Friday was the busiest day of this All-Star Weekend; in addition to the Rookie Challenge, the Rookie and Sophomore practices, the annual NBA Tech Summit, and the League’s regularly-scheduled All-Star team media availability sessions, it seemed every other company who had a media event going on decided to have it yesterday. In other words, some of the Dime crew was up extra-early for an interview/photo op with Tony Parker, some of us were up extra-early to get up with David Stern, Chris Bosh, Steve Nash and Baron Davis for the tech summit, and all of us were going non-stop with meetings, interviews, business lunches and dinners, parties and after-parties … Last night’s main event, though, was the Rookie Challenge, which Kevin Durant turned into his personal buckets brigade. When the Sophomore team fell behind double-digits in the second half and seemed primed to be a major upset victim, KD shouldered the load and dropped 46 points (17-25 FG) on his way to setting a Rookie Challenge record and copping MVP … Read More »

So here’s the deal: I was supposed to be doing this live-blog of the Rookie Challenge, but due to circumstances I’ll get into in a minute, I didn’t get into my press row seat until just before the beginning of the second half. So we’ll take it from there. Second half about to start, Rookies up 61-58…

* Kevin Durant opens the half with a three to tie it up. Everyone has matching uniforms this year; personally I don’t like the everyone-wear-their-own-uni thing, just because teams like the Lakers with their yellow mess things up. So while I appreciate the uniformity, these jerseys are very, um, busy.

* I didn’t actually think the Rookies stood a chance here, just going by history and common sense (Sophs are a year stronger, more used to the NBA rigors of travel, aren’t burnt out by midseason, etc.), but the Rooks are up seven two minutes into the second half. Chalk it up to some more physically mature guys like Marc Gasol and Rudy Fernandez (more accustomed to longer seasons) and some athletic freaks like Russell Westbrook and Derrick Rose. And just by looking at the scoreboard, the rooks are sharing the rock. Everyone on the court right now (Beasley, Gasol, Westbrook, Eric Gordon, Rudy) has between 10-16 points, while the Sophs are being dominated by Durant. Read More »

My head hurts. The NBA All-Star Celebrity Game is underway, and my only regret for deciding to skip out of being there in person is that I can’t hurl a full water bottle at Michael Rapaport. Seriously, the next time my fiancee asks me exactly what a “d-bag” is, I’m going to show her a tape of this game and of Rapaport’s antics. Or at least I would, but I generally try to avoid having this dude on my TV screen at all costs.

I don’t know what’s worse: The pretend-badass act, the fact that he’s spilling out of his uni, the fact that he clearly STINKS as a player, or the grim reality that everyone is buying this and Rapaport is getting exactly what he wants; attention. All game long, the announcers have been talking about Rapaport more than anyone else, an amazing feat considering the game is on ESPN and Terrell Owens is on the court. Read More »

The circus that is All-Star Media Day wrapped a little while ago. Some shots from the two-hour sprint of battling ultra-aggressive reporters from around the world as they literally (at times) try to climb on to tables to get at the All-Stars… LeBron went around to every fellow All-Star and presented them with a gift to commemorate their All-Star experience. We couldn’t get a good angle but, but this is ‘Bron with Paul Pierce. Read More »

The Iceman, Glide and Jerry Colangelo were all on hand today

I just sat in on a press conference announcing the 16 finalists for this year’s induction into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and was all fired up when Chris Mullin, my basketball idol, was named as one of the nominees for this year’s class. It’s about time my guy got his due, right?

Then reality set in when some of the other nominees were announced, among them MJ, John Stockton, David Robinson,Dennis Johnson, Don Nelson, Bernard King, Johnny “Red” Kerr, Cynthia Cooper, and C. Vivian Stringer. Read More »

While Jermaine O’Neal and Shawn Marion have been involved in NBA trade rumors all season, this looks like a win-win for both the Raptors and Heat.

As I said on January 23:

“As an Economics minor, it’s simple supply and demand. The Raptors are in need of a small forward, and the Heat are in need of a center. With three 7-footers on the roster, and the sudden emergence of Andrea Bargnani, O’Neal became expendable after the Chris Bosh-J.O. experiment didn’t pan out early in the season. And with Michael Beasley living up to the hype and Alonzo Mourning’s retirement, the Heat are willing to part with Marion to complete their squad.”

First off, don’t be fooled. Bryan Colangelo knows what he’s doing. When he was with the Suns, Marion was an All-Star. At the same time, Pat Riley is no slouch himself. Looking for a center all season, Riley found one that (if healthy) could end up putting up 20 and 10 again in South Beach. Read More »

I’m currently in the lobby of the downtown Phoenix Sheraton, watching somebody excitedly get their picture taken with Gheorge Muresan while My Giant was trying to check into his room. Rookie/Sophomore practice ended a little bit ago, and we’re now a couple minutes away from the All-Star Saturday Night and All-Star Game media sessions … Imagine lazily shooting around with your boys at the gym — and I mean “lazily” to the extent that no one is jumping when they take jump shots — with a coach trying to teach the principles of pick-and-roll defense on deaf ears, and you get the idea of how these “practices” go. Luis Scola looked like he’d just gotten out of bed 15 minutes beforehand … A number of guys on the Sophomore team had some pretty ill purple/orange/white Huaraches, including Thad Young, Aaron Brooks (206!) and Al Thornton. Although when I asked Al about his kicks, he referred to them as Hyperdunks. Read More »

According to ESPN The Magazine‘s Ric Bucher, the Toronto Raptors have agreed to send Jermaine O’Neal and Jamario Moon to the Miami Heat in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks. While the deal is still pending league approval, according to sources, if approved, it would be announced later this afternoon.

More analysis to come, but what is your initial reaction?

Source: ESPN

At 24-29, the Nets have been a surprise this season as a potential playoff squad, after being projected to sit at the bottom of the Eastern Conference. But with everyone’s minds on 2010 and cutting payroll in a tough economy, all eyes are on Vince Carter.

The Spurs, Rockets, Mavericks and Cavaliers are among the teams interested in Carter. One scenario has Carter going to Houston in a package that includes Ron Artest’s expiring contract. Read More »

I’m just saying, this might be why the Warriors are 19-35…