I’ve been a West Coast guy all my life, and I distinctly remember hearing about this new guard UCLA was about to give heavy play in its rotation. In 1998, Baron Davis came out and became Pac-10 freshman of the year and had become appointment viewing for Pac-10 fans. On one hand he was tearing apart my favorite team. On the other hand, it was effortless. Read More »

[Congrats to Gary Payton - word just broke that he's officially been elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame. We will have more on GP and his ascension to Springfield in the coming days. In the meantime, check out this post we put together when it was first announced that he was on this year's ballot.]

With the announcement that Gary Payton will be on his first Hall of Fame ballot this spring, it started the reminiscing for me. As a kid growing up in the Northwest, the Sonics during the Shawn Kemp/GP/George Karl era were my favorites for reasons I couldn’t have detailed at the time. But they played fast, Kemp was like a video game character come to life and Payton carried an attitude that was unmistakable, even at age 8. Having been too young to remember the Portland Trail Blazers’ glory years and NBA Finals runs, the Sonics ran the Northwest as far as I was concerned. Payton was their ring leader, and it’s obvious why. Read More »

One stat in particular jumped out at us last night as we watched Portland’s detonation of the Carmelo Anthony-less Knicks: Since Jan. 1, the New York Knicks are 17-16, while the Wizards, formerly the embarrassment of the league, are 17-18. Knee injuries to Anthony and Tyson Chandler on Wednesday night in Denver have left the Knicks short-handed, but swingman J.R. Smith sees another reason for New York’s 6-9 record in its last 15 games: Not enough heart. Read More »

Detroit Pistons rookie Andre Drummond has been hurt for four weeks with a stress fracture in his back, but while his trick shot over a wall of shoeboxes Thursday at Portland’s Oddball.com shoe warehouse isn’t part of his rehab, it’s still pretty awesome. So is the backstory of how it happened. Detroit is in town to play the Trail Blazers, and Drummond made a stop at a store that’s becoming an increasingly popular place for NBA players to cop footwear, its co-founder says. Read More »

In the first 24 hours after Los Angeles’ Kobe Bryant landed on Atlanta’s Dahntay Jones‘ foot and severely sprained his ankle, the reaction around the NBA for breaking an unwritten rule was mostly unspoken. I’ve seen reports from several local beat writers who turned to the teams they cover for comment, and the responses were guarded. Read More »

Despite Kobe Bryant‘s ruthless pursuit of victories — which translate this season into simply, “the playoffs” — he can live with an opponent playing just as hard as he. What he can’t stomach is an opponent straying from basketball’s unwritten rules to do so. Case in point, last night in Atlanta. Read More »

In theory, these first-round matchups could all be null soon. The reality is that in the Eastern Conference, three teams are tied for fifth, at 14.5 games behind Miami. In the West, just 3.5 games separate sixth from ninth. Read More »

*This feature was originally published in Dime #72. To see the piece in its entirety, check out your local newsstands now.*

Colorado’s Andre Roberson is one of the best rebounders in the nation for his size, but even after a breakout sophomore season he’s enjoying another leap in 2013. Read More »

We’re not even two weeks into March yet and DeAndre Jordan and Blake Griffin have combined to amass enough top-10 worthy dunks for their own personal highlight reel. In just five games the stars of Lob City have staked their claim to not only the two best dunks of the entire NBA season, but to many that will be on a “Best of March” highlight reel soon. Read More »

As mentioned in last night’s Smack, the two extremes of Kyrie Irving‘s second season might just be found in his two games in Toronto. Cleveland’s All-Star point guard, and a one-time MVP candidate this season, hit a game-winning three in Toronto on Jan. 26. Last night, he suffered a shoulder contusion that now is expected to make him miss three to four weeks. Read More »