West In No Hurry: With all the talk about Denver Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony potentially being traded or hitting the free agent market this summer New Orleans Hornets big man David West has seemingly flown under the radar. West is drastically underpaid at $8.2 million this year with a player option for $7.5 million next season. As one of the league’s best power forwards who averages 19 points and seven rebounds a night the Hornets would like to extend him, but West isn’t ready to sign on the dotted line.

"I’ve been saying the same thing: I’m just going to wait until the end of the and I want to make the best decision I can in terms of my future," West said to Jimmy Smith of The Times-Picayune. "I’ve had an opportunity to talk with Dell (Demps, Hornets general manager). We have an understanding in terms of what’s out there, but I’m just going to play ball right now."

Citing anonymous league sources, Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski reports that the Hornets and West are not close in terms of an extension and that West has his eyes set on making over $10 million annually on his next contract.

There’s no denying that West is absolutely worth that, especially when you look at some of the other contracts out there. However, the uncertainty surrounding a new Collective Bargaining Agreement makes it quite possible that West will end up having to accept less than that.

Much like the Nuggets with Anthony, the Hornets would prefer to know whether or not they are going to have West for the extended future. He’s worth waiting for and is said to be loyal to New Orleans, but with the free agent market much thinner than last year West could find an offer that the Hornets don’t want to match.

Monroe A Fast Learner: There was a lot to like about forward Greg Monroe coming out of Georgetown. He was long, athletic, and extremely skilled with the size to play both the power forward and center positions. Perhaps the most intriguing quality Monroe possessed though was his high basketball IQ. It was clear that the game of basketball came very naturally to him and that he approached it with a different mindset than most.

{AUTHOR_BOX}This month has been the best of Monroe’s young career as he is nearly averaging a double-double at 10 points and eight rebounds a night for the Detroit Pistons. The key to his success once again has been his understanding of the game of basketball both on and off the court. Rather than being frustrated with his lack of playing time early on he sat back and learned from the veterans he’s been blessed to play with.

"Not a lot of rookies come on veteran teams," Monroe said to HOOPSWORLD. "I have a chance to be on a veteran team so there’s a lot more I can learn from players who have been through a lot and won championships and played in this industry a long time.

"The game is definitely starting to slow down. I understand it, what I have to do now, how I have to go about doing those things and that’s the biggest difference."

14-year veteran Ben Wallace has been one player who Monroe has had his eye on in particular. Without nearly the same type of physical gifts that Monroe has Wallace has managed to collect four Defensive Player of the Year awards and a NBA championship. Seeing the intensity Wallace plays with and the work ethic he has off the court has been a major benefit for Monroe. Similarities to Wallace are already evident in Monroe with the way that he talks about his own game.

"I want to work on everything," Monroe said. "You can never be too good at something at this level."

Further fueling Monroe’s desire to get better is all the losing the Pistons have done this season. At 17-28 the Pistons are in 11th place in the Eastern Conference with a change in ownership pending along with constant trade rumors floating around. Monroe understands that he has no control over the things off the court, but is determined to things around on it because losing isn’t something he finds acceptable.

"That’s my main focus at all times is to win," Monroe said. "Of course I’m going to feel some type of way about that. I can say that the team is focused on winning and steady trying to find ways to do that.

"I’ll never get comfortable losing. Just because you’re losing doesn’t mean you’re going to get comfortable in it. That’s something I’ll never do."

That’s the kind of mentality the Pistons as a whole need to adapt, and that’s also why Monroe is likely to stick around through the rebuilding process that appears to be on the horizon in Detroit.

EKTIO Catching On: A few months ago we did a feature on a revolutionary shoe called EKTIO that has been created by Dr. Barry Katz. The shoe is the first ever to offer complete ankle protection, a must for basketball players at all levels. EKTIO eliminates the possibility of ankle sprains and is starting to catch on in a big way. The company recently had a booth at a NCAA conference where they thoroughly impressed college administrators.

"From what I’ve been told we were kind of the buzz and the hit of the whole show," Dr. Katz said. "People were piling into our booth and we did a lot of demonstrations, put the shoe on a lot of people, talked to a lot of athletic directors. People were just coming to our booth and looking for us. It was very positive and we were happy about that."

Katz and EKTIO weren’t the only ones who came away pleased. The shoe has been received with an overwhelming amount of positive feedback by those who try it outside of just that conference, including Centenary College in New Jersey.

