds after the MIP announcement. Here's an audio link to his appearance on Eddie and Kravitz where we learn that 33 purchased an authentic Roman gladiator sword and helmet while vacationing in Italy. Yep, that sounds about right.
• Speaking of Kravitz, his column today looks ahead to what further improvements we should expect from Granger.
• Mike Wells blogs about Granger's MIP but also throws in this info on a few players the Pacers worked out on Monday.

  I don't have the complete list, but I hear guard Blake Ahearn, who appeared in 41 D-League games last season, forward Demetris Nichols, who spent time with Chicago and the Knicks last season, and swingman Trey Johnson, who spent some time with Cleveland, worked out for the Pacers.

• Q & A with Larry Bird as he prepares to  be given an honorary Doctor of Letters at Commencement at Boston University on Sunday. Dr. Legend?
• The Baseline is new on SportingNews.com and bringing some great basketball blogging, like this.
• Jim O'Brien surely enjoyed Malcolm Gladwell's piece in the New Yorker on using an unconventional strategy to upset better opponents. Here's an interesting story from Rockets.com on Duke employing such a strategy while Shane Battier was playing. (HT: TrueHoop)