We all know Blake Griffin is a rising star, but today it was announced the All-Star starter is one of 18 chosen for the 2012 BBVA Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star weekend in Orlando.

The Rising Stars Challenge is a switch on the former Rookie/Sophomore game, though it was still voted on by assistant coaches. Now, they’ll be mixed together with Charles Barkley and Shaq choosing and coaching the teams. Each squad gets nine guys.

Here are the players on the list: Read More »

Yes, the title of this post is my attempt at a pun on the Wu-Tang Clan‘s debut album, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Regardless, the following photos depict the Minnesota Timberwolves indulging in some cryogenic chamber therapy on Tuesday. And they’re awesome. Read More »

You may not have heard, but there are reports the NBA is going to tweak the format for the Rookie-Sophomore Game at All-Star Weekend. For the previous few seasons, it was always the rookie class vs. the sophomores and while that seems great in theory, sometimes it didn’t work. Last season, the sophomores had one guy – DeJuan Blair – who put in work inside (and he’s undersized). The rookies had DeMarcus Cousins, Blake Griffin, and even Derrick Favors and Greg Monroe off the bench. So in order to make it a more interesting game, the NBA is reportedly doing something a little different this year. Read More »

On a night when all of the talk seemed to center around Kobe Bryant and his fourth straight 40-point game, it was Chris Paul who was the real king. The best point guard in the world destroyed the Lakers on pick-n-rolls and isolations, making every big play in the Clippers 102-94 win. Paul had 33 points and six assists, but was so routine in picking apart the Lakers at will that even a second-half onslaught from the best scorer in the world never put the Big Brother in control. Read More »

Something is happening in Minnesota. The nucleus of some unbelievable NBA basketball is brewing in the Twin Cities through the duo of Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio, and their time will be here before you know it. Just not yet. The Miami Heat made sure of that last night in Minneapolis. The upstart T-Wolves gave them everything they could handle, leading for much of the game until letting it slip away from them in the final seconds, undone by turnovers, missed foul shots and blown defensive assignments – exactly the type of mistakes you would expect a young team to make, and the type of mistakes you would expect the Heat to use to their advantage … With the game tied at 101, and just under five seconds to play, Miami ran an inbounds play that saw LeBron hit Dwyane Wade with an alley-oop off of a high screen to put Miami up two. The Wolves had a final shot that was missed by Wayne Ellington … After the game, LeBron admitted that their final inbounds play was stolen from the Celtics … James, who was celebrating his 27th birthday yesterday, finished with 34. His 98 points through the first three games is the most in Heat history … While Miami won, the real story is the emergence of Ricky Rubio. Read More »

One of the best byproducts of the NBA Lockout was the incredibly short preseason. Usually, the exhibition season seems to drag on forever – two games for each team is just right.

The amount of highlights that came out of those few games is pretty amazing, especially when you see them cut together in one highlight reel. The video below compiles just the best dunks of the NBA preseason. You’ve no doubt seen a bunch of them already, but some had even escaped the watchful eyes of the Dime Crew. Example? The ABSURD Terrence Williams dunk on the Spurs in this video: Read More »

By now you’ve seen the shoe Derrick Williams will play in this season, the Under Armour Micro G Supersonic. But we guarantee you’ve never seen it like this. Introducing the “Christmas” edition. Check it out: Read More »

I told you the other day, but now it’s official: Under Armour Basketball finally has a starting center. It was announced today that UA has entered into a multi-year partnership with the DeAndre Jordan. Jordan joins Brandon Jennings, Greivis Vasquez, Kemba Walker and Derrick Williams on UA’s roster of NBA athletes, and will make his regular season debut in the Under Armour Micro G Funk on Christmas Day. Read More »

Well Derrick Rose had a nice day. He got paid and became a made man in Chicago if he wasn’t already one. Then in the capper, he methodically picked apart everyone’s Eastern Conference sleeper, Indiana, in Chicago’s 93-85 win. We felt like it was April and we were back in the first round of the playoffs again. Rose (12 points, nine assists) was destroying Darren Collison (1-for-7, six points), Psycho T was doing his bowling ball routine (24 points, 13 rebounds) and the Bulls’ defense was more suffocating than an only child’s mother, holding Indiana to 36 percent from the field. Read More »

“He’s going to empower players to be as good as you want and he’s going to give you enough rope to hang yourself.”

Chris Webber has earned his keep in broadcasting. He’s smart, fair and usually honest. But he’s never said something before that fit so perfectly. C-Webb knows Rick Adelman as well as any NBA player in the league, perhaps of all time. He paired with Adelman in the summer of 1998, Webber being banished from Washington for reasons that had more to do with his off-the-court issues than anything else, and quickly became the De Niro to Adelman’s Scorsese. Read More »