NBA All-Star Media Day is always interesting. In the few that I’ve been to, I always like to see which players draw the biggest crowds of reporters, who gets the smallest crowds, who seems the happiest to be there, and who wishes he could be anywhere else in the world.

Kobe Bryant is always one of the most popular players at Media Day, which is going to present a tough situation for him on Friday, since it seems he doesn’t want to talk to anybody right now. Read More »

Once a year, everyone in the basketball world is in one place. And after a snowy Dallas last year, I don’t think anyone was complaining when the next city on deck for NBA All-Star Weekend was L.A. While most of the Dime crew arrived earlier this week, I got in yesterday from New York and couldn’t be more excited for what’s about to go down. Read More »

Michael Jordan turns 48 years old today. To commemorate, here’s a clip of MJ dropping 48 points in Game 3 of the first round of the 1990 Eastern Conference playoffs against Milwaukee. That season, Jordan averaged 33.6 points (52% FG), 6.9 rebounds, 6.3 assists and 2.8 steals, but Chicago lost in Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals to Detroit.

Beast of the Night: Kyle Lowry lit up the Sixers with 36 points, four rebounds, seven assists, one steal and six three-pointers in a losing effort. He shot 83 percent (15-18) from the field, missed his only free-throw attempt and had just one turnover. Lowry continues to hold down his starting gig, staving off Aaron Brooks and his weak attempts at getting his starting gig back. There’s little reason to think Lowry will lose the starting gig anytime soon, and he’s turning out to be one of the bigger waiver-wire steals of the season. Read More »

Last week in the Dime office, we were trying to determine when a player should be described as a “former All-Star,” as opposed to just “All-Star.” Take somebody like Jason Kidd. He’s made 10 All-Star teams, most recently in 2010. But he didn’t make the cut this year, so do we refer to him as “former All-Star Jason Kidd,” or just “All-Star point guard Jason Kidd”? Or what about somebody like Jamaal Magloire? Is he “All-Star” for life, or does that wear off eventually and become “former All-Star”? Read More »

To J.J. Redick‘s credit, he has become a much better defender in the NBA than anyone expected when he was coming out of Duke. Still, bad things like this happen every now and then…

I remember when Christian Eyenga was drafted by the Cavs a couple years ago, somebody told me he would eventually be best dunker on the team. And this was back when Cleveland still had LeBron. During last night’s Cavs/Lakers upset, “Sky-enga” showed me some of what that guy was talking about. And yes, that is Kobe eating the kid’s dust on the baseline.

“Get ready for a steady dose of ‘What’s wrong with the Lakers?’ fire-alarm stories today. (Which will promptly be forgotten after they destroy the Cavs on Wednesday.) … So, um, yeah. That was from Smack earlier this week, after the Lake Show lost in Charlotte and spiced up the soap opera when Kobe ducked the post-game media and Phil gave a snippy five seconds of his time. Considering that the last Lakers/Cavs meeting saw L.A. beat Cleveland worse than Sonny Corleone beat Carlo, and considering it’s Kobe and Pau Gasol versus the worst team in the League, you can understand our early prediction. We were wrong … Read More »

With the Celtics and Heat taking up seven of the 12 Eastern Conference All-Star spots, some have jokingly (or not) predicted this being the first year All-Star teammates get into a fight during the typically laid-back game. So if you’re watching for tension between the Boston/Miami camps, check out the interactions between Amar’e Stoudemire and Al Horford.

The two All-Star teammates face off at Madison Square Garden tonight as the Knicks host the Hawks (7:30 p.m. EST), and leading up to the game have gotten into a little verbal sparring through the media. Read More »

Second Baptist School (Houston, TX) junior L.J. Rose is one of the most gifted point guards in the country. Despite suffering from nagging foot and ankle injuries last summer that limited him in the crucial AAU/camp season, he still has everyone from Kansas to Kentucky to Arizona trying to lure him to their schools. Rose has agreed to give Dime and High School Hoop exclusive access by chronicling his thoughts in a regular diary. Here’s an excerpt from his newest entry: Read More »