Portland and Minnesota have representatives in Las Vegas this week, carrying on a mini-feud that started with one team unwittingly a part of it, sucked in by people now long gone. Portland’s Neil Olshey and Minnesota’s David Kahn are GMs spending their time in Las Vegas trying not to look at one another when they’re not running around the city trying to deliver offer sheets. It’s a bizarre feud that has culminated (I think) with one of the more interesting free agency stories of this summer, Nicolas Batum, through a winding series of missteps by players, front-office types and even co-workers of those involved. For a feud dealing with teams that are at best mid-level squads in the Western Conference, it has surprisingly stuck. Here’s how it got this way. Read More »

Most of the buzz since free agency hit at midnight was about, surprisingly, Omer Asik. He was courted by the Trail Blazers but ultimately has signed an offer sheet with Houston, one the Bulls now can match. The deal is for three years and $25 million, with about $12 million of that likely to come in the third year. Before you scoff, he can rebound like few others — only six guys in the league had a 25 percent defensive rebounding rate and 12 percent on offense, SI’s Zach Lowe tweeted out. Read More »

The one salvation for all long-suffering fans in the NBA is this: anyone can be traded. At any time. It doesn’t matter how egregious their contract is or how awful their production is. We’ve seen everyone from Gilbert Arenas to “Theo Ratliff‘s expiring contract” be moved for one reason or another. One man’s garbage is another man’s treasure, and as long as we have GMs in the league who love to needlessly make moves (Kaaaaahn) or make moves while smoking Cubans on the 10th hole (MJ), bloggers will continue to have things to complain about. Since burying his game in a grave somewhere in the Windy City, Ben Gordon has done nothing but frustrate fans in Detroit. They’ll probably be happy to know he’s gone: the Pistons traded the former Ben Jordan to Charlotte for Corey Maggette and his expiring contract. Read More »

Unless you’re Skip Bayless and your job is to swim against the current of popular opinion — that being LeBron James keeping Miami almost single-handedly from exiting the playoffs was an incredible, once-every-50-years performance — LBJ was the first thing you talked to your friends about around the water cooler. And why wouldn’t he be? The wrong-footed jumpers (he even banked one in over Kevin Garnett; so filthy), the tip-dunk where his head was at the rim, the 15 rebounds, there was more than enough to go around for conversation. Read More »

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 »