‘Melo was popular at Media Day

All-Star Friday was a long day for the Dime crew. After staying out a little too late at Alonzo Mourning’s pool tournament on Thursday night, it was up by 9 a.m. Friday to get press passes. First “celebrity” sighing of the day? Puck from Real World fame. The second? Byron Russell checking into the MGM Grand with some dude (not a hotel employee) carrying all of his bags and Byron carrying nothing more than a water bottle … Then it was on to Rookie/Sophomore “practice,” for which we use quotations because it was nothing more than running through perfunctory plays at quarter-speed for a few minutes. During the Sophomore practice, Andrew Bynum looked to zone out a few times, and we don’t blame him … Andrew Bogut could stand to add another “X” to his practice shorts …

Even your cat loves All Star weekend.

The Hawks and Bobcats mascots were there to entertain the youngsters in the crowd during practice, and probably hearing more cheers than they’ve heard all year in ATL and Charlotte … On the way back from practice, we passed a Stacy Adams outlet store. Seriously. We might have to hit that place up before we leave, just because … Anyway, after practice it was to The Palms hotel/casino for Media Day with all the All-Star participants. For the All-Star Saturday session, Jason Terry had the biggest crowd around him, although a lot of people wanted to talk to Scottie Pippen (he’s in the Shooting Stars) about the news of him wanting to make a comeback (Lakers?). Nate Robinson had a sizable crowd, as did Damon Jones … For the regular All-Star media session, the crowd surrounding Kobe was ridiculous. And the entire time, standing directly behind Kobe while Mamba politely answered everything was a diesel-looking dude with a buzzcut who looked at everyone like he wanted to snap their legs. KB24’s bodyguard, we’re assuming. LeBron also had three bouncer-looking types flanking him, and Carmelo had one particularly big dude keeping watch over his table … The usual suspects had larger-than-normal crowds of reporters around them: Shaq, Yao, LeBron, Kobe, KG, Dirk, Iverson, ‘Melo, D-Wade. The smallest crowds: Mehmet Okur, Josh Howard, Carlos Boozer. Jermaine O’Neal and the two Pistons, Rip and Chauncey … Donyell Marshall was doing interviews for some Ohio media affiliate. We didn’t even know what Donyell was doing in the room when we saw him walk in, and the next time we looked he was interviewing one of the Maloof brothers on camera. When the West team switched with the East, Donyell was actually sitting down at LeBron’s table waiting to interview his teammate. Weird. Later on, Donyell started messing with Chris Bosh’s twisted hair while CB4 was doing interviews.

Don’t get it twisted…

“Quit messing with my hair, son!” Bosh yelled to no one in particular since he couldn’t see who it was. Craig Sager, who was standing between Donyell and Bosh, blurted out “It wasn’t me!” … Michelle Wie and Boris Becker were there, just kinda standing around doing nothing. The flashbulbs started going heavy when Becker and Dirk gave each other love … After Media Day (and a Jerry Tarkanian sighting) we dropped by a Courvoisier party, with Biz Markie spinning, a two-lane bowling alley set up in the hotel suite, free Courvoisier, and some bad women … Then we hit Reebok’s suite to talk with Gerald Green. Someone with insider info was telling G-Money about some other dunks they’d heard Nate Robinson and Dwight Howard had planned. Green just said “OK” and still wouldn’t give away any of his plans … Random casino sighting: Sasha Pavlovic rocking a blue/yellow adidas jumpsuit with a “Los Angeles/Hollywood” theme, playing blackjack at a table by himself … We also saw a D-League player – who’s name we won’t mention to protect the innocent – standing in the casino kinda staring into space. When Wizards/East coach Eddie Jordan walked by the guy, the D-Leaguer perked up suddenly with a “Yo, coach! Wanna sign me to a 10-day?” vibe about him … Then it was on to the Rookie Challenge, which we recapped on the site … One story we forgot to tell you comes via one of the Dime crew who’s been in Vegas since Monday: “At the ultra-exclusive Phat Farm party at the Wynn, Nick Cannon walks in with 10 of the baddest chicks I’ve ever seen. One problem; one of the girls he’s with isn’t paying attention and her hair catches fire on one of the table candles. She started smacking herself in the head trying to put the fire out while everyone just watched in awe. She put the fire out and danced to the next song.” … We’re out like the fire …