After years of playing with “Roster Player #99″ during Michael Jordan‘s glory days, the real (digital) MJ is finally a usable character and cover athlete of a video game. Thank you, NBA 2K11, for breaking a drought that existed since, what, Bulls vs. Blazers? It was a ritual for me during the 90s to have to create-a-player and produce my own MJ for the Bulls roster. It was always disappoint for me as a youngster having to use the inadequately rated replica to substitute for Jordan. Read More »

With the World Basketball Festival commencing last night, and the World Basketball Championships just around the corner, I’ve been looking at this year’s USA roster and comparing it to years past. While the original Dream Team takes the cake as the best USA team ever, the 1996 team wasn’t bad either. While looking at the ‘96 Olympic team, I thought it would be interesting to match them up to the 1996 NBA Draft Class, widely considered one of the best ever. I put a roster together from that Draft to compete against the Olympic team, and then picked a winner. Here we go: Read More »

What happens to former stars once they pass their prime? Unfortunately in professional sports, most become ring-chasers.

Let me define a ring-chaser: An older player, usually a former superstar or at least an All-Star, who is past his prime and decides to join a championship contender knowing he won’t be a major factor in his new team winning a title. Read More »

Nobody would have predicted this. It wasn’t really that long ago when Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady were neck-and-neck in the debate over who was the most talented player — Shaq and Tim Duncan were still the most dominant — and explosive offensive weapon in the NBA. Today, Kobe and T-Mac are both 31 years old, but while Kobe is still pretty much in his prime and leading his team to championships, T-Mac is like a classic car running on fumes and still hasn’t been on the court in the second round of the playoffs … Read More »

For two guys who were mentioned so often throughout the NBA trading deadline frenzy, it never seemed likely that Tracy McGrady and Kevin Martin would directly cross paths the way they did late Wednesday night. As we sent this Smack to post, the deal (almost finalized) has T-Mac, Carl Landry and Joey Dorsey going to Sacramento for K-Mart, Hilton Armstrong, Sergio Rodriguez and Kenny Thomas … There were still reports that the Knicks could be brought in last-minute and T-Mac could end up in New York, but as it stands, this is a good move for both sides. Read More »

If you’re not rolling with the media, your best place to see NBA stars in Dallas is over at the All-Star Jam Session. And tonight, in a schedule packed with player appearances from Deron Williams, Jason Terry, DeMar DeRozan and Stephen Curry, is an event that I certainly do not want to miss at Center Court: the Legends Shootout, featuring A.C. Green, Detlef Schrempf, Bruce Bowen and Mitch Richmond. Read More »

It seemed Kevin Martin was destined to play out his career like Mitch Richmond, quietly dropping buckets outside of the spotlight during his prime before hooking up with a title contender in his late-30′s to snag a ring on his way out.

But depending on how things go down at this month’s NBA trade deadline, K-Mart could find himself on one of the League’s high-profile contenders while still on top of his game. In addition to rumors connecting Martin to Boston in a deal involving Ray Allen, new rumors have surfaced of trades that would send K-Mart to Dallas or Minnesota. Read More »

Here’s one straight from the Go Somewhere And Sit Down files: After Michael Jordan jokingly called out Bryon Russell during his H.O.F. speech, of course somebody had to go track down Russell for his reaction. And of course the 38-year-old Russell — who as recently as this summer was talking about trying an NBA comeback — had to go make himself look like the “Can’t let the game go” retired ballplayer, challenging MJ to a battle. “I’ll play his ass right now,” Russell told Yahoo! Sports. “This is a call-out for him to come play me. He can come out here in his private jet and come play. He’s got millions of dollars. He can pay for the jet. He can meet me at the Recreation Center in Calabasas. We can have Mark Jackson do the commentating. We can have Mitch Richmond do the officiating. We can put it on TV and see if Michael’s still got it.” Read More »

That was according to Charles Barkley, leading up to yesterday’s Hawks/Heat game. Recapping Joe Johnson‘s subpar showing in the series’ first three games, Barkley blurted out, “He can’t be the best player on a team.” As Kenny Smith was fixing his mouth for a nice way to ask Chuck, “The hell are you talking about?” Barkley clarified that he thinks J.J. is better suited as a complimentary player (like he was in Phoenix) rather than a franchise guy. While you can win with guys like Joe on your roster, you’re not gonna win if he’s The Guy. Read More »