If we believed that “Real_Ron_Artest” was the Tru Warier himself, then we’d be posting that he’s leaving Houston for Harlem to play for the Globetrotters.

“Yo, big announcement coming soon,” he tweeted late last night. “I’m signing with the…Globetrotters. I can’t wait to throw a bucket of confetti in ya grandma’s face.” Read More »

Other than perhaps winning an NBA title, there is nothing better than USA Basketball (as evidenced by Team USA’s gold medal run last summer). While there’s the NBA All Star game, there really are no other events that allow the best players in the world to grace the court at the same time. That’s why I was so excited to see that USA Basketball announced the 21 top young prep talents that have been named to the 2009-10 USA Basketball Men’s Developmental National Team yesterday. Read More »

Majority opinion seems to be that the 2009 NBA Draft will be a weak one. Whereas the ‘08 class produced what could be a handful of future franchise players (Derrick Rose, Michael Beasley, O.J. Mayo, Brook Lopez, Eric Gordon), there are really only two players at the top of the ‘09 mock drafts who most experts think have that potential. One is Blake Griffin, and the other is Ricky Rubio. Read More »

We stopped by the NBA Store yesterday (52nd & 5th), where Coach Mike Krzyzewski told stories from his book, “The Gold Standard: Building a World-Class Team” (in stores now) about USA Basketball’s three-year commitment leading up to winning the gold in Beijing. After reading some excerpts to a group of students through the NBA Cares program, Coach K told some great stories about Team USA’s preparation - what he calls “team-building” - to win gold. Read More »

Well this escalated quickly. Last night I saw the crawl along the bottom of ESPN that said “Florida International University trying to hire Isiah Thomas as head coach,” and immediately hit the crew with a “WTF?” email. I thought it was kind of funny, at best a stunt by FIU to at least show potential recruits that they’re trying to do big things in the college basketball world.

And then this hit a few minutes ago: Read More »

Now, I didn’t think things could get any better after seeing Nate’s Sprite Slam Dunk Nike Foamposite Lites…but I was sadly mistaken. The green Kryptonates might be outshined by his player edition joints. Read More »

Over on BallersNetwork.com, Sue Bird shared her basketball story from growing up in Long Island, to her career at UConn, and her success in the professional ranks. As one of only six women to receive an Olympic Gold Medal, an NCAA championship and a WNBA Championship, her resume speaks for itself. Click HERE to read the interview. Read More »

Kobe Bryant says he’s in for the U.S. National Team in both 2010 and 2012:

“The chance to represent your country, that’s not even a thought-process for me,” Bryant said Wednesday. “If they want me to be on it, I’m all game.”

Also interesting to note that Andrew Bynum is talking Team USA as well: Read More »

Here is some last minute fantasy news that you need to take into consideration when entering your lineup.

Kevin Martin/John Salmons - Kevin Martin is hoping to play Tuesday night. He’s clearly very close and normally the risk may be worth the reward. Here’s the catch - the Kings play only two games this week. That’s a huge risk to take. Salmons, who is questionable, is in the same situation.

Josh Smith - Josh Smith is expected to play at least two games this week and sounds good to go. Get him in your lineup. Read More »

After recently dedicating a post to finding who has the best post-move in the NBA, the Dime family is sad to report the death of legendary big-man coach Pete Newell, who passed earlier today. He was 93.

Known around the basketball world for his annual “Big Man Camp,” which he opened in 1976, Newell tutored some of the game’s all-time best and current stars, from Kareem to Hakeem to Shaq to Shawn Kemp to Andrew Bynum. But his list of accomplishments is much longer than that. Inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979, Newell is one of the greatest college coaches of all-time, leading Cal-Berkeley to a national championship in 1959 and coaching the U.S. Olympic team to gold in the 1960 Games in Rome. Bob Knight self-admittedly adopted a lot of his style and strategy from Newell, who he considers one of his mentors. Newell also worked in the NBA, as GM of the Rockets and later for the Lakers, where he helped orchestrate the Kareem-to-L.A. trade. In 2001 he opened the “Tall Women’s Camp” to compliment his Big Man Camp.

In honor of Pete Newell, who is the greatest big man you’ve ever seen play in person and what made them so great?