It’s true: what a difference a year can make. It was only two seasons ago that the Oregon State Beavers were the laughing stock of the Pac-10 - literally, going 0-18 in conference play. That was until new coach Craig Robinson, by way of Brown University, was chosen last spring to lead OSU out of its funk. Under Robinson, who is also President Obama’s brother-in-law, the Beavers went 18-18 while also winning the CBI title over UTEP in his first year.

One of the major reasons for Oregon State’s massive turnaround: current senior, Seth Tarver. Read More »

Real life hit the NBA once again yesterday, when reports surfaced that a number of Miami Heat employees — most notably Pat Riley and head coach Erik Spoelstra — accepted pay cuts up to 20% in an effort to prevent further layoffs in the organization. It’s been public knowledge for years that some NBA teams are in financial trouble (Grizzlies, Bobcats, etc.), but Miami usually wasn’t in that group. It’s not like Riley or Spoelstra is starving or anything, but it’s got to be scary for a lot of people around the League. And of course, it kicks off an easy round of “Why can’t Underachieving Player X take a pay cut?” Read More »

With the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame induction ceremony scheduled for this Friday, we wanted to give the true diehard fans of the Dime Magazine community an opportunity to write about the 2009 class. First up, Dime reader and Utah Jazz fan Amar (who maintains his own Utah Jazz blog) shares his thoughts on Jerry Sloan:

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What do you say about a man who has been involved with the NBA (as a player or coach) during the Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr. and Obama Administrations that has not already been said before? Read More »

Earlier this summer, I went to Chicago for our Dime #50 cover shoot with Derrick Rose. Going in, we’d decided not to waste anyone’s time doing a generic studio shoot with Derrick wearing a Bulls uniform that could’ve been done anywhere, by anyone. Authenticity was the objective. So we went back to the roots: two blocks from Derrick’s childhood home in the South Side, at the park where he became the player you see today. Here is the shoot and story that transpired… Read More »

Since Lamar Odom is waiting for some NBA team to discover 10 million extra dollars in their couch cushions, and the Knicks and Allen Iverson still haven’t realized they’re perfect for each other, there wasn’t much happening around the League yesterday … The Emeka Okafor/Tyson Chandler trade was made official. In an interview with the Charlotte Observer, Chandler said his toe and ankle are healthy (”For the first time in a couple of years, I’ve got good movement in my toe.”), and Larry Brown said Chandler will help the Bobcats be more of a running team. Read More »

Shaquille O’Neal has been in Washington D.C. for the last few days which is concluding with his hosting of WWE’s Monday Night Raw taping live tonight. He is making his trip to the nation’s capital an interesting one, as he proposed this hypothetical situation to a D.C. sports radio station: Read More »

Barack Obama might be the only person in America who’s had a better run over the last eight months than Danny Granger. Last November, Granger signed a five-year, $60 million extension with the Pacers. In February, he made is All-Star Game debut. In April, he finished the season fifth in the League in scoring at 25.8 ppg. And in May, “Senor Buckets” took home the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. Read More »

I had the privilege - and it definitely was a privilege - of watching Tyreke Evans work out in Minnesota along with our boy Jonny Flynn, Brandon Jennings, Ty Lawson, Jrue Holiday and Jeff Teague. I was a fan of ‘Reke’s at Memphis, particularly after President Obama endorsed his game when making NCAA tourney predictions. But it wasn’t until I watched him have his way going to the basket during that workout that I realized just how unique his talent is. Read More »

Ask an old-timer about how much the NBA has changed, and all they have to do is point to this week’s biggest story leading up to the Lakers/Magic championship series. Almost 40 years ago, the Finals revolved around, “Will Willis Reed play?” Today, you can’t find anybody under the age of 50 named “Willis,” and now the big question is, “Will Jameer play?” Doesn’t quite sound the same coming out of Marv Albert’s mouth as the first one … Jameer did practice with the Magic yesterday, after which Stan Van Gundy said he looked good. Read More »

During Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals the other day, you might have seen Shaquille O’Neal in the Orlando crowd. In one of the defining wins of the franchise’s short history, the player who really put them on the map was back. And if Shaq’s original departure from the Magic wasn’t such an ugly situation — him basically taking the money and running to L.A. as soon as he was a free agent in ‘96 — it would have been touching in a Dominique Wilkins-in-Atlanta sort of way. Read More »