"What happens is once I put the shoe on people, once it goes on their foot they’re sold and I don’t have to do anymore," explained Katz. "Usually when I try to sell investors or buyers I can talk all I want but instead let’s put a shoe on. Then they go ‘oh my God’ this is incredible because they feel the ability to move without being restricted yet at the same time they feel very supported and unable to invert their ankle. People that put in on are sold right away. People who had had ankle injuries are sold right away."

There are far too many people that consider ankle injuries a part of the game of basketball when that is not the truth. As Katz explains, they are very preventable and wearing EKTIO has a bigger impact on a player’s game than most could ever imagine.

"Our challenge is to get people who have never sprained their ankle and feel like they’re invicible to use our shoe to prevent ankle sprains so they can have a healthy long basketball playing career and keep their ankles healthy, keep their game up. These kids that are 16 or 17 that have never sprained their ankle will, it’s just a matter of time.

"Once they sprain an ankle once they’re way more likely to sprain it again. They lose the sensation fibers that tear also so the brain, body and foot aren’t always in sync. The foot and ankle are more likely to roll. The perfect example is Stephen Curry. If you look at Curry’s last ankle sprain he didn’t even do anything. All he did was make a very slight right cut and it just rolled under and then they had to carry him off the court. You’re much more likely to constantly re-sprain it. Then the problem is when you get back on the court you don’t have the confidence. It’s swollen, weak and you’re afraid to drive into the lane or attack the basket. There is also long-term consequences. When you fracture a bone it heals 100% as long as it heals right. When a ligament tears it’s like a rubber band. The fibers tear and scar and it never heals the same way. Scar tissue is never as strong as it was before the ligament was turn."

Making this shoe a necessity for basketball players of all ages along with the health benefits is it’s visually-pleasing design. Dr. Katz’s research showed that style was just as important as comfort, performance and safety with a shoe. So he’s created the only shoe that has all four. Over the next year EKTIO is going to make a big push into the high school, AAU, NCAA and NBA markets and due to it’s one-of-the-kind benefits you should expect to start seeing it a lot more.

Interested in learning more about this great product? Check out EKTIO’s official website!

Gregg Popovich Earns All-Star Coaching Spot: San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich will coach the Western Conference All-Stars for the 2011 NBA All-Star Game, to be played on Sunday, Feb. 20, at STAPLES Center in Los Angeles.

With San Antonio’s 113-102 win over the Golden State Warriors Monday, the Spurs (38-7, .844) have clinched the best record in the conference through games played Feb. 6.

This season, Popovich has guided the Spurs to the league’s best record, earning consecutive Western Conference Coach of the Month honors for games played in October/November and December. The Spurs have enjoyed double-digit winning streaks of 12 and 10 games this season.

In his 15th season as head coach, Popovich has led the Spurs to four NBA titles (1999, 2003, 2005 and 2007) and is one of only five coaches in NBA history to have guided his teams to at least four championships. Popovich entered the season with a career mark of 736-362 and a winning percentage of .670, which ranked fourth in NBA history. His playoff career winning percentage of .618 (102-63) is the eighth best in NBA annals, while his 106 playoff wins are the third most in league history.

Popovich coached the West team during the 2005 All-Star Game in Denver, which the East won 125-115.

The coach of the East All-Stars will be determined by the team with the best record in the conference through games played Feb. 6. The Orlando Magic’s Stan Van Gundy, who coached last year’s East squad, is not eligible to coach this year’s All-Star Game.

The 2011 NBA All-Star Game will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio in the U.S., and reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages.

Twitter: The 2010-2011 season is here and HOOPSWORLD is going to have a much larger presence on twitter. If you aren’t following all of our experts you’re missing out on some of the most-up-to-date information in both the NBA and NCAA along with breaking news and great insight. HOOPSWORLD’s twitter team consists of Yannis Koutroupis, Steve Kyler, Bill Ingram, Alex Kennedy, Eric Pincus, Lang Greene, Jason Fleming, Tommy Beer, Luke Byrnes, Alex Raskin, and Joel Brigham.

NBA Chats: Chat wraps from earlier today are available from Eric Pincus and Luke Byrnes. Tomorrow’s chat schedule features Steve Kyler and Tommy Beer. As always you can also checkout our entire upcoming chat schedule.