Now that the deed is done, there’s one lingering question: While the Knicks certainly got better overnight by trading for Carmelo Anthony and Chauncey Billups to form a Big Three with Amar’e Stoudemire, did they improve their standing in the Eastern Conference at all? Forget the Celtics and Heat. Have the Knicks done enough to overtake the Magic, Bulls or Hawks? … In case you haven’t heard, here’s the fallout: New York gets Carmelo, Chauncey, Shelden Williams, Anthony Carter, Renaldo Balkman and Corey Brewer (from Minnesota); Denver gets Ray Felton, Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Timofey Mozgov, one first-round pick, two second-round picks and cash; and Minnesota gets Anthony Randolph, Eddy Curry and a legion of happy pizza delivery guys in the greater Minneapolis/St. Paul area … Read More »

Has it really come to this? Derrick Rose can drop a 40-ounce on the best team in the League, the team with a 13-time All-Defensive pick patrolling the paint, and it’s not even a big surprise? At least it wasn’t to D-Rose, whose reaction at the end of his 42-point torching of the San Antonio Spurs last night had all the enthusiasm of a guy stuck in morning traffic … Chicago was up by seven at halftime, when Rose already had 21 points. He opened the third quarter in a brief jump shot duel with Tim Duncan, then took a backseat as Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer got theirs. Read More »

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, I’m sure you’ve seen that Ray Allen is extremely close to breaking the all-time NBA three-point record when the Celtics face the Lakers in Boston tonight. In fact, Allen only needs to make two treys to break Reggie Miller’s career mark of 2,560. Yesterday, we got up with Ray for an exclusive Q&A to talk about the record, and how he’s become one of the NBA’s greatest shooters of all time. Read More »

As much pain as Ben Wallace‘s swollen ankle may have caused him while sitting at home Tuesday, his eyes would have been hurting more had he watched League Pass last night. Big Ben, Gary Payton, Bruce Bowen, Alonzo Mourning, Dikembe Mutombo, Mookie Blaylock — anybody who’s ever made a living shutting down NBA scorers would have cringed at some of the comical “defense” on display … In Denver, the Suns showed up for about 15 minutes before the Nuggets started shooting holes in their D like a game of Duck Hunt. Read More »

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 »