Duhon rebuilds hometown courts
Chris Duhon's mother, Vivian Harper, left their hometown of Slidell, La., and moved to North Carolina when Duhon began his college career at Duke.
But she kept close ties to the New Orleans area. After renting out her family's old house for a few years, Vivian's sister moved in a month before Hurricane Katrina hit and ended up losing all her possessions in the ensuing flood.
"I kept going back and we started seeing how much better people were doing with their homes and the schools were open and stuff, but there was nothing for the kids to do," Vivian said. "So we decided we would start trying to do something fun for the kids."
Duhon and his mom hatched a plan to rebuild 21 basketball courts in Slidell and New Orleans. Based on this work, Duhon received the NBA's community assist award for November before Friday's 101-96 victory over New York.
"Sports have been great for me and they really don't have any good facilities to play at anymore," Duhon said. "We kind of picked the areas where either I played or I played against when I was younger. I just wanted to rebuild it and make sure those kids had a place to play."
When Vivian went on a scouting mission to assess the neighborhood parks in New Orleans, she had trouble even finding them.
"I went to New Orleans, where he started out, and I was devastated by what was still not done," Vivian said. "Slidell is doing great, but I was literally riding around trying to find the playgrounds and nothing was familiar.
"I knew a McDonald's used to be there and it wasn't there anymore. And I knew a church was there. I was just crying, because I saw the condition of it. We said we have to do something, because families are returning and there was nothing for the kids to do."
Vivian said the project has verbal approval from the New Orleans recreational department and as soon as the paperwork is complete, work will begin.
Duhon has hosted an annual summer basketball camp in Slidell. The first camp was at his alma mater, Salmen High School, which had to be rebuilt after the hurricane. His childhood home was also rebuilt and sold last month.
Duhon grew up playing on outdoor basketball courts in New Orleans and Slidell, which can be a challenge during the muggy summer months.
"You can play outside," he said. "During the summer, you've got to wait till after 5. Other than that, it's pretty good."
Hinrich getting better: Kirk Hinrich's triple-double on Friday against the Knicks was the second of his NBA career and the first for the Bulls since Chris Duhon collected one on Nov. 2, 2005, against Charlotte.
Hinrich has shown signs of moving past his early-season slump. In the past four games, he's averaged 14.3 points and 9 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field.
Asked what's the key to keeping his assist total high, Hinrich said, "I think be aggressive. Try to play off my instincts. Make the plays on the fly and not think too much."
Free-throw streak grows: Kirk Hinrich hasn't missed a free throw since the third quarter of the Nov. 17 game at the Los Angeles Clippers. His streak reached 27 straight after he made 4 in a row against the Knicks on Friday.
Hinrich leads the NBA in free-throw percentage at .956 (43 of 45). Ben Gordon ranks fourth at .920, behind Phoenix's Steve Nash and the Lakers' Derek Fisher.