New Lakers coach Mike Brown is only a few months into his job, but he’s right when he said the Lakers can lay claim to a rivalry with everyone.

When Los Angeles goes to a visiting arena, it’s played by the hosts as a chance to take down one of the NBA’s storied franchises. Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times reports Brown saying so this week: Read More »

We wouldn’t exactly call it airing dirty laundry, but Shaquille O’Neal is definitely getting a few things off his chest now that he’s retired. We aren’t hearing anything new. It’s just that O’Neal is making no mistake about anything: he had some serious problems with Kobe, he left Pat Riley on really bad terms, and that he’s not into Dwight Howard‘s whole Superman routine and thinks Orlando’s big man needs to be his own man. In Shaq’s new book (Shaq Uncut: My Story), Superman takes a couple shots at Superman 2.0, telling Howard to “be his own man.” Shaq and Howard have never really gotten along, so this news comes without any surprise. Shaq has always been someone who spoke his mind, and in his new book, he holds nothing back. Read More »

When we talk about the players just “man-ing” up, accepting a deal and getting on with the game, it doesn’t come out right. We seem like bitter fans – selfish fans – who just want our game back. We don’t truly care about the business aspect of it, don’t really care about the players’ lifestyles. We just want to see the NBA again. So we can’t blame the players for not listening to us. But when an NHL player says it, it holds more weight. Why? The league canceled their entire 2004-05 season because of a lockout, and former Dallas Stars forward Bill Guerin is trying to save the NBA players from themselves. Read More »

A year lost to the black hole of an NBA lockout doesn’t stop at lost revenues for team owners, nor the lost nights of kicking back with an extra large bag of Doritos to catch a game.

An NBA lockout means some players who live and breathe hoops won’t know what to do with themselves. To be real, the most gifted of NBA players probably don’t have hobbies, and blasting inferior competition in self-organized streetball games can only fulfill that competitive itch so long. Read More »

Kobe Bryant might be old, and getting up there in mileage, but don’t you think he’s still the best offensive option the Lakers have? Mike Brown may not agree with you. Of course, no one is going to keep the Mamba from feeding, but Brown sounds contrite when he mentions going inside to Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol. Again. And again. And again. In Cleveland, Brown was criticized for turning the Cavs into “LeBron brings it up, LeBron holds it, LeBron calls for a screen-roll, LeBron holds it, LeBron drives to the rim, LeBron shoots or passes.” That never worked in the playoffs for obvious reasons (it’s never worked for ANYONE). Read More »

NBA players are people too. Some might have fine tastes in fine cognacs while others go to clubs so nice that their bouncers wouldn’t let me in if Diddy told them to. But at the same time, they like the same songs that I like and watch the same movies that I do. Sometimes, said movies teach us important lessons, whether they are the generic, over-done type clichés or the deep, intellectual themes.

So these NBA guys must take a few of life’s lessons and view them as applicable to their game, right? Taking into account a few recent flicks, here’s what six popular movies could potentially teach some certain NBA stars. Read More »

It finally happened. Kobe Bryant finally spoke on Mike Brown. The way everybody was waiting on this, we figured it would be a huge letdown, cliche after cliche. Actually, Kobe gave us a nice little sound bite, telling ESPN as detailed by the Los Angeles Times: “He just seems like the type of coach that buttons everything up, so I think as players we’ll all be happy.” Whatever that means … Read More »

One of these days, Gilbert Arenas is going to say the wrong thing, pop off and end up crossing the wrong team. Twitter is his drug in a way. Whenever he gets on there, all bets are off and it’s pure recklessness. Sometimes, the truth he types is honest and fun. Other times, it’s slightly uncomfortable. But the other night, Agent Zero went off about the gun charges, saying Washington leaked the story because they were sick of him and didn’t want Arenas or his huge contract around anymore. Read More »

Remember Jan Vesely’s Notebook-worthy kiss of his girlfriend last night? Her name is Eva Koudouskova and she’s taller than half of Minnesota’s roster. There are some hilarious YouTube videos of her and Jan where the reporters ask her all about her game (she hoops), with Vesely standing to the side like a sick puppy, only getting questions like “Where did you meet her?” or “How do you pronounce her last name?” Read More »

There’s only so long an NBA career can last and LeBron James has officially reached a crossroads. Yes, he’s only 26 years old and in his eighth season, but that’s almost a negative. How’s this all still going on? 11 points through 60 fourth-quarter minutes in the Finals. A lower scoring average than Chris Bosh in the biggest series of your career. Being thoroughly dominated and overshadowed by Dirk Nowitzki. Being outscored in a game by DeShawn Stevenson. Being guarded often in the second half of two games by a 38-year-old, 6-4 point guard and doing NOTHING about it. Read More »