I don’t know how the Billy Gillispie mutiny will be resolved in Lubbock, but as Dime wrote in Smack last night, it’s very rare — and thus troubling for the coach’s future — that players are so public with their disdain for a coach. It’s ominous a season after going 1-17 in conference play. Today, ESPN added that Texas Tech’s leading scorer has announced he doesn’t want Gillispie back – Jordan Tolbert even goes as far as saying “we do need a coach.” But at least he has backers, and big ones at that: Gillispie’s peers and former players, Bill Self and Deron Williams included, are coming out just as publicly in support, unwilling to cede the spotlight to the disenfranchised. It reminded me of the last team mutiny in basketball I’d seen — but in this case, it seemed like no one had John Kuester‘s back. Read More »

We don’t really want to use the word. Let’s just leave it at this: the NBA is on its way to a thing – a thing that only happens when the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires. This thing rhymes with “flock route” which also might have something to do with birds flying south for the winter. This thing could last ’til the winter. And even though the two sides involved in preventing this thing are meeting today for the last time before the CBA expires, this thing is still probably going to happen. Read More »

Down 2-1, the Mavs are close to the edge, desperate and in Dirk‘s case, aggravated. Nowitzki sounded off on his longtime teammate Jason Terry for the way the sixth man has been shrinking in the clutch. Dirk blamed some of the team’s four quarter issues on Terry being unable to shake free from LeBron‘s D (he’s been guarding him a lot in crunch time). Read More »

There’s a difference between LeBron and D-Wade and everybody else. Last night, they showed it, taking over in the final five minutes the way very few players (and even fewer teammates) can. It wasn’t the prettiest game, but the Heat will take it, going up 1-0 over Dallas with a 92-84 win. Late in the game, all we wanted to see were some baskets. The first half was ugly, but the fourth quarter was one hideous fadeaway after one missed free throw after one off-ball foul after one annoying commentator comment. It didn’t really feel like Game 1 of the Finals. Read More »

Whoops. So it looks like the Lakers are having a few regrets about not running the Mike Brown hiring by Kobe before pulling the trigger. Why would you want to discuss who your franchise player and future Hall-of-Famer would be playing under for at least the next year? It’s not like he had endorsed another candidate in the Lakers’ head-coaching race (oh wait). It’s also not like he’s been a pivotal player in five of the organization’s championships (oh wait again). Is this a hint of things to come? Are the Lakers already planning for a Kobe-less future? Read More »

Nothing ever made it so fun and so normal to be drunk and stupid and reckless as the adventures of a few post-graduate, obnoxious friends did. Phil. Stu. Doug. The weirdly sexual Alan, jockstrap and nakedness along with him.

The Hangover 2 is now playing. I haven’t seen it yet so I can’t spoil anything. But what I can do is look back at the original classic, the first Hangover. Ever wondered if any of the movie’s famous scenes ever took place in the NBA behind closed doors? Wonder no more. Read More »

Dating back to the Allen Iverson era — which was here and gone about as fast as A.I.’s first step — cracks in the chemistry of the Detroit Pistons infrastructure have effectively ended what was one of the NBA’s most consistent runs of success over the last decade. While the A.I. situation drew more national attention because of the big names involved, the Pistons’ issues over the last couple of seasons have been just as damaging. Now it’s just getting out of hand. Read More »

After his most successful pro season yielded an NBA Sixth Man of the Year trophy and his first-ever playoff appearance, Jamal Crawford quickly went from settled to disgruntled in Atlanta. Over the summer Crawford made it clear that if he didn’t get a contract extension from the Hawks, he’d want to be traded. He didn’t get the extension.

In Detroit, Tayshaun Prince hasn’t said he wants to leave, but coming off a public spat with head coach John Kuester and facing the prospect of wasting his remaining good years on a rebuilding team, it may be time for Prince to get a fresh start. Read More »

Austin said it best yesterday: The Pistons are falling apart. First it was public beef between second-year coach John Kuester and Tayshaun Prince; now it appears there’s tension with Rodney Stuckey as well. According to the Detroit Free Press‘s Vince Ellis, Stuckey refused to acknowledge Kuester during the third quarter of last night’s loss to Atlanta. Twice. He didn’t play the final 21 minutes. Read More »

All due respect to the L.A. Clippers, but the Detroit Pistons are clearly the best 0-4 team in the NBA.

As pointed out in this week’s Dime NBA Power Ranking, Rodney Stuckey and Ben Gordon have formed perhaps the League’s most explosive backcourt so far this season, and six Pistons are averaging double-figure scoring. Two of their losses were by a combined four points, and Detroit was up 15 on the Bulls in the fourth quarter before losing another one. Read More »