Teams are scrambling to make moves to beat the March 15 trade deadline. GMs are on the phone longer and harder than Jerry Maguire trying to keep Rod Tidwell as a client. Guys around the league have this date marked in their calendars, wary about if they’ve got to pack their bags and families to relocate somewhere else.

Nowadays, there are a plethora of media outlets that cover 24-hour trade rumors, seven days a week. More than likely, cats will wind up finding out they were dealt via text, tweet, Facebook status update, or hashtag first instead of receiving the news by a simple, courteous phone call from their former squad. Read More »

Listening to Derrick Rose the last few days, it felt like a Michael Corleone moment. All this talk about the Pacers celebrating the last time they beat Chicago, and how Rose didn’t forget anything and couldn’t wait to play them again, we pictured him seeking out his own Al Neri and saying, “Nothing is to happen to them until I say so.” We were waiting for him to pull out the little boat, pack the Pacers into it and send them out on the lake. Rose and the Bulls decided on the third quarter as the appropriate time for revenge in their 92-72 win last night. Read More »

“The harder you work during peace, the less you bleed during war.” Truer words were never spoken by Brandon Jennings, who recently missed out on his offseason vow to finally become an All-Star. Whether he was snubbed or not isn’t really the point. It’s how he responds. While his “Under The Armour” video series has drawn rave reviews, this is one of my favorite ones yet. Read More »

The push will come stronger and faster. You can’t work your way into it. No waiting for tomorrow. You have until April 28 – that’s less than two months – to work your way into the postseason. If you’re in the East, there’s hope. Outside of three or four teams, everyone else is one big injury away from a five-game slide and a shot at extinction. Outside of Miami and Chicago, get too big-headed and you’ll be slain. Lose your confidence and you’ll end up next to Washington and Charlotte. Read More »

We wonder if Dwight Howard was watching last night. The two teams most often associated with the Orlando big man met up for what could’ve been a classic last night in Dallas if it wasn’t for Jason Kidd, and if it wasn’t for the fact that one of the teams is the Nets. Still, New Jersey stole the game 93-92 after a Kidd three-point heave at the buzzer was off. How’d it happen? The Nets have a new big man, and it’s not the guy everyone is talking about. Brook Lopez dropped 38 points in his first big game of the season after coming off his injury. Read More »

Amar’e said afterwards he had “no doubt” Deron Williams came out with something to prove in MSG against Jeremy Lin. On second glance, we should’ve seen it coming. Williams basically flipped on a group of reporters earlier during Linsanity because no one wanted to talk about anything other than the new Knick sensation. He dropped 38 points with eight triples in New Jersey’s shockingly easy 100-92 win. Carmelo Anthony returned (as did Baron Davis) and yet the only one who mattered was Williams. Read More »

Remember when a LeBron James visit to Cleveland came with an undeniable whiff of potential danger? Not so much now. The fans at the Q last night for Miami’s win were plenty vicious – booing LeBron during pre-game intros and pretty much every time he touched the basketball – but it seems they’re almost over the whole thing. Almost. The Cavs have a bright future to look forward to with Kyrie Irving, Tristan Thompson and this year’s Lottery pick, so for the fans (and the owner) to continue acting like Alicia Silverstone in The Crush over LeBron would be more pathetic than anything … Read More »

Ranking the NBA from worst to first…

30. Charlotte Bobcats (3-26) Last Week: 30, — They haven’t won a game in what seems like ages, and have progressed to searching for moral victories. When your best player – going by PER – is D.J. Augustin (15.9), then you might as well throw in the towel. They have a chance to join the upper echelon of worst NBA teams ever. Read More »

Weekend Wonder: Kevin Love came up big this past weekend, averaging 32.0 points, 16.5 rebounds, 1.5 assists, 0.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and a three in two games. He shot 49 percent from the field, 100 percent from the line and averaged 4.0 turnovers in that stretch. For the season, Love is averaging top five numbers, which is exactly where he was pegged by most fantasy owners in this season’s drafts. Read More »

Hopefully Kobe knows who Jeremy Lin is now. After spending time between the Lakers’ win in Boston and last night’s 92-85 loss in NYC doing his best to try to say he had no clue who the NBA’s newest sensation was, Bryant got one-upped by the man who has now scored more points in his first three starts than any player ever has since the NBA/ABA merger. Lin blew up for 38 points and seven assists, incubating Derek Fisher (He had one spin move in the first half that sent Fisher back to 1996) and running the lazy Lakers all over the half-court. Read More »