The second round of the playoffs is underway and with only eight teams remaining, it means another eight have been eliminated from title contention. The offseason is the time for these teams to retool to prepare for deeper runs next season. The Brooklyn Nets finished the year with a 49-33 record, good enough for fourth place in the Eastern Conference. However, their first-round opponent, the Chicago Bulls, surprisingly beat them at home in a Game 7. Read More »

Originally posted in October of 2011, we’re revisiting some of our favorite Kobe Bryant content after he became the fifth player to ever score 30,000 points last night.

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Kobe Bryant has maintained his spot as the best basketball player in the world because, even as his nagging injuries pile up and he moves into his 30s, he relies more on his skills and fundamentals than simple athleticism and explosiveness. Read More »

Shaquille O’Neal took a break Sunday morning from tweeting about cars to add his take to the prolonged hiring process for Orlando’s head coaching job. Via Twitter, O’Neal let it be known he was not impressed with the Magic’s supposed front-runner, Jock (sic) Vaughn. Vaughn’s a pretty ho-hum guy, whose Wikipedia page has as long an entry for his academic achievements as his professional career. The journeyman guard who played for an impressive 12 years had little to do with Shaq, it would appear. This tweet is less about Vaughn and more about his love for the other two candidates. Read More »

In the past, the media ripped Michael Jordan for being an absentee executive. But now, if reports are to be believed, Orlando is actually considering hiring someone to work remotely in their front office. That person is Phil Jackson, the 11-time NBA champion and probably the best coach of all time. A few days after the Orlando Sentinel reported that discussions between Jackson’s side and the Orlando Magic had died, SI.com says two sources close to the situation believe they are back on again. Read More »

The best one-on-one player in the game? We thought we already answered this earlier this summer. Dime’s fanbase seemed to think Dirk Nowitzki would take home the top spot, but yet we can’t help but think that was a little bit of the championship hangover as well as crazed fans doing whatever they can to get him some extra votes. The Los Angeles Times recently interviewed some pretty big name players – Kevin Durant, John Wall, Matt Barnes and Trevor Ariza – and all of them except for Wall said in a game of one-on-one, Kobe Bryant would beat LeBron James. Read More »

And you thought the Shaq vs. Kobe beef was over? It’ll never end. This will go on longer than anything, linger longer than Brett Favre, and it’ll probably still have people talking 10 years down the road. All was quiet on the front for a while, but O’Neal has a new autobiography dropping on Nov. 15 – it’s called Shaq Uncut: My Story and it’s co-written with Jackie MacMullan – and the book gives some more inside info on O’Neal’s view of the feud between two of the most polarizing players in NBA history. According to Shaq, it was Kobe that destroyed the team’s shot at a title in 2004, the year they had Karl Malone and Gary Payton. Read More »

The only memories I have of Wayman Tisdale are from his final few years in the NBA when he was just a forgettable role player in Phoenix. I didn’t catch him in his prime during the late 1980s and early ‘90s. I also never realized he was a spectacular musician until sometime around his death in 2009. If we are talking about great NBA musicians, then Tisdale has to be near the top. He had a No. 1 Billboard album, as crazy as that sounds. But if we did that – opened this list up to every ballplayer/artist – it would turn into an impossibility. Read More »

Brandon Jennings says it’s back to basics this offseason and we’re glad he’s tending to his weak points. Brandon can be quite exciting to watch but aspects of his game leave much to be desired. He never looked comfortable after nursing his foot last year so here’s to him bouncing back. Jennings has a tendency to chuck anything at the iron in hopes of hitting the bottom of the net. It’s all good when he’s actually hitting shots but his itchy, misguided trigger finger stalls Milwaukee’s offense. A smarter shooter’s sense will go a long way for his mid-range game since he already has the quickness to skate by defenders. Read More »

One of these days, Gilbert Arenas is going to say the wrong thing, pop off and end up crossing the wrong team. Twitter is his drug in a way. Whenever he gets on there, all bets are off and it’s pure recklessness. Sometimes, the truth he types is honest and fun. Other times, it’s slightly uncomfortable. But the other night, Agent Zero went off about the gun charges, saying Washington leaked the story because they were sick of him and didn’t want Arenas or his huge contract around anymore. Read More »

UPDATE: Reports are now that this a is a done deal. Chris Broussard just tweeted the following: “Deal is done. Mike Brown and Lakers agree to 4-year, $18.25 million deal. Team option for 4th year. Brown gets $2.5 mil if option not taken.”

Out of all the potential head coaching candidates for the L.A. Lakers, Mike Brown wasn’t considered a favorite. Most figured he was at the bottom of the list, below Rick Adelman, below Brian Shaw and possibly below Jeff Van Gundy and Mike Dunleavy. But somehow it appears Brown has emerged and will be named the new head coach of one of the most celebrated organizations in sports. Read More »