Yesterday was weird. For the last year or so, one of the running jokes in the Dime office has been that the Magic are collectively too jacked for one NBA team. We’d already nicknamed Dwight Howard “The Centaur” for obvious reasons, then you got J.J. Redick looking like an MTV “True Life: I’m a Jersey Shore Bodybuilder” alum, Pietrus and Jameer on swole, Anthony Johnson dunking on cats at 49 years old, and even Skip seemed to get more cut-up as soon as he got to Orlando. When they picked up Brandon Bass, it kicked up the too-diesel talk all over again. But then yesterday, when news broke that one of the Magic players had tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, it turned out to be one of the guys we never talked about: Rashard Lewis … Read More »

When I said this was my dream job, I wasn’t kidding. Fresh off seeing Kanye West on Wednesday night, I spent the day travelling to Cleveland, Ohio for the LeBron James Innovation & Inspiration Summit. Over the next 48 hours, I’m going to get first-hand insight into everything LeBron, as well as an in-depth first look at the Nike Air Max LeBron VII. Not bad. Read More »

I’ll be the first one to tell you that working for Dime is my dream job. How else would I swing an invite to G-Shock’s “Shock the World” event/party at Cipriani’s on Wall Street last night. Not only did I get to check out an exclusive preview of everything G-Shock has in store for the upcoming year – which is awesome – but I also got to see an intimate performance standing 10 feet away from Kanye West. Read More »

Our friend J.E. Skeets of Ball Don’t Lie posted quotes from an interview that Lebron James did with the National Association of Black Journalists Sports Task Force on everything everyone wants to hear about from ‘Bron.

First up, “The Dunk.” Read More »

As if it were even a question of whether Yao Ming can play for the Chinese national team over the next 10-12 months, the country’s sports officials still confirmed that they won’t try to make Yao suit up.

“He is injured. This is a fact, so we are not going to force him to do anything he does not want to do,” said Vice Minister of Sports Cui Dalin in an AFP interview. “When it comes to injuries to our players, we are concerned and we take care of these players, we will safeguard their interests and respect their choices.”

Then Cui threw this whistling left hook at the Rockets: Read More »

And there goes the painfully slow week in the NBA.

From the Orlando Senintel:

“Orlando Magic All-Star Rashard Lewis will be suspended for the first 10 games of next season because he has tested positive for a testosterone-producing steroid, the Orlando Sentinel has learned. Read More »

Because the NBA’s Vegas Summer League gets so much more attention, what happens in the Orlando summer league usually stays in Orlando. So while the ’09 summer buzz has centered around Anthony Randolph, Blake Griffin, Tyreke Evans and the other guys who shined in Vegas, Russell Westbrook has been overlooked as one of the stars of the offseason.

Coming off a solid rookie campaign (15.3 ppg, 5.3 apg, 1.3 spg), Westbrook dominated in Orlando, averaging 22.3 points, 7.8 dimes and 2.5 steals. And while he didn’t have to play in the more popular summer league, Westbrook still did work in Vegas, taking part in the USA Basketball mini-camp last month. Read More »

Glen Davis is in free agent limbo, and he’s not happy about it one bit. He’s talked with the Celtics and a few other teams, but the restricted free agent, who is looking for mid-level exception money ($5.8 million), doesn’t really have much going on right now.

And Big Baby is not happy about it at all. Especially since the Celtics just went out and signed his clone (even if Glen doesn’t think so).

The Boston Herald collected some of Glen’s tweets about his contract situation: Read More »

In every issue of Dime, we run a feature called “The Baller’s Blueprint,” where we get up with different NBA players and have them break down their signature moves and skills. For Dime #50, we got up with Nets’ star Devin Harris to find out the secrets of his offensive game. Read More »

It looks like the dream of watching Amar’e Stoudemire in a Warriors uniform, putting up stupid numbers beasting people in Don Nelson’s system, is as good as dead.

There have been trade rumors of varying intensity about Amar’e potentially heading to Golden State going all the way back to before the Draft, with any kind of deal apparently hinging on this guy, and a slew of of other Warriors’ assets. Read More »