If media overhype isn’t your thing, or if you’re one of those people who was never a big Michael Jordan fan, you may want to stay in bed and keep away from the TV and Internet today. As you may have heard, MJ (and David Robinson, John Stockton, Jerry Sloan and C. Vivian Stringer) will be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame today, so it’s gonna be all-Jordan/all-day on pretty much every sports outlet. Some of the Dime crew will be in Springfield, Mass., for the HOF festivities, where we’ll be providing live updates on Dime’s Twitter page. You should also check out @mitchell_ness on Twitter for updates from the VIP point of view, plus the latest on the hottest Jordan product ever released. They may be sold out already at the NBA Store, but we’ll let you know where you can get yours … Now about those “other” H.O.F. inductees: Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about them. Read More »

The summer league re-runs were fine, but nobody would’ve complained if NBA TV sent some cameras down to Vegas last night and aired the Team USA mini-camp exhibition game. Rudy Gay (27 pts) and Kevin Durant (20 pts, 8 rebs) were the stars of the show, with Brook Lopez (18 pts, 5 rebs) also turning in an impressive performance … There could be three or four spots open for the 2010 World Championship: We can see Boozer and Tayshaun being gently asked to step aside, Jason Kidd calling it an international career, and Kobe even taking a break after another long playoff run and finally getting that pinky fixed. Read More »

I’m calling out all of you who have written off the WNBA as an inferior league.

Maybe it’s just wishful thinking that some of you will change your tune. But, I believe with all my heart that the WNBA will actually continue to grow while slowly but surely converting fans of all ages, races, and genders; not because of increased marketing or promotion necessarily, but because of the quality of play.

You haters out there need to give it a shot. Here’s why: Read More »

From the response generated by Diana Taurasi’s recent scrape with the law, you’d think we were being introduced to the WNBA’s first full-blooded goon.

Taurasi was arrested in Phoenix on July 2 for an “extreme DUI,” when she was pulled over for speeding and blew a 0.17 (twice the legal limit) on the blood-alcohol test.

Happens every day in the NBA, right? Well, imagine if one of the marquee players in the men’s league — Taurasi is leading the WNBA in scoring at 20.6 points a night and is undeniably one of the faces of the women’s game — got into a similar situation shortly before the All-Star Game, and compare the reaction to this column excerpt by ESPN.com’s Mechelle Voepel: Read More »