Photo. David DealLast night the Dime crew was up at Rucker Park for something unprecedented and pretty cool: 2K Sports’ motion capture session for NBA 2K8 on the world famous playground court with Andre Iguodala, Gerald Wallace, Rudy Gay and 2K8 cover guy Chris Paul. Chris Bosh was also in the house, but he was just there to kick it … We’ve all seen motion capture suits before, so it wasn’t that weird seeing the guys decked out in the spandex/dots get-up, but CP3’s outfit was a little different. Instead of wearing all black like the rest of the guys, for some reason Chris had a black-and-blue “hat,” teal-and-black shirt and red-and-black pants. He looked like he was about to do the Tour de France … After doing a few moves, the guys played what turned into a serious game of 2-on-2: Paul/Wallace vs. Iguodala/Gay. Even though those mo-cap suits can get hot as hell (Rudy’s exact words were, “It feels like a million degrees”), the guys were going after it and all four were soaked in sweat. CP3 was exhausted afterwards, and we found out later on from his agent that yesterday was pretty much the first time Chris has picked up a ball since his season ended — and that he’d put on some weight following his foot surgery … Paul and Iguodala looked like the ones who genuinely cared about winning the 2-on-2; Paul was even keeping score when it seemed no one else was. After CP3 had Rudy on skates with a few moves off the dribble, Iguodala was getting on Rudy for letting the smallest guy on the court give him buckets. Iguodala himself showed a consistent three-point stroke (and picked up the nickname “Extra Gravy” from our man Bobbito Garcia), but his team still took the L … In the interview tent after the game, a reporter started to ask CP3 about the whole Tim Donaghy situation. Before he was even finished, Chris said, “Man, I’m not even going into that” and quickly went on to the next question … Boris Diaw is reportedly willing — if need be — to go into his own pocket and pay the insurance policy so he can play for the French national team this summer. If you hadn’t heard, the Suns are reportedly holding Diaw out of national team practices until the policy is signed, which absolves Phoenix from paying the rest of Diaw’s $40-million-plus salary if he gets hurt playing international ball … Earlier this week one of our guys was up at Manhattan’s Chelsea Piers gym and spotted Steve Nash doing a boxing workout. Nash’s boxing instructor said Steve picked up on the sport quicker than almost anyone he’s worked with. After hitting the speed bag a couple times to get the timing, Nash apparently had the thing humming like a pro … It’s not locked in stone yet, but it looks like Heat/Lakers on Christmas Day has been bumped next season for Heat/Cavs, according to the Miami Herald … Mo Williams to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on choosing the Bucks over the Heat: “I mean, we all see Miami from the outside looking in and say, ‘OK, they’ve got Pat Riley in Miami.’ But people don’t know, everything that looks good on the outside, everything is not peaches and cream on the other side of the field.” … Remember a while back when we told you about Matt Geiger wanting to build a heliport on his $20 million, 36-acre estate? According to the St. Petersburg Times, Geiger has to get his neighbors to agree to it, and this week had the big meeting. Geiger told the neighbors that he’s had friends of his — flying their own helicopters — land on his estate in the past and no one complained. “A couple of friends of mine have helicopters,” Geiger said. “A friend of mine said, ‘Why don’t you get a helicopter, Matt?’ From a business standpoint, I’ll be able to fly over and survey my land.” We’ll remember to use that when we try to get a Dime helicopter … We’re out like getting that helicopter …
July 26th, 2007 at 3:07 am
Miljan23 says:
Nice to hear 2k has finally started working on 2k8….but since iggy gdub and gay were there, will one of them be on the cover next year? and from the 2 on 2 game, did they put any of that movement into the game?…matt geiger, lol im speechless.PEACE.
July 26th, 2007 at 8:53 am
Austin Burton says:
They played 2-on-2 wearing the mo-cap suits, so I’m assuming they will have it in the game. Before Rucker they showed a little bit of the game that they already have done. Looked good.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:01 am
seth says:
cp3 is the cover boy. not bad for a guy who has never made the playoffs. has he even been an all star?
July 26th, 2007 at 9:03 am
Austin Burton says:
No All-Star for CP yet. But he shoulda been his rookie year. Last summer he was starting PG for Team USA.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:30 am
Silverado says:
CP3, as good as he was shouldn’t have been an all-star his rookie year. No rookie should be an all-star ever. As a rookie, you haven’t proven yourself enough to earn all-star honors (even Lebron, as good a rookie year as he had, shouldn’t have been an all-star….but, that’s where letting “fans” vote gets you. Rookies and Yao…I mean Yao after his horrible rookie year is on the all-star team? Only because a billion Chinese people voted for him.) I don’t think they should allow rooks on the USA team either, but that one’s harder to justify. I definitely don’t think they should invite “ready-to-be-drafted” guys to play on the USA team (like they did with Oden and Durant before the draft).
July 26th, 2007 at 9:47 am
Austin Burton says:
http://dimemag.com/2007/06/25/brand-new-flava/
These guys shouldn’t have been All-Stars?
July 26th, 2007 at 10:36 am
Celts Fan says:
The All-Star game is a fabrication of the League. It’s an exhibition game for the fans. Ya, you should have to earn your way onto the team, but fact of the matter is that it’s a game for the fans, so they get a say. and btw, and the bigger travesty is Wince “I’m the best dunker of all time, but I still prefer a 20 foot fallaway over any sort of drive with contact” Carter getting voted to start for almost a decade straight. But again, it’s for the fans. This isn’t baseball, where home field advantage for the World Series is on the line. It’s simply an event to celebrate the game and the fans who love it. I’m all for fan voting so long as the game is meaningless, like every ASG except baseball. It’s an uphill battle for a rookie to supplant an established star on an all star team anyway, so if you can earn that spot, you deserve it.
July 26th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Luke says:
Prepare for 2008 NBA East All Star starter…..
YI Jianlian!!!
July 26th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Mo says:
No seth, he hasn’t been an All-Star or to the playoffs (yet) but 2K’s reason for him being on the cover is good enough. Deal with it. It’s only a video game man.
http://www.2ksports.com/media/news.php?id=2610&gid=&iType=6
July 26th, 2007 at 2:03 pm
Bron42 says:
yea, easily see Yi makin the allstar game this year if he plays ANY minutes this season, he’ll have yao type votes flyin in and will start over j oneal or dwight howard. some stupid junk.
July 26th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
bxballer says:
Silverado says:
CP3, as good as he was shouldn’t have been an all-star his rookie year. No rookie should be an all-star ever.
Seriously, what about MJ, Magic, Bird, the Big O, Russell, Kareem, Chamberlain, etc.
July 26th, 2007 at 9:41 pm
kowtz says:
Dude, don’t take anything from YAO… although I hate the dude… but remember his rookie game with Shaq? He had four blocks on the diesel (on his prime)… and even a dunk…
Besides, if the chinese nation just voted for YAo because he was chinese, then Wang Zhi Zhi and Mengke Bateer shoulde have been all-star starters before… right?
peace… ;D