The reserves for this month’s NBA All-Star Game in Orlando were announced last night, and while I don’t agree with all of them, I DEFINITELY am not feeling Kenny and Chuck‘s reasoning. Listen, the All-Star selection process is fundamentally flawed as it is. Inevitably it comes down to what you deem worthy – is it wins? numbers? impact? – and inevitably, that’s different for everyone. But I’m sorry: Smith and Barkley were way off last night. Read More »

Lost amidst all the trade talk, conspiracies and player movement of the past few weeks, Shaquille O’Neal is still joining the best basketball show on television and is still going to make TNT’s “Inside the NBA” an even more entertaining program. Watching basketball on Thursday nights is great, but we all know how much better TNT makes it. Yesterday, I got my first listen into what a show with O’Neal, Charles Barkley, Kenny Smith and Ernie Johnson will be like. TNT held a media conference call and nearly three quarters of the way through, the three analysts got into a pretty big argument over what Orlando should do with Dwight Howard. Read More »

82 games? A secret schedule? David Stern having a conscience? No way. But rumors continue to mount that all of this might be true (even the stuff about our man Stern). Obviously, Stern has been throwing threats around for the last few weeks. He made good on the first one – to cancel the first two weeks of the season – but now it’s possible the season might be in jeopardy – or at least all the games before Christmas – if nothing is improved by next week. ESPN.com reports that there’s a belief amongst the players that the owners may start turning on each other if the players hold firm. Of course, we’ve heard that one before. What if neither side budges? A bunch of stubborn millionaires/billionaires dig themselves even further into the sand? Let’s not talk about it. Read More »

We told y’all about the news earlier this week, but yesterday it became official: Shaq is a part of the squad at TNT and Inside The NBA. He’ll be a full-time analyst. Okay, lets take bets: who’s the first player he takes a shot at? Kobe? D-Wade? Steve Nash? And how often will they play that clip from the Barkley/O’Neal fight from back in the day? Once a show? We’re assuming C-Webb gets the boot, but that’s alright. He’s a better-than-good commentator who was being overshadowed in the studio. Read More »

He was once dubbed The Matrix. TNT’s Kenny Smith even gave him a patented sound that’s onomatopoeia too complicated to spell out. Nowadays, Shawn Marion, a four-time NBA All-Star, is supposed to be a role player with the Dallas Mavericks, a defensive stopper who needed only to do the little things to help out Dirk Nowitzki and Co. But in a career of ending many seasons by saying “almost” or “maybe,” Marion doesn’t appear satisfied to sit back anymore.

He’s taking this one personally. Read More »

And they said Tim Duncan wasn’t a center. In what may very well be his final All-Star Game, the greatest power forward of all-time will start for the Western Conference at center to replace injured Yao Ming, as decided by Spurs/West coach Gregg Popovich.

I’ve already been over why Duncan deserves his All-Star spot despite his stats not being as good as LaMarcus Aldridge, Zach Randolph or Al Jefferson, and surely some will have a problem with Duncan starting over Pau Gasol or Kevin Love. Read More »

Is there a way David Stern can schedule Orlando vs. Oklahoma City every night? If not, can he at least just give us the Thunder seven nights a week? We can’t be alone when we say they get more exciting as the team gets better. Orlando combined with OKC last night for some serious fireworks … Behind spectacular games from Russell Westbrook (32 points, 10 rebounds, 13 assists) and Kevin Durant (36 points) — who abused whomever Orlando checked them with — the Thunder led throughout and answered every run the Magic tried to make. Read More »

No disrespect to Caron Butler — who is one of our favorite guys to work with in the NBA and tougher than your first night in prison — but at this stage in his career, if he is your primary scoring option against a team like the San Antonio Spurs you’ll have to play an almost flawless game to win. Without Dirk Nowitzki (knee) in the lineup on Thursday, the Mavs had to lean on Caron (30 pts) against the Spurs, and they just didn’t play perfect enough to get the W … Meanwhile, the Spurs were overloaded with options. Read More »

You don’t need puppets to tell you that Kobe and LeBron are the two main contestants battling for the title of NBA’s Best Player. The reigning two-time MVP (LeBron) and the reigning two-time Finals MVP (Kobe) are pretty much interchangeable at the No. 1 and No. 2 spots, despite what brand-new LeBron haters want to believe with LBJ going to a loaded team in Miami.

But who is the third-best player in the game? During last night’s NBA schedule unveiling on NBA TV, Kenny Smith surprised the panel by naming Kevin Durant No. 3, ahead of Dwyane Wade. Read More »

Lots of craziness ensuing around the NBA yesterday, and coming from various corners of the globe. Chris Paul is suddenly the name in everybody’s mouth right now, as he not only wants a trade out of New Orleans, he was apparently kind enough to pull a Chris Bosh and give the Hornets a list of teams they should call first. At last check it was the Magic, Mavericks, Blazers and Knicks, and maybe the Lakers are in there, too. The Hornets have scheduled a face-to-face with CP for Monday, but he might just have a longer list by then … Read More »