Horace Grant had some words for Carlos Boozer and his former team, the Chicago Bulls, recently. Here’s a small dose: “Boozer needs to be, for a lack of a better phrase, Scottie Pippen to a Michael Jordan.” Rose, in this case, is taking the place of Michael Jordan. Grant went on to say that Boozer needs to become more assertive and accept his role as the number two or three scorer on the team. He also said that Boozer needs to be more physical as well as a more dominant rebounder, that he needs to help out Joakim Noah and become more aggressive on the boards. Who doesn’t agree with him? Look, Boozer is an undersized four. He’s not one of those guys who can fly down the lane, catch a bounce pass and dunk on someone like Amar’e Stoudemire. What he can do is score from the low block, and hit the 15-18 footer. Read More »

With the sudden retirement of Shaquille O’Neal from the NBA, we got to thinking about all the great players that the Big Social Security Applier played with during his 19 seasons in the league. There’s a long list of All-Stars, but in making the list, we ask this question: Who was at their best while playing with Shaq? For example, the Kevin Garnett that O’Neal played with this season won’t rank as highly as the 2007-08 Amar’e Stoudemire that he shared the court with in his Phoenix stint.

Obviously, we’ll save all the center slots for the Big Aristotle himself, but without further adieu, we present the First, Second and Third All-Shaq teams: Read More »

Scottie Pippen always had MJ’s back, on or off the court. They were partners in crime, two bloodhounds who unleashed the wrath of Chicago on the NBA for 10 seasons. And even as he settled into retirement, Pippen has stayed true to what he believed while he played: that Jordan was the greatest ever. Now apparently, someone might be swaying his mind. Read More »

If Carmelo Anthony keeps playing like this, he might as well keep up the rent payments on his property in Denver, because he won’t be going anywhere until at least Summer 2011. ‘Melo dropped 30 points (17-19 FT), 14 rebounds, 9 assists and 3 steals on the Clippers at Staples Center last night, carrying a Nuggets squad that was without Chauncey, K-Mart and Al Harrington. Denver was up three with five seconds left when ‘Melo stepped to the line and iced the W after Eric Gordon missed a potential game-tying triple … Read More »

After Michael Jordan and Charles Barkley weighed in with their thoughts on Miami’s “Super-Friends” collaboration, now Magic Johnson is having his say:

“We didn’t think about (superstars teaming up) ’cause that’s not what we were about,” Magic told reporters during a visit to New York. “From college, I was trying to figure out how to beat Larry Bird.”

That’s following Jordan’s comments over the weekend that he never would have teamed up with Magic and Bird because, “In all honesty, I was trying to beat those guys.” Read More »

Before LeBron James causes a party in one city and breaks hearts in five others, the teams still in pursuit of the NBA’s biggest star are undoubtedly vying for one last audience with LBJ before he goes live on-air at 9 p.m. on ESPN. What will those teams say to LeBron should they get his ear for a last-ditch pitch? Next up: Chicago: Read More »

Ray Allen and Paul Pierce put the ball in the basket, but the real MVP of yesterday’s Celtics/Magic Game 1 was Kendrick Perkins.

Playing on a sore knee, Perk had more combined turnovers and fouls (10) than he did points and rebounds (6), but Boston’s win hinged on his 1-on-1 defense against Dwight Howard. Coming off a series where he pummeled the Atlanta Hawks for 21.0 points per game on 84 percent shooting from the field (i.e., plenty of dunks), Dwight was held to 13 points on 3-of-10 shooting yesterday. Read More »

*Dime’s NCAA Tournament Day 2 coverage*

This was the first-round game I wasn’t gonna miss for anything, even if I had to watch it on my little computer screen. Clemson likes to run and gun; Missouri thrives on a full-court press taught by Mike Anderson, a disciple of Nolan Richardson and “40 Minutes of Hell.” Mizzou’s J.T. Tiller is a defensive demon and one of my favorite college players, while Clemson’s Noel Johnson is the son of ex-NBA player “Cheese” Johnson, who always makes sure to call up the Dime office and update us on his kid’s progress since we did a story on Noel in 8th grade. AND Gus Johnson is on the mic? You couldn’t drag me away. Read More »

Dwight Howard isn’t as brand-new as you think. Though it doesn’t seem like that long ago since he took the stage on NBA Draft night ’04 with those braces shining on his teeth, and while his persona makes him seem younger than he is, Dwight is a veteran at 24 years old and now in his sixth pro season.

In other words, it’s not too early to discuss (or at least make realistic projections for) his place in history. Read More »

“I talked to a couple of other doctors, a couple of other friends and they really kind of told me the same stuff that these guys told me. It’s not that I didn’t believe (Raptors doctors), but (friends) called me because they heard I wasn’t going to wear the mask and they said, ‘Don’t be stupid.’” – Hedo Turkoglu to The Toronto Star, February 7, 2010

Dear Hedo,

Let us start with some history. Read More »