A nice dish may be the most underrated play in basketball. Obsessing over a dunk or a crossover is common, but how often do you really see a one-of-a-kind assist? Very rarely. They’re always overblown and overhyped. A no-look pass is almost never that. We almost never get a truly breathtaking pass because lets face it, no one practices passing. Kids go to the gym and work on ballhandling for hours – crossovers, behind-the-backs and through-the-legs. Then some Plyometrics or squats because we all want to dunk and we all want to walk into a gym and get instant cred. No one respects a pass; Everyone respects a dunk. Read More »

According to the New York Daily News, Isiah Thomas has been working behind the scenes in an effort to bring Chris Paul to the Knicks. Though Thomas doesn’t have an official position with the Knicks, apparently he’s doing his best to form the next “Big 3.” The New York media got hold of this CP-to-NYC thing and just won’t let it go, huh? Read More »

The best ever? That’s hard to do. Even with a limitless library like YouTube, it’s virtually impossible to make a list of the best alley-oops of all-time and not miss a couple. All of the NBA’s greatest players have their most popular highlights, but what about the average or no-name players? Some of them have great alley-oops too, but you’ll be lucky to find them anywhere, much less remember them.

When a video was posted last week, it became painfully obvious pretty quickly that it was missing a few. So I figured I’d make the REAL top 10 list. No gimmicks. No timetables. Just straight raw ferociousness. Read More »

He might be saying he has nothing to prove, but someone is definitely playing like he’s a little pissed off he went so Bambi on us last spring. Pau Gasol had his third straight big game yesterday, dropping 21 points in an easy 17-point win for Spain over Britain. His little brother chipped in 18 and 11. If the elder Gasol keeps balling like this well into the season then perhaps Ron Artest is on the money when he says the Lakers will win the title. Actually, if both brothers keep this up, we could be looking at a very interesting Memphis/L.A. playoff series should they meet at some point. Read More »

Let me pre-requisite this with a better question. Which do you value more: quantity or quality?

The caveat to that is that the quantity in this equation was also a very high quality. This is what makes these two players a very compelling argument for all-time superiority. John Stockton displayed the way a point guard should play the game over a 19-year career that ended with him as the all-time leader in assists and steals. His leadership pushed the Utah Jazz over the top and into the NBA Finals for back-to-back seasons in the late 1990’s only to be thwarted by Michael Jordan both times. Read More »

People have accused us of some anti-international crusade a few times this summer because of pieces of news we relayed about overseas ball. Let’s clear it up a bit: if you’re a basketball fan (like we all are) you WANT to see the players overseas. Obviously, you’d rather see the NBA down to get down, but if that won’t happen, give us the next best thing. Every player we’ve talked to this season has said the same things: they would play overseas. No questions asked. Some, like Will Bynum, even admitted the international game made them the players they are today. But when you get these odd stories, like goat heads being cut off and rubbing the blood around for good luck, how can you not read with your eyes wide open? Read More »

When I had a chance to preview NBA 2K12 this week, I honestly came in ready for a let down. NBA 2K11 was out of this world, plain and simple. Without question the best sports game of the year, and arguably the best video game of the year. But even though the hype for 2012 was there, I wasn’t quite buying into it. Oh, how I was wrong. Read More »

Keeping up with the Joneses is a phrase that took on a life of its own, and when you look at it through NBA-colored glasses, you can see why: it’s a pretty popular last name. 45 NBA players have been named Jones, and while that’s a pretty cool stat, three other last names are actually more common among NBA/ABA players.

On Friday, I put together a list of some of my favorite NBA names ever. In the process of writing that, I figured I should do something on the best/most frequently used last names in NBA history. Read More »

This is the first post in a three-part series we will be running today on the best decade in NBA history. Was it the 1980s? The 1990s? Or the 2000s? Can you make the arguments that one of the earlier decades was even better? Sure. But not likely. Can you make an argument that one of these three was the best ever? Of course. And that’s what we’re doing…

The 1980’s was a wild decade. Bon Jovi dominated the charts. Wall Street was booming. I was conceived. But other than all that great stuff, it was the best decade for the NBA. If the 1970s had the best style of basketball and the ’90s featured the best players, the ’80s was the happy medium between the two. Although I was only alive for one year of it, I know that 1980’s basketball was a beautiful thing – a true incarnation of American glitz and glamour that defined the decade. Read More »

Numb though? Yes, as insane as it seems, Wesley Matthews told the Oregonian he played much of last season unable to feel his right foot. He tore a tendon in his ankle, then went out and scored 26 points the following night (a January win over the Suns) before playing the rest of the way with a flat tire. Read More »