We’re in! Let me tell you, NYC is poppin’ right now. All day around town, people have been talking about THIS. And not just because some guy named Jay-Z is performing. This is the start of something. Something big. You know, something you tell your kids about. Welcome to the World Basketball Festival. Read More »

At this point, if you haven’t heard that Jay-Z is performing at Radio City Music Hall to kickoff the World Basketball Festival tonight, you might as well stop reading this. But for those of you that have, read on. After an on-court showcase featuring the finalists for the 2010 USA Basketball World Championship Team, Hov will take the stage for an electrifying performance. But enough about the show, let’s talk about the shoes. Introducing the Jay-Z x Nike Air Force 1 – All Black Everything Collection. Read More »

Doc Rivers wants Rajon Rondo to improve his jump shot.

In other news, O.J. Simpson wants to get out of jail, Spencer Pratt wants his own TV show, and Kobe Bryant wants another NBA championship.

It’s no great revelation that Rondo’s jumper is the Achilles heel in his otherwise All-NBA caliber game, and in today’s media/fan climate — where everybody is an expert on everything and anybody will find a reason to criticize anything — it’s the one criticism he can’t get away from. Read More »

So after I got up with Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade over at House of Hoops, the night was just getting started. See when Jordan Brand does something, they do it big. So rather than just putting an installation inside legendary sneaker boutique Atmos, they decided to redo the whole place. And sure enough, Fabolous and Jadakiss came through. Check out the pictures after the jump. Read More »

This is Kevin Durant‘s moment. As the eyes of basketball nation are fixed on New York City right now for the World Basketball Festival, Durant is the focal point of Team USA and the unquestioned star of this massive event. In our special all-WBF issue of Bounce Magazine, Durant talks about his meteoric rise to stardom. Read More »

It’s been a busy summer for Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade. Between free agency and trips around the world for Jordan Brand, you could sense that two of them were happy to be in town for once just to spectate. As you could have imagined, the whole block outside Harlem’s House of Hoops on 125th Street was packed. With tons of people just in town for the World Basketball Festival, you could see how much the game has grown.

“Any of y’all hoop today?” asked Paul once he took the stage? “Believe it or not, we still love to play more than you guys do. If there was a court in here, y’all would have problems.” Read More »

“I am raising the stakes right now … If this is a poker game, I am shoving my chips right in the middle of the table. I am raising the ante. Anybody who wants out can get out. This team is going to the playoffs. OK? This team is going to the playoffs.”

I can just imagine Larry Bird repeating the mantra to himself the morning after pulling off a win-win trade for my Indiana Pacers while he’s at his home gym cashing 92 out of 100 threes before breakfast. Read More »

The NBA: Where off-seasons don’t happen. Yesterday afternoon, a four-team deal involving five players hit the NBA. Darren Collison and James Posey head to Indiana, Troy Murphy lands in Newark, Trevor Ariza finds himself in New Orleans and Courtney Lee is now in Houston. While the names might not be huge, the fantasy implications could be. Let’s dive right in and look at the winners, losers and neutrals from the deal, from a fantasy perspective. Read More »

While his team, the Minnesota Timberwolves, finished with the second-worst record in the NBA this past season, Corey Brewer is coming off his best pro campaign yet. The two-time NCAA champion at Florida was in consideration for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award, averaging 13 points and 1.4 steals per game. He also had one of the season’s best dunks when he practically jumped over Derek Fisher in a game at the Staples Center. I caught up with Corey at the adidas Nations camp this weekend and we talked losing, Florida, and the Mall of America: Read More »

In the NBA, summer is the time for optimism. Every bad team thinks they might have a shot at the playoffs, every good team things they might have a shot at a championship, and every coach assumes his players are hard at work in the gym getting better for next season.

We can’t confirm whether or not the following five players are working as hard as their coaches would like, but based on how they ended last season and the way their teams look on paper, these young guards look to be on-track for a breakout season: Read More »