Shaq. Shaqfu. Shaqtus. The Big Shamrock. Shaq-deezy. The Diesel. Superman. And of course, Kazaam. Shaquille O’Neal retired today after 19 seasons, the Big Shamrock himself finally calling it quits via the new social media platform Tout (never heard of it) – leaving us with one of, if not the most dominant, big man careers of all-time. Forgot what Shaq was before he started looking like a “before” picture from a Nutrisystem commercial? We’re talking four rings, fifth all-time in scoring, three Finals MVPs, a 58% career field-goal percentage, one MVP, Rookie of the Year, thirteen 20 and 10 seasons, and one famous late-night club freestyle where he requested his favorite former teammate share how his “ass tastes.” Read More »

Boys will be boys, even when every shred of evidence clearly shows it’s kind of dumb to do anything in public you don’t want your wife/boss/admirers to find out about.

After the Tiger Woods situation blew up full-scale, along with relatively minor public gaffes involving NBA players Greg Oden and George Hill (and now Dorell Wright), you’d think athletes would get the point: In today’s culture of camera phones, Twitter, Facebook, texting, etc., YOU’RE GOING TO GET CAUGHT. Read More »

Watching Kobe Bryant plunge another spear into the heart of another seemingly helpless opponent the other night, what struck me most wasn’t the degree of difficulty on Kobe’s Jordan-esque corner fadeaway, nor the sunken shoulders of the Toronto Raptors the moment the ball touched the net — even though they technically still had a shot to win the game.

What struck me most was Kobe’s reaction. Or better yet, his non-reaction. Read More »

Today I came across a column where the writer listed some things Tiger Woods should do if he decides to go on an image-repair campaign: Sign more autographs, smile more often, be nicer to the media, that kind of thing.

Allow me to vigorously disagree. (So much that I had to use the word “vigorously.”) If Tiger all of a sudden re-emerges from this scandal shaking hands and kissing babies, it will come across as blatantly fake, because we all know that’s not Tiger’s natural way. Read More »

Last year we debuted the “Highs and Lows” system — previewing the NBA season by predicting the respective ceiling and basement for each team. Same theme, different season…

Added: Hedo Turkoglu, DeMar DeRozan, Jarrett Jack, Amir Johnson, Antoine Wright, Reggie Evans, Marco Belinelli, Rasho Nesterovic, Sonny Weems

Lost: Shawn Marion, Anthony Parker, Jason Kapono, Joey Graham, Roko Ukic, Pops Mensah-Bonsu, Kris Humphries, Jake Voskuhl, Nathan Jawai, Hassan Adams Read More »

The thought of Chris Bosh bolting south next summer rekindles all sorts of bad memories for Raptors fans. Nine years ago, they watched T-Mac turn his back on the franchise and sign with the Magic. Although it’s just merely speculation that Bosh will sign elsewhere at this point, one person who is doing a great job preparing for the worst is Bryan Colangelo. The Raps GM has been on point all offseason, securing a solid foundation for the future by locking up Hedo Turkoglu and Andrea Bargnani to long-term deals. Read More »

Four of the Raptors’ starting five is basically in stone. You know Calderon is starting at point, Hedo at the three, Bosh at the four and Bargnani at the five. The shooting guard spot? That’s where it gets debatable. While early indications out of TO suggest that top draft pick DeMar DeRozan will begin the season as a starter, there is no guarantee that will stick throughout the season and maybe even preseason. The sure-to-be fan favorite guard out of USC has his fair share of competition at his spot. Read More »

When I heard this weekend that new Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis was mostly likely going to add Bill Laimbeer and Reggie Theus to his staff, this got me thinking: If there was a 3-on-3 tournament amongst the NBA’s current coaching staff, who would win? Read More »

What’s up Dime readers! Before I defend my headline, I’d like to take a second to introduce myself to you all. My name is Gerald Narciso and I’m the newest addition to the Dime family. I’m Canadian but grew up in Utah and just finished a three-year stint in Vancouver (Canada not Washington). In the past, I’ve done some freelance work here as long as with Bounce. Apparently Dime liked me so much they kidnapped me from Vancouver and brought me over to the big apple. Anybody got any good suggestions on cool restaurants, bars or coffee shops I should check out, please hit me up! Read More »

In an interesting story this morning by the Toronto Sun‘s Frank Zicarelli, the writer puts bluntly something Raptors fans have been avoiding for years: Chris Bosh isn’t a franchise player. Read More »