Tuesday brought another Portland victory, this time over the Clippers, at the Rose Garden, where the Trail Blazers are undefeated at home this season. After Brandon Roy‘s retirement, news that LaMarcus Aldridge underwent heart surgery in the fall and another Greg Oden injury setback, things in Portland are perhaps unforeseeably sunny right now after an early December of discontent. Read More »

When Kyrie Irving was chosen No. 1 in the 2011 NBA Draft, he knew his rookie year would be impacted by the league’s lockout. He just didn’t know how great that impact would be. After his close brush with unemployment, the Rookie of the Year front-runner can now resume the business of proving he belongs here. Read More »

On Friday, when we posted the unfortunate news about Brandon Roy being forced into medical retirement, we were moved by the instant outpouring of love for B-Roy from our readers. So we thought today was as good as any to post Roy’s national magazine cover debut from Dime #48. Read More »

Of all five teams that the New Orleans fiasco sort of screwed over this week (Los Angeles, New Orleans, Houston, the Knicks and Boston), it’s the Lakers who are probably hurting the most to get these talks kick-started and moving again. Lamar Odom isn’t feeling the love right now, and showed up for just a few moments during practice yesterday. So there’s no doubt in our minds that they’re working feverishly right now. The teams were given the green light to start talking again so all three are back to the negotiating table, attempting to tweak what they thought was a sure thing just a few days ago. Read More »

We all saw this coming, but it’s nice to hear that it’s actually going to happen. According to Jason Quick of The Oregonian, restricted free agent Greg Oden will sign a one-year qualifying offer with the Blazers on Friday for $8.9 million. This means he has one more year to prove he’s worthy of a second contract, as he will become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Read More »

While Marc Spears is reporting that Greg Oden is “strongly leaning” towards taking the one-year $8.9 million qualifying offer from Portland and just becoming a free agent next summer, there is another team who could go out and snatch up the oft-injured big man. When you roll an entire season with a list of centers that miraculously tops out at Joel Anthony, taking a chance on a talent like Oden isn’t a big risk. Sure, he’s a risk individually. But for the Miami Heat, it’s moves like this that could turn them into a potential dynasty, and if it doesn’t work out, it might not do much harm. Read More »

Did you hear the Magic brass isn’t too smart? That’s what it feels like. Since none of us are a part of Orlando’s organization, we can sit here and talk about “Well, they might as well trade Dwight Howard now and get the most for him. They can’t let him leave for nothing.” We can call for the GM, Otis Smith, to start reaching out to everyone, mainly the Nets and the Lakers, to figure something out. But if we were Smith, we definitely wouldn’t have said what he did yesterday. In an interview with Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, Smith said about the Howard trade rumors: “I think you have to look at everything. I don’t think you can take anything out of consideration.” Read More »

As more details become available as to what’s included in the NBA’s new labor deal, one of the more interesting additions to the CBA is the so-called “amnesty clause,” where every team can waive one player and remove their salary from counting against the cap. While the player still gets paid, jettisoning a player in this fashion would help franchises create cap space or simply save on potential luxury tax expenditures. While the early names to surface have been Gilbert Arenas (3 years, $62.4 million), Rashard Lewis (2 years, $46 million) and Baron Davis (2 years, $28.8 million) owing to their onerous remaining contracts, one name that may have you surprised is that of three-time All-Star Brandon Roy. Read More »

Today is a day where we are supposed to reflect and give thanks for the many gifts in our lives. No matter how bad things may seem, there is always something to be thankful for. The basketball world, despite the rotten situation created by the NBA Lockout, is no different.

NBA players are without a paycheck (we know, we know), their side of the Lockout fight is disorganized, they are disjointed in their beliefs, and they are inevitably going to get severely worked over by the owners when this thing is finally ironed out. But for some NBA players, the Lockout has been a blessing in disguise.

Here are the 10 NBA Players who Have the Most to Be Thankful for This Thanksgiving: Read More »

It’s been a while since a team in the Pacific Northwest has had a surefire go-to-guy to call their own. While one team has long bounced to the Great Plains, the other has already gone through two potential superstars – both now likely lost to injury. Which is why when LaMarcus Aldridge decided to have his breakout moment in his fifth NBA season, it was beyond a breath of fresh air. Read More »