In an NBA offseason where certain fan-friendly stars — e.g. LeBron, Carmelo, Chris Paul — have had their images altered in public opinion via free-agent moves and rumored trade demands, the last guy you’d expect to cross over to the “me” side is Brandon Roy.

The franchise superstar of the Portland Trail Blazers has been one of the NBA’s signature “good guys” ever since he burst onto the scene as the 2007 Rookie of the Year and brought his team back to prominence and likability following the “Jail Blazers” era. Read More »

After Kobe publicly launched his bold statement that he could beat LeBron in a 1-on-1 matchup in his sleep, it was only a matter of time until it got the web talking.

Earlier this week, ESPN’s Rick Reilly interviewed a litany of basketball figures, from players all the way to the owners, about who they thought would win 1-on-1 between the top two players in the world. Former Knicks and Rockets head coach Jeff Van Gundy suggested that the NBA toss out all of the other activities during All-Star Weekend and just concentrate on adding 1-on-1 to the lineup. Read More »

Just this offseason alone, the NBA witnessed — no pun intended — the most significant and active free agency period in League history.

The city of Cleveland now loathes their once beloved LeBron James, while Chris Bosh was put on the Toronto hit list right alongside Vince Carter. On paper, the Miami Heat now have the best “Big Three” in the NBA, but as Kevin Garnett noted when he changed his jersey number in Boston, five is a team.

Judging the best starting fives in the NBA needs a little more than just the “on paper” eye test. Through a little research, I found exactly which teams have the best five-man lineups going into the season: Read More »

With names like John Wall and Blake Griffin gracing the Rookie of the Year headlines coming into the 2010-11 season, it seems many are starting to forget about DeMarcus “Boogie” Cousins, the Sacramento Kings’ big man fully equipped with an even bigger attitude.

After averaging 15.1 points (55% FG), 9.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks during his 23.5 minutes per game as a Kentucky freshman, Cousins dropped to No. 5 in the Draft due to perceived “character issues” and questions about his work ethic and conditioning. Read More »

When you’re nicknamed after a tarantula, you’re expected to look and perform like one, e.g. having long arms that make you versatile with the ability to adapt to a new environment. That’s exactly what Kevin Durant is doing.

There’s no doubt that Durant’s, a.k.a. “Durantula,” been working hard at improving his game over the past two seasons — he became the NBA’s youngest scoring champion in 2010 and is a front-runner MVP candidate at just 21 years old — to morph into a better all-around player instead of just putting the ball in the basket. Read More »

With the NBA preseason underway and three weeks left until the regular season begins, now’s the time when coaches start to decide which players will earn a starting spot or be moved to the bench. Throughout the League, there have been a lot of position battles — most notably Caron Butler vs. Shawn Marion in Dallas, the three-way fight for SG in Minnesota, and most recently, Andrei Kirilenko vs. Paul Millsap in Utah. Read More »

After a late night of ballin’ on the recently released and highly anticipated NBA 2K11, I couldn’t help but notice the difficulty of playing online against a team with home-court advantage — especially late in games. One can only imagine what it’s like trying to execute plays in crunch time in real life in these gyms.

With another NBA regular season on the horizon and a sense of excitement around a lot of teams this year, I couldn’t help but think of some of the toughest places to play throughout the League. Here are my top 5 toughest arenas to play in the NBA. Read More »

Whether you compete in the pros or just run pickup on the weekends, your age is not the only factor to consider when it comes to sports. While age and genetics do play a role, it doesn’t mean you have to give up the sport you love or stop getting paid to play. The concept of “Going out on top” is overrated if you truly love the game enough to play until the wheels fall off.

Take Chipper Jones. The Atlanta Braves future Hall of Fame third baseman is 38 years old, coming off a major knee surgery, and plans on returning to play Major League Baseball next season. The same can be said for Kevin Garnett, arguably the greatest defensive leader of the post-Bill Russell era, who came back from major knee surgery at the age of 34 just to be able to help lead his team to another championship. Read More »

One of the feel-good stories of the ’09-10 NBA season is headed for a potentially ugly ending.

Jamal Crawford, one of the NBA’s “good guys” and most exciting players, ended a career-long streak of never having been to the playoffs when he hooked up with the Atlanta Hawks and played an integral role in the team earning the No. 4 seed in the East and advancing to the conference semifinals. Along the way, Crawford averaged 18 points a night, hit a few game-winners, and was award the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. Read More »

Contract disputes amongst teams and players this NBA offseason has created turmoil throughout the league, especially with the impending possibility of a lockout. Kenyon Martin seems to be heading down the same path.

K-Mart is the second highest-paid player on the Nuggets — scheduled to make $16.5 million this season — and is entering the final year of the $90 million contract he signed back in 2004. Read More »