The second giant is now gone. Just a short time after hearing Shaquille O’Neal call it quits, Yao Ming is joining him on the sidelines after multiple injuries with his legs and feet (stress fracture in his foot and tendon strain in his left leg) that never healed. It’s a sad day for everyone involved in the game. Most of this generation isn’t used to seeing athletes’ bodies fail them at an early age (Yao is still only 30 and was 28 before going down for good). But that’s what happens when you’re 7-6 and carrying well over 300. Read More »

So it’s true. Following the Deron Williams-to-Turkey saga on Twitter yesterday had us dizzy. It went from “OMG, what?” to “No way that’s true. NO WAY” to “Well, maybe Williams really wants to play” to “Holy s^&* he IS gonna play.” Rumors were rampant all day until Williams’ new agent, Jeff Schwartz, finally confirmed it: the All-Star point guard has a deal in place that will pay him $5 million to play next season for Besiktas while offering an opt-out for whenever the lockout does end. Read More »

Warning: This article contains harsh information regarding the Portland Trail Blazers. May touch on sensitive and/or emotional topics. If angered easily, please look away.

“With the first pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, the Portland Trail Blazers select Greg Oden, from Ohio State University.”

What a wonderful time to be a Blazer fan. Read More »

Rudy Fernandez wants to go home. In a case of receiving too much, too soon, the Portland shooting guard told El Mundo Deportivo, “If I could reach an agreement with Portland, so that they would not trade me to another NBA team and they would accept my return to Europe, I’d be pleased.”

He went on to add, “My agents are looking for the best trade for me, but at the end of the day only Portland can decide.” Read More »

New Jersey’s summer of missed opportunities continued today as news broke that they hired former Philly GM and president Billy King into their front office. David Aldridge tweeted this morning: Breaking: Billy King accepts Nets executive position, will be named at Thursday press conference.

This summer held a lot of promise for long-suffering Nets fans: a new owner willing to try anything such as shoving a 222-by-95 foot billboard into the face of the New York Knicks, around $30 million in cap space and a plan to win a championship in short time. Read More »

It’s never fun to be the last player in the green room on Draft Day. As a hooper, you grow up dreaming of that one moment where you will stand up proudly on stage at Madison Square Garden and pound knuckles with David Stern for the first time. Being invited to sit as a green room attendee is fun, but it can sometimes turn into a schoolyard kickball game; waiting anxiously to hear your name called by the captain. And that’s just what happened to Nevada sophomore Luke Babbitt. Read More »

Over the weekend, rumors surfaced suggesting Trail Blazers GM Kevin Pritchard‘s days with the team are numbered. This would have seemed crazy not too long ago, when Pritchard was treated like a rock star in Portland and credited with building one of the League’s hottest up-and-coming young contenders. So what’s the problem now? Two Dime writers debate just how important (or expendable) Pritchard is to the Blazers: Read More »

Yesterday, we told you about the rumor that Portland was working toward securing soon-to-be free agent Marcus Camby to a contract extension. Today, the Blazers did just that. According to General Manager Kevin Pritchard, Camby signed a two-year contract extension today. Per team policy, terms of the deal were not disclosed. Read More »

With the NBA All-Star Weekend around the corner, and the NBA Trade Deadline right after that, there’s definitely going to be some things happening in the League. With that in mind, check out five major story lines that the NBA will see heading into the All-Star Break… Read More »

These days, the business of basketball is good for the Portland Trail Blazers. However, not too long ago, the City of Roses tagged their only pro sports team by another name: the Jail Blazers.

The era of the Jail Blazers is an interesting and lengthy time period, through which it extends from J.R. Rider’s heyday, until really 2005. Whereas, the Blazers had been branded with this label for a while, I chose to further examine Burnside’s best from ’01 through the ’04 season. Read More »