Thirteen years. Thirteen All-NBA seasons. Four championships. Three Finals MVPs. Two league MVPs. One team. One city. The numbers tell us this much about Tim Duncan: Nobody has ever done it quite like him. What don’t we know about the greatest power forward of all-time? Everything else. In Dime #59, I sought to find the rest of the story. Read More »

The hype surrounding Reggie Bush and his Heisman Trophy scandal has swamped the media. Five years after he was the face of college football, Bush has forfeited the sport’s defining trophy amidst the revelation of NCAA violations committed during his USC career. (Good thing O.J. Mayo didn’t win any Player of the Year awards during his one-year stop at USC, otherwise that would be another source of public embarrassment for the school that seems to ignore the fact that their athletes are amateurs.) Read More »

If he keeps his two current jobs for a few years — and if we’ve learned anything about Isiah Thomas, it’s that he knows how to get (and stay) on his boss’ good side — then Zeke will eventually be the only college basketball coach in the country who can recruit the same superstars at least two different times. The New York Knicks have brought Isiah back into the fold, officially introducing him yesterday as a part-time consultant, where part of his duties include recruiting free agents. Read More »

While the free-agent pool is dwindling down, there are still many serviceable players available on the market. That means there will be many more signings ahead as teams look to fill out their rosters. Here are five signings that make sense for both the player and the team: Read More »

While I missed the majority of Lakers/Celtics Game 6 for my cousin’s high school graduation, everyone I know who watched the game had to come up with something to talk about during L.A.’s cold-blooded beatdown.

During the third quarter, one of my boys texted me: “Best role player ever in the NBA? Pippen?”

Depends on how you define a role player. To me, Scottie Pippen doesn’t count because he was too good. Read More »

When I tagged Tony Allen to be Boston’s most crucial X-factor in these NBA Finals, I was thinking more in the momentum-building, sparkplug-scorer role, with some solid defense thrown in for good measure. I wasn’t expecting TA to become this year’s Raja Bell.

The Celtics’ backup guard hasn’t done much offensively (4.3 ppg, 4-10 FG), but continues to earn playing time for his defensive efforts against Kobe Bryant. Read More »

Anybody who watches MSNBC’s “Lockup” knows this much about prison etiquette: It’s all about perception. You might come into the bing at 5-foot-4 with a real pretty mouth, but if you create the perception right away that you’re stone crazy, you can drop the soap all you want and not have to worry.

Same rules apply in basketball. Guys only mess with you if you let them think they can, which is what makes Kobe Bryant such a strange case. Read More »

A few minutes before last night’s Thunder/Spurs game in San Antonio got underway, Kevin Durant was on the OKC bench casually chatting with Bruce Bowen. After the game started, KD must have felt like Bowen had never left. Facing a combination of quick, strong, tough and crafty defenders, Durant was harassed into his worst offensive performance in about two months … KD’s jumper with 3:30 left in the third quarter was the last time he saw the ball go in the basket. Read More »

If you’re not rolling with the media, your best place to see NBA stars in Dallas is over at the All-Star Jam Session. And tonight, in a schedule packed with player appearances from Deron Williams, Jason Terry, DeMar DeRozan and Stephen Curry, is an event that I certainly do not want to miss at Center Court: the Legends Shootout, featuring A.C. Green, Detlef Schrempf, Bruce Bowen and Mitch Richmond. Read More »

If you’re purely interested in the best interest of Allen Iverson, you’re glad the Grizzlies had one of their business-as-usual losses against the Clippers last night. Having gone 0-3 since A.I. joined the lineup earlier in the week, for Memphis to win after Iverson had left the team for undisclosed personal reasons — even if it was against the Clips — would have brought up all the same criticisms of Iverson you saw in Detroit and at various points throughout his runs in Philly and Denver. Mainly, that A.I.’s team is better without him, and that certain young stars (i.e. O.J. Mayo in this case) are better off when he’s not in the picture … Instead, the Grizzlies did what they typically do with or without Iverson, putting up a lot of points while giving up even more. Read More